Lowell Sherman
| Lowell Sherman | |
|---|---|
Sherman with Ina Claire in The Greeks Had a Word for Them.
|
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| Born |
October 11, 1885 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Died | December 28, 1934 (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1904-1934 |
| Spouse(s) |
Evelyn Booth (m. 1914; div. 1922) Pauline Garon (m. 1926; div. 1929) Helene Costello (m. 1930; div. 1932) |
Lowell J. Sherman (October 11, 1885 – December 28, 1934) was an American actor and film director. At a time when it was highly unusual, he was both the actor and director on several films in the early 1930s, before completely transitioning to the role of director. At the height of his career, after scoring huge successes with his directing the films She Done Him Wrong and Morning Glory (which introduced Mae West, and won the first Academy Award for Katharine Hepburn, respectively), he succumbed to pneumonia after a brief illness.
Born in San Francisco in 1885 (some sources list 1888) to John Sherman and Julia Louise Gray, who were both connected with the theater; John as a theatrical agent and Julia as a stage actress. Even his maternal grandmother had been an actress, starring with the famous actor, Edwin Booth (brother of the notorious John Wilkes Booth). Sherman began his career as a child actor appearing in many touring companies.
As an adult he appeared on Broadway in such plays as Judith of Bethulia (1904) with Nance O'Neil and in David Belasco's 1905 smash hit The Girl of the Golden West with Blanche Bates where he was a young Pony Express rider. On Broadway in 1923 Sherman played the aptly suited Casanova in a play of that name; his leading lady was Katharine Cornell. His sole Broadway directing credit would be in 1923's Morphia, in which he would also star. His suave reputation was built after many years appearing in popular Broadway farces. Even after he became a successful silent film star, he continued to perform on Broadway, his last role being in The Woman Disputed, which ran from September 1926 through March 1927.
By 1915 Sherman was appearing in silent films usually playing playboys, until D. W. Griffith cast him as the villain in the classic film, Way Down East (1920). He would continue playing villains or playboys in films, as he had in the theatre, throughout the 1920s, in such films as Molly O' (1921), A Lady of Chance (1929) and later in talkies such as Ladies of Leisure (1930), and What Price Hollywood? (1932).
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