Charles Urban

Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propaganda and scientific film, as well as being the producer of the world's first successful motion picture colour system.

Urban was born Carl Urban in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second child (of ten) of Joseph Urban, originally from Ronsberg, Austro-Hungary, and Anna Sophie (née Glatz), from Koenigsberg, East Prussia. He lost the sight in his left eye aged twelve after a baseball accident. He changed his names to Charles after leaving school in 1882, then worked as a book agent across Ohio, before managing a stationery store in Detroit, Michigan.

Urban first entered the film industry in 1895 when he exhibited the Kinetoscope in Detroit, Michigan early in 1895. He moved to Britain in August 1897, and became managing director of the Warwick Trading Company, where he specialised in actuality film, including newsfilm of the Anglo-Boer War. In July 1903 he formed his own company, the Charles Urban Trading Company, moving to London's Wardour Street in 1908, the first film business to be located in what became the home of the British film industry. The building, at 89-91 Wardour Street, still bears the name Urbanora House.

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