Robert G. Vignola | |
---|---|
Born |
Rocco Giuseppe Vignola August 5, 1882 Trivigno, Basilicata, Italy |
Died | October 25, 1953 Hollywood, California, USA |
(aged 71)
Occupation | Actor, Screenwriter and Film director |
Years active | 1906–1937 |
Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era.
Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 in the theatrical show "Romeo and Juliet", performing with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew.
He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company. A year later, he became part of Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. As an actor, one of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period.
As a director, he directed 87 films, some of which have been lost. Some examples are The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo.