William Garwood

William Garwood
Photo of Garwood (ca. 1915)
Born	(1884-04-28)April 28, 1884 Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
Died	December 28, 1950(1950-12-28) (aged 66) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cirrhosis
Alma mater	Drury College
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1909–1919

William Davis Garwood, Jr. (April 28, 1884 – December 28, 1950) was an American stage and film actor and director of the early silent film era in the 1910s.

Between 1911 and 1913, Garwood starred in a number of early adaptions of popular films, including Jane Eyre and The Vicar of Wakefield (1910), Lorna Doone (1911), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1911), David Copperfield (1911), The Merchant of Venice (1912), and Little Dorrit (1913), and Robin Hood (1913). In total, he starred in more than 150 short and feature films.

William Davis Garwood, Jr. was born in Springfield, Missouri. He attended public schools in Springfield before moving to New Mexico at the age of 15. He moved back to Springfield to attend Drury College, where he was awarded prizes for his abilities in dramatic reading and literature. While at Drury, Garwood ran the 100-yard (91 m) dash in 10.20 seconds and also played on the football team. His father hoped that he would follow a career in metallurgy and secured a position for his son with a zinc company in Joplin, Missouri but Garwood pursued acting instead.

Garwood began his acting career in 1903 for $3.50 per week with the Lakeside Theatre at Elitch's Gardens in Denver. For two years, he worked odd jobs in addition to taking minor stage roles with the stock company, which at the time included such players as Maude Fealy, Bruce McRae, Douglas Fairbanks and Edward Mackey. After living in Denver for two seasons, he moved to New York City in 1905 where he worked with Virginia Harned, after which he joined the Frohman management in the original production of Mizpah. Later, he was with Kyrle Bellew in Brigadier Girard and with S. Miller Kent in Raffles. Between productions, he worked with a number of stock companies including those at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco and the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Among his appearances on stage, Garwood considered his work with Dustin Farnum in the traveling company of Cameo Kirby, to be one of his early career highlights in stage acting. This was his last appearance on stage prior to his debut in films.