Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney (1883 – 1930), nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. He is best remembered for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with film makeup.

The Garbo Connection

Ramon Novarro

Ramón Novarro (1899 -  1968) was a Mexican actor who achieved fame as a "Latin lover" in silent films. Born José Ramón Gil Samaniego in Durango, Durango, Mexico, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, California, U.S., to escape the Mexican Revolution. A cousin of actress Dolores del Río, he entered films in 1917 playing bit parts, and supplemented his income by working as a singing waiter.

His friends, the actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, the actress Alice Terry, began to promote him as a rival to Rudolph Valentino and Ingram suggested he change his name to "Novarro". From 1923, he began to play more prominent roles. His role in Scaramouche (1923), brought him his first major success. In 1925, he achieved his greatest success in Ben-Hur, with his revealing costumes causing a sensation, and Novarro was elevated into the Hollywood elite.

With Valentino's death in 1926, he became the screen's leading Latin actor, though ranked behind his MGM stablemate, John Gilbert, as a model lover. He was popular as a swashbuckler in action roles, and was also considered one of the great romantic lead actors of his day. He appeared with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and appeared with Joan Crawford in Across to Singapore in 1928.

A silent still shown occasionally on television is his 1929 The Flying Fleet, an energetic story of early naval aviation. He made his first talking film, starring as a singing French soldier, in Devil-May-Care (1929). He starred with, Greta Garbo in Mata Hari in 1932 and was a qualified success opposite Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933).

The Garbo Connection

John Gilbert

John Gilbert ( 1895 - 1936) was an actor and major star of the silent film era. Known as   he rivaled even the great Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star in fact had as much to do with studio politics and money as did the sound of his screen voice.

Born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah to stock company actor parents, he struggled through a childhood of abuse and neglect before coming to Hollywood as a teenager. He first found work as an extra with the Thomas Ince Studios, and soon became a favorite of Maurice Tourneur, who also hired him to write and direct several pictures.

He quickly rose through the ranks, building his reputation as an actor in such films as Heart of the Hills opposite Mary Pickford. In 1921, Gilbert signed a three year contract with Fox Film Corporation, where he was cast as a romantic leading man. In 1924, he moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he became a full-fledged star with such high-profile films as His Hour directed by King Vidor and written by Elinor Glyn; He Who Gets Slapped (1924), co-starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and Norma Shearer, and directed by Victor Sjöström; and The Merry Widow (1925) directed by Erich von Stroheim and co-starring Mae Murray.

In 1925, Gilbert was once again directed by Vidor in the war epic The Big Parade, which became the second highest grossing silent film in cinema history. His performance in this film made him a major star. The following year, Vidor reunited Gilbert with two of his co-stars from that picture, Renée Adorée and Karl Dane, for the film La Bohème which also starred Lillian Gish. Gilbert married the highly successful film actress Leatrice Joy in 1922.

The union produced a daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, but the tempestuous marriage only lasted two years. The couple divorced in 1924, with Joy charging that Gilbert was a compulsive philanderer. In 1926, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil, his first film with Greta Garbo. They soon began a very public relationship, much to the delight of their fans. Gilbert planned to marry her, but Garbo changed her mind and never showed up for the ceremony.

Despite their rocky off-screen relationship, they continued to generate box-office revenue for the studio, and MGM paired them in two more silents Love (1927), a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina, and A Woman of Affairs (1928). The former film was slyly advertised by MGM as "Garbo and Gilbert in Love."

The Garbo Connection

William Powell

William Horatio Powell ( – 1984) was a three-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical roles. He is most widely known for portraying the detective Nick Charles in six The Thin Man films.

The Garbo Connection

Clark Gable

Clark Gable (1900 – 1960) was an iconic American actor nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. His most famous role was Rhett Butler in the 1939 epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh.

He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for three films that include Mutiny on the Bounty (1935); he won for It Happened One Night (1934). Another memorable performance was his last film The Misfits (1961), co-starring Marilyn Monroe. Gable and Joan Crawford were together in eight films, Myrna Loy was with him seven times, and Jean Harlow was with him six times. He also starred with Lana Turner in four features, with Norma Shearer in three..

The Garbo Connection

(in treatment)

Introduction

Louis B. Mayer

Irving Thalberg

William Daniels

The MGM Crew

The Directors

The MGM Contracts

The Garbo Strike

The MGM Image

MGM's Leading Ladies

Adrian Gilbert