Donald Crisp(1882-1974)

Donald Crisp was a film director and a skilled and versatile character actor who began his long career in Silent Movies and who continued to appear regularly on screen until the 1960s. He was influenced initially by D. W. Griffith and he appeared in numerous top quality movies, such as ' Mutiny on the Bounty' in 1935 and 'The Life of Emile Zola' in 1937. In 1942 he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 'How Green Was My Valley.'

Biography

He was born into a working-class home with the birth name George William Crisp, in Bow, London, on 27 July 1882. He had three elder brothers and six elder sisters. During his career, Donald was never reluctant to add flattering embellishments to his life story and much of his accepted biography is frankly dubious. For instance he claimed to have been born and raised in Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Scotland, even maintaining a Scottish accent whilst he lived in Hollywood. There is no record of him ever setting foot in Aberfeldy. He also claimed that he was educated at Eton and Oxford, both highly unlikely possibilities for a working class boy from London's East End.

Another of his unverifiable claims was that during the Boer War he fought with the British Army at Kimberley and Ladysmith.

In 1906 Crisp sailed to the United States to pursue an ambition of becoming a stage actor. He began promisingly by using a new-found talent for singing and he worked for a year in New York City in the chorus of the Grand Opera. He was a fast learner and quickly was promoted to stage director. Until 1910 Crisp was using his birth name of George. From 1910 he changed it to Donald, retaining George as a middle name. In 1908 he began working part time, mainly uncredited, as a silent movie actor.

By 1910 he was working as stage manager for playwright and director, George M. Cohen. He also met film director D.W. Griffith who was just beginning his stellar directorial career. Within two years Crisp accompanied Griffith west to Hollywood. Crisp's own movie career was about to move into a higher gear.

D.W. Griffith

Crisp worked for several years as an assistant in Griffith's original stock company and it was a steep learning curve for him. Griffith was an early pioneer of film narrative and was influential in early techniques, such as cross cutting in editing. He became a major influence on Crisp and on Crisp's determination to become a director himself.

Whilst with Griffith, Crisp appeared as an actor in major silent movies such as 'The Birth of a Nation' in 1915 (as General Ulysses S. Grant), 'Intolerance' in 1916 and 'Broken Blossoms' in 1919.

Directorial Career

In 1920 Crisp joined Famous Players Lasky (later Paramount) where he began his career as a director. He proved to be creative and resourceful with credits including 'The Navigator' in 1924, 'Young April' the following year and 'The Cop' in 1928. His final work as director was 'The Runaway Bride' starring Mary Astor in 1930.

After 1930, and with the advent of Talkies, he made the decision to concentrate his talents solely on acting and, beginning with 'Red Dust' in 1932, he commenced a prolific and rewarding period of first class performances in character roles often playing patriarchs, military officers, doctors and judges.. He was under contract to Warner Bros. from 1935-42 and then to MGM for eight years from 1943. His impressive body of work includes such classics as ' Mutiny on the Bounty. In 1935. 'The Life of Emile Zola' in 1937, 'The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex' in 1939 and 'The Sea Hawk' in 1940.

His crowning achievement as an actor was his portrayal in 1941 of the patriarch of a Welsh mining family in 'How Green Was My Valley' for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In addition he played the original owner of Lassie in 'Lassie Come Home' in 1943 and the following year he appeared as Elizabeth Taylor's father in her breakthrough film 'National Velvet'.

Later Career

Crisp thoroughly enjoyed the life of a movie actor. He continued to appear regularly in movies during the 40s and 50s and he retired only when approaching eighty. His final film role was in 'Spencer's Mountain' in 1963, opposite Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.

In addition to acting, Crisp was actively as an advisor to the Bank of America, which was one of the leading sources of working capital for the film industry for many years. He also made extensive investments in the real estate market and became a very wealthy man.

Personal

Crisp married three times, firstly In 1912, to actress Helen Pease, but his wife died the following year. In 1917, he married another actress, Marie Stark, the marriage ending in divorce in 1920. In 1932, he married film screenwriter Jane Murfin, whom he divorced in 1944. He died in 1974, aged 91 years, after a series of strokes.

Donald Crisp Filmography (As Actor)