B: June 12, 1875 in Bathurst, New Brunswick
D: November 29, 1953 in Hollywood, California
Now all but forgotten, Sam De Grasse appeared in many of the most important early films. He was in the great and controversial Birth of a Nation from pioneering director D.W. Griffith, playing the role of Senator Sumner. De Grasse also had a featured role in Griffith’s 1916 masterpiece Intolerance. He played mostly secondary characters until Mary Pickford set up her own studio with her husband Douglas Fairbanks, and he joined them. Skillfully cast as a shifty-eyed villain, De Grasse began to specialize in the role of the “bad guy.” When Douglas Fairbanks made the first “big scale” version of Robin Hood in 1922, Sam De Grasse was cast, some might say type-cast, as Prince John. |
Features & TV Movies: Texas Bill’s Last Ride (1914) The Devil’s Passkey (1920) Captain of the Guard (1930) |