Bertram Bracken

Bertram Bracken (August 10, 1879 – November 1, 1952) was an American silent screen actor, scenarist, and director who worked on at least sixty-five films between 1910 and 1932.

Bertram Bracken
Who's Who in the Film World, 1914
BornAugust 10, 1879
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 1952(1952-11-01) (aged 73)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationFilm director, actor, screenwriter
Years active1910–1932

Biography

Bertram “Bert” Bracken was born in San Antonio, Texas on August 10, 1879,[1] and was raised in Lampasas, Texas, where his parents, Charles and Betty Bracken, operated a grocery store.[2][3] According to his studio biography Bracken as a young man attended Yale University, worked in banking and served for a year and a half with the 15th U.S. Cavalry.[4] His acting career began in the late 1890s at Chicago’s Haymarket theatre and continued on the road with his own stock company performing the play College Life which he wrote and produced.

Bracken entered film in 1910 with the Star Film Company often playing heavies under the direction of Gaston Méliès. Bracken later worked as Méliès’ managing producer while filming in Australia, Asia and the South Pacific.

Soon after his return to America Bracken became a film director with the Western Lubin Company and later head director and producer of feature films at the Balboa Amusement Producing Company. [5]

Bertram would go on to work for the Fox Film Corporation where he directed such stars as Theda Bara and Anita Stewart. Trouble with his vision interrupted his career in the early twenties though he eventually returned to work for several more years. His last film, The Face on the Barroom Floor, that he co-wrote and directed, was released in 1932.[6][7]

Bracken’s wife, actress Margaret Landis, played leading and supporting roles in a number of his films before they divorced in the early 1920s.

In later life Bracken wrote mystery novels and scripts for radio shows.[8]

Bertram Bracken died in Los Angeles on November 1, 1952.[9] and was interred at the Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.[10]

Partial filmography

References
  1. Most sources have 1880 as Bracken's birth year though the 1880 US Census dated June 8, 1880, lists him as a 9 month old child
  2. (Bertram Bracken) World Was I Draft Registration – Ancestry.com
  3. Bracken )1880 US Census – Ancestry.com
  4. (Bertram Bracken) Motion Picture Studio Directories, 1919 and 1921 – Ancestry.com
  5. Who's Who in the Film World: edited by Fred C. Justice, Tom R. Smith; Film World Publishing Co. 1914 p. 1821
  6. Cameo, Bridgeport Telegram; July 24, 1925 p. 5
  7. Bertram Bracken – Internet Movie Database
  8. Exits and Entrances, Oakland Tribune; May 28, 1936 p. 19
  9. (Bertram Bracken) California Death Index, Ancestry.com
  10. (Bertram Bracken) – Find a Grave Memorial
  11. Kinnard,Roy (1995). "Horror in Silent Films". McFarland and Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0036-6. Page 89.
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