Paul Willis (actor)

Paul Willis (April 9, 1901 – November 3, 1960) was an American actor of the silent film era.

Paul Willis
Mae Marsh and Paul Willis in Nobody's Kid (1921).
BornApril 9, 1901
Chicago, Illinois
Died (aged 59)
Los Angeles, California

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois,[1] Willis began his career as a child actor in the 1910s.[2] He made his screen debut for Vitagraph Studios at the age of twelve in the title role of the 1913 drama-short Little Kaintuck.[3] He would go on to play a variety of juvenile roles, often opposite child actress Mildred Harris. One notable film starring Willis was the 1914 Edward Dillon-directed comedy-short Bill Goes in Business for Himself which also starred actor and future successful film director Tod Browning. In 1917 Willis appeared opposite the popular onscreen duo Harold Lockwood and May Allison in the romantic drama The Promise.

Through the 1910s and into the 1920s, Paul Willis would appear opposite such actors as Carmel Myers, Lester Cuneo, Broncho Billy Anderson and Mae Marsh.

Willis is possibly best recalled for his portrayal of Dickon Sowerby in the 1919 Gustav von Seyffertitz-directed film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel The Secret Garden for the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in which he appeared opposite actors Lila Lee, Richard Rosson and Spottiswoode Aitken.[2] The film is now considered lost.

Willis retired from acting at age 22. His final film appearance was in the 1923 Tom Forman-directed drama Money! Money! Money!, opposite Katherine MacDonald and Carl Stockdale.

Willis died at the age of 59 in Los Angeles, California in 1960.[1]

Partial filmography
  • Little Kaintuck (1913, Short) - Little Kaintuck
  • The Brute (1914, Short) - Ted Barton - Black's Son
  • Johanna, the Barbarian (1914, Short) - George - Johanna's Son
  • The Poor Folks' Boy (1914, Short) - Benny Benson
  • The Milkfed Boy (1914, Short) - The Widow's Milkfed Boy
  • Bill Goes in Business for Himself (1914, Short) - Bill's Other Friend
  • The Little Matchmaker (1915, Short) - Paul
  • A Man for All That (1915, Short) - The Young Boy
  • The Little Soldier Man (1915, Short) - Paul
  • A Rightful Theft (1915, Short) - Paul Brown - the Widow's Son
  • The Old Batch (1915, Short) - Johnny - the Adopted Son
  • The Little Lumberjack (1915, Short) - Paul - the Little Lumberjack
  • The Indian Trapper's Vindication (1915, Short) - Arnold King - their Son
  • Could a Man Do More? (1915, Short) - Richard Sherwood
  • The Fall of a Nation (1916) - Billy
  • The Promise (1917) - Charlie Manton
  • The Haunted Pajamas (1917) - Francis Billings
  • The Trouble Buster (1917) - 'Blackie' Moyle
  • Shootin' Mad (1918)
  • The Secret Garden (1919) - Dickon Sowerby
  • The Son-of-a-Gun (1919) - Buddy Brown
  • The Cry of the Weak (1919) - Budd
  • Nobody's Kid (1921) - John Maxwell
  • Thunderclap (1921) - Tommy
  • Money! Money! Money! (1923) - Lennie Hobbs (final film role)

References
  1. Movie Kids
  2. The New York Times Movies
  3. Special Collections Belk Library, Appalachian State University. Southern Mountaineers Filmography Archived August 4, 2012, at Archive.today

Bibliography
  • John Holmstrom, The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 19.


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