Ford SterlingFilmography

Behind Green Lights

Actors: Norman Foster, Judith Allen, Sidney Blackmer, Purnell Pratt, Theodore Von Eltz

Synopsis: Ruthless criminal attorney Raymond Cortell (Sidney Blackmer) is not above bending and twisting the law to suit his purposes, making him a well-paid pariah amongst his peers. Practically the only person who believes that Cortell's tactics are ethical is his faithful assistant Mary (Judith Allen) Read More

The Headline Woman

Actors: Heather Angel, Roger Pryor, Jack LaRue, Ford Sterling, Conway Tearle

Synopsis: This typically lightning-paced Mascot Studios production stars Heather Angel as the title character, a thrill-seeking socialite named Myrna Van Buren. During a raid on a gambling joint, Myrna witnesses the murder of gambler Johnny Corinti (Theodore Von Eltz). Hoping to get an exclusive story Read More

Alice in Wonderland

Actors: Charlotte Henry, Richard Arlen, Roscoe Ates, William Austin, Billy Barty

Synopsis: This star-laden version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. In England of the 19th century, young Alice finds that the mirror over the library fireplace opens into a strange world. She has odd adventures and changes Read More

Her Majesty Love

Actors: Marilyn Miller, Ben Lyon, W.C. Fields, Ford Sterling, Leon Errol

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, Fred Von Wellingen (Ben Lyon), the scion of a wealthy German family, has fallen in love with Lia Toerrek (Marilyn Miller), a poor but beautiful girl who has gladly agreed to marry him. However, when Fred's father Otmar (Ford Sterling) decides to hold a banquet to celebrate Read More

Bride of the Regiment

Actors: Vivienne Segal, Allan Prior, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Myrna Loy

Synopsis: A newlywed countess is asked to make a tremendous sacrifice for her husband and herself in this musical comedy-drama. Count Adrian Beltrami (Allan Prior) is an Italian nobleman who on the day of his wedding to Anna-Marie (Vivienne Segal) is driven from his estate by Austrian rebels, who turn his Read More

Kismet

Actors: Otis Skinner, Loretta Young, David Manners, Mary Duncan, Sidney Blackmer

Synopsis: Edward Knoblock's warhorse theatrical piece Kismet, first filmed in 1920, resurfaced as a talkie in 1930. Repeating the role he'd created on stage in 1911, Otis Skinner stars as Hajji, the wily Baghdad beggar who goes from rags to riches to rags again to riches again in the space of 24 hours. Read More

Show Girl in Hollywood

Actors: Alice White, Jack Mulhall, Blanche Sweet, Ford Sterling, John Miljan

Synopsis: This wonderful Warner Bros. epic was one of the earliest talkie musicals with a Hollywood background -- and the last of its kind until 1933's Sitting Pretty. Alice White stars as pert chorine Dixie Dugan, a character she'd played in 1928's Show Girl (and one which would spin off into a Read More

Spring Is Here

Synopsis: In this frothy musical, a lovely young woman is wooed by two men. One of them meets her father's approval so it is only natural that she attempt to elope with the other. Fortunately the good guy catches up with them before it is too late. Songs include: "Spring Is Here in Person," "I Married an Read More

The Fall of Eve

Actors: Patsy Ruth Miller, Ford Sterling, Gertrude Astor, Arthur Rankin, Jed Prouty

Synopsis: In this comedy, a businessman takes his client with a beautiful escort to a fancy nightclub where he plans to close an important business deal. Unfortunately, the client's joins them. The escort must then pretend to be the businessman's wife. Marital trouble ensues when the businessman's real Read More

The Girl in the Show

Actors: Bessie Love

Synopsis: In this drama, a traveling troupe of actors find themselves in danger of becoming unemployed when their manager up and leaves. Two of the actors decide to marry and settle down. The lead actor helps set up the rest of the troupe with some performances. He then destroys the new marriage. Later the Read More

Sally

Actors: Marilyn Miller, Alexander Gray, Joe E. Brown, T. Roy Barnes, Pert Kelton

Synopsis: Recreating her famous Broadway role from 1920, former Ziegfeld star Marilyn Miller took to the Warner Bros. soundstages with the energy that had made her a household name. Miller is Sally Bowling Green, an orphan named after a telephone exchange. Slaving away in a New York coffee shop, she dreams Read More

Sporting Goods

Actors: Richard Dix, Ford Sterling, Gertrude Olmstead, Philip Strange, Myrtle Stedman

Synopsis: Sports-loving inventor Richard Shelby (Richard Dix) develops an "Elasto-Tweed" golf suit then hits the road in hopes of making a few sales. Along the way, he meets Alice Elliott (Gertrude Olmstead), who mistakes Shelby for millionaire sportsman Timothy Stanfield (Claude King). Forced to go through Read More

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Actors: Ruth Taylor, Alice White, Ford Sterling, Holmes Herbert, Mack Swain

Synopsis: The present unavailability of 1928's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is especially frustrating for those who'd like to compare this first version of the classic Anita Loos comic novel to the 1953 Marilyn Monroe-Jane Russell remake. The blonde in question is Miss Lorelei Lee, a dumb-like-a-fox golddigger Read More

Oh, Kay

Actors: Colleen Moore, Lawrence Gray, Alan Hale, Ford Sterling

Wife Savers

Actors: Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton, ZaSu Pitts, Sally Blane, Tom Kennedy

Synopsis: Another in the popular series of Wallace Beery-Raymond Hatton farces, Wife Savers eschews the slapstick of the earlier efforts in favor of situation comedy. While stationed in Switzerland, soldiers Louis (Beery) and Rodney (Hatton) fall in love with local damsel Colette (Sally Blane), much to the Read More

Chicken a La King

Actors: Nancy Carroll, George Meeker, Arthur Stone, Ford Sterling, Carol Holloway

Synopsis: Chicken a la King was based on Mr. Romeo, a play by Harry Wagstaff Gribble. When his brother-in-law Oscar Barrows (Arthur Stone) announces his plans to marry chorus girl Maisie DeVoe (Nancy Carroll), priggish Horace Trundle (Ford Sterling) is aghast. How can Oscar throw his life away on a girl who Read More

Caution: Funny Men at Work!

Synopsis: These vintage silent comedies from Mack Sennett include A Strong Revenge (1913) A Sea Dog's Tale (1926), Sailor, Beware (1927) and The Channel Swimmer (1928). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Drums of the Desert

Actors: Ford Sterling, Warner Baxter

Synopsis: Filmed on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona, this silent Paramount Western was yet another screen adaptation of a story by popular pulp writer Zane Grey. Mustachioed Warner Baxter, who would earn an Academy Award two years later for playing The Cisco Kid in the movie In Old Arizona, stars Read More

Casey at the Bat

Actors: Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, ZaSu Pitts, Sterling Holloway, Spec O'Donnell

Synopsis: Because of its heavy reliance on slapstick (a no-no for features in the late '20s), this picture, very loosely based on the Ernest Thayer poem, got mixed reviews. But with comedians like Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, ZaSu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway in the cast, it's a surprise that anyone Read More

Figures Don't Lie

Actors: Esther Ralston, Richard Arlen, Ford Sterling, Eulalie Jensen, Natalie Kingston

Synopsis: Figures Don't Lie is a showcase for the physical charms of lovely Esther Ralston, who in one scene proves the accuracy of the title by donning a fetching one-piece bathing suit. The main story concerns wise-guy insurance salesman Richard Arlen, who through a combination of hard work and sheer gall Read More

For the Love of Mike

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Ben Lyon, George Sidney, Ford Sterling, Hugh Cameron

Synopsis: Recently fired by comedian Harry Langdon, young director Frank Capra found it difficult to line up any new projects. He was finally afforded the opportunity to direct a New York-based production originally titled Hell's Kitchen, but eventually released as For the Love of Mike. The story is the old Read More

Mike

Actors: Sally O'Neil, William Haines, Charlie Murray, Ned Sparks

Synopsis: Sally O'Neil is "Mike," the hoydenish daughter of railroad-construction foreman Charles Murray. Our heroine tries to help out Harlan (William Haines), who's been having trouble finding work since serving a prison term for a crime he didn't commit. She arranges for Harlan to get a job on her dad's Read More

Miss Brewster's Millions

Actors: Bebe Daniels, Warner Baxter, Ford Sterling, André de Beranger

Synopsis: George Barr McCutcheon's novel had already been filmed a couple of times (and would be filmed several times more after the advent of talkies). To make it a vehicle for Bebe Daniels, writer Monty Brice threw the story out the window and just kept the basic premise. Polly Brewster (Daniels) is Read More

Everybody's Acting

Actors: Betty Bronson, Ford Sterling, Louise Dresser, Lawrence Gray, Henry B. Walthall

Synopsis: This sentimental comedy begins when four middle-aged actors jointly adopt an orphaned baby girl, raising her in a backstage milieu. The girl grows up to become Doris Poole (Betty Bronson), and it is hoped by her foster daddies that she will become an actress herself. When Doris falls in love with Read More

Road to Glory

Actors: May McAvoy

Synopsis: After several years' experience as a screenwriter, Howard Hawks made his directorial debut with Fox Films' The Road to Glory. Though based on a story by Hawks, the film that emerged bore little resemblance to the director's original concept. Judith (May McCoy) and David (Leslie Fenton) are a pair Read More

The Show-Off

Actors: Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Louise Brooks, Gregory Kelly

Synopsis: This first film version of George Kelly's stage comedy The Show Off stars former Keystone Kop Ford Sterling in the title role. Though he's only a thirty-dollar-a-week clerk, Aubrey Piper (Sterling) is an incorrigible braggart, brimming full of grandiose get-rich-quick schemes. Quickly ingratiating Read More

Stranded in Paris

Actors: Bebe Daniels, James Hall, Ford Sterling, Iris Stuart, Mabel Julienne Scott

Synopsis: Herman J. Mankiewicz was one of the screenwriters of the sprightly Bebe Daniels vehicle Stranded in Paris. Daniels is cast as New York salesgirl Julie McFadden, who wins a free trip to Paris, sponsored by a French perfume company. En route to Europe by boat, Julie enjoys a shipboard romance with Read More

Good and Naughty

Actors: Pola Negri, Tom Moore, Miss Du Pont, Ford Sterling, Stuart Holmes

Synopsis: Mal St. Clair, one of the best of the many imitation Lubitsches of the 1920s, called the shots on Good and Naughty. Pola Negri stars as wealthy and beautiful Germaine Morris, who loses out on a job with a prestigious decorating firm. It seems that the firm's owner, Gerald Gray (Tom Moore) has a Read More

The American Venus

Actors: Esther Ralston, Lawrence Gray, Ford Sterling, Louise Brooks

Synopsis: The physical attributes of lovely leading lady Esther Ralston are amply displayed in American Venus. This satire of beauty contests gets under way when two competing cosmetic companies seek the endorsement of the winner of the American Venus pageant (Ralston, of course). Complication ensue when it Read More

Trouble with Wives

Actors: Florence Vidor, Tom Moore, Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling, Lucy Beaumont

Synopsis: Former Mack Sennett comedian Ford Sterling practically steals this show in this Malcolm St. Clair-directed picture, which Moving Picture World called, "As spicy as a French domestic farce and yet as clean as a hound's tooth." William Hyatt (Tom Moore) runs an exclusive shoe store, and his happy Read More

Stagestruck

Actors: Gloria Swanson, Lawrence Gray, Gertrude Astor, Ford Sterling

Synopsis: Although she is largely remembered for her lavish screen outfits and highly dramatic vehicles, Gloria Swanson started off her career as a comedienne, and even at the height of her fame, she sometimes performed in films that played down her wardrobe and emphasized her comic ability. Stage Struck Read More

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

Actors: Percy Marmont, Alice Joyce, Virginia Marshall, Helena D'Algy, Ford Sterling

Synopsis: Julian (Percy Marmont) is an artist with a restless soul. When he runs into Edith, his childhood sweetheart (Alice Joyce), he becomes inspired and marries her. After several years he feels himself growing bored. Inspiration is just about nonexistent, in spite of the presence of Janet, the couple's Read More

Steppin' Out

Synopsis: Dorothy Revier took a break from her dramatic roles and starred in this Columbia-produced farce. Henry Brodman (Tom Ricketts) is angry that his son, Henry Jr. (Robert Agnew), has secretly wed and so he refuses to meet his new daughter-in-law. Meanwhile, John Durant (Ford Sterling), a business Read More

My Lady's Lips

Actors: Frank Keenan, Clara Bow, William Powell, Matthew Betz

Synopsis: Few leading ladies appeared in as many films in 1926 as the vivacious Clara Bow. In My Lady's Lips, Bow plays the feisty daughter of newspaper magnate Frank Keenan. And that's about all she does, since the bulk of the film concerns the trials and tribulations of female crook Alyce Mills. For the Read More

Wild Oranges

Actors: Frank Mayo, Virginia Valli, Ford Sterling, Charles A. Post

Synopsis: It's a pity that there are apparently no longer any public copies available of this suspense drama by King Vidor because at the time of its release, its sophisticated approach to filmmaking impressed critics and fans alike. It takes place at a bay near the Georgia swamps, where John Woolfolk Read More

He Who Gets Slapped

Actors: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Tully Marshall

Synopsis: This compelling and exceptionally well-executed silent drama, from new MGM studio executives Irving Thalburg and producer Louis B. Mayer is based on a highly-regarded Russian play and features the studio's biggest stars, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert and Norma Shearer. Directed by noted Swedish Read More

Galloping Fish

Actors: Louise Fazenda, Sidney Chaplin, Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, John Steppling

Synopsis: A trained seal stole the limelight in this silent farce produced by Thomas H. Ince. Sydney Chaplin, brother of Charlie, starred as newlywed Freddy Wetherill, whose child-bride, Hyla (Lucille Ricksen), sends him packing after a quarrel. Freddy takes up with Undine (Louise Fazenda), "The Diving Read More

So Big

Actors: Colleen Moore, John Bowers, Ben Lyon, Wallace Beery

Synopsis: Colleen Moore may have been The Perfect Flapper, but as an actress she longed to spread her creative wings. She insisted on portraying the lead character in this adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel -- a 19th century girl doomed to a life of drudgery, who ages over 30 years throughout the course of Read More

Love and Glory

Actors: Charles de Roche, Wallace MacDonald, Madge Bellamy, Ford Sterling, Gibson Gowland

Synopsis: The novel We Are French by Percy Poore Sheehan and Robert Davis was filmed in 1916 as The Bugler of Algiers. Rupert Julian was both director and star. Here, eight years later, he directs it again, but Charles De Roche takes over the role he played, that of Pierre Dupont. Dupont and Anatole Picard (Wallace MacDonald Read More

The Spoilers

Actors: Milton Sills, Anna Q. Nilsson, Barbara Bedford, Robert Edeson, Ford Sterling

Synopsis: This was the second silent version of the oft-filmed Rex Beach novel (made three more times in the sound era). Roy Glennister (Milton Sills) and his partner, Joe Dextry (Robert Edeson), are tricked out of their Alaskan gold mines by a pair of crooked politicians. Alex McNamara (Noah Beery Sr.) and Read More

Day of Faith

Actors: Eleanor Boardman, Tyrone Power, Raymond Griffith, Wallace MacDonald, Ford Sterling

Synopsis: This drama was an early starring vehicle for fledgling star (Eleanor Boardman), and it was given a haunting directoral approach by Tod Browning, who hadn't yet devoted himself completely to horror films. After the death of philanthropist Blank Hendricks (Winter Hall), Jane Maynard (Boardman) Read More

Hollywood

Actors: Luke Cosgrave, George K. Arthur, Ruby Lafayette, Eleanor Lawson

Synopsis: The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or Read More

Stranger's Banquet

Actors: Hobart Bosworth, Claire Windsor, Rockliffe Fellowes, Ford Sterling, Eleanor Boardman

Synopsis: As his first picture for the Goldwyn studios, director Marshall Neilan decided to adapt Donn Byrne's sprawling novel to the screen. He put together an amazing cast, which included such luminaries as Jean Hersholt, Philo McCullough, Stuart Holmes, Claude Gillingwater and Hobart Bosworth, but a Read More

Mack Sennett Comedies: Vol. 1

Synopsis: This anthology is comprised of several short chucklers from the King of Slapstick comedy Mack Sennett. These shorts feature Ben Turpin and those crazy Keystone Cops. The titles include: The Eyes Have It, The Cannon Ball, The Desperate Scoundrel and Pride of Pikeville. A second volume follows. Read More

Love, Honor and Behave

Actors: Charlie Murray, Ford Sterling, Phyllis Haver, Marie Prevost, George O'Hara

Synopsis: Marie Prevost and George O'Hara are two newlyweds who go before a judge seeking a divorce in this slapstick comedy. His Honor (Charles Murray) sees photographic evidence from the wife with the husband's arms around another woman. He claims he was only helping the woman over the fence and he is Read More

Yankee Doodle in Berlin

Actors: Bothwell Browne, Ford Sterling, Malcolm St. Clair, Bert Roach, Eva Thatcher

Synopsis: Instead of his usual two-reel format, Mack Sennett made a five-reel, feature-length film to spoof the recently ended World War. The Americans use the Kaiser's penchant for a pretty face to steal some secret plans from him. They disguise one of their captains, Bob (Bothwell Browne), as a seductress Read More

The Desperate Scoundrel

His Wild Oats

Crew: Director

Synopsis: A lot of famed silent comedians -- among them Charles Chaplin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Harry Langdon -- worked for Mack Sennett before breaking out on their own and achieving superstardom. One actor who left Sennett and came back was Ford Sterling, a solid funnyman who just missed having the Read More

Keystone Comedies, Vol. 4

Synopsis: Keystone Comedies is a collection of silent film shorts produced by the legendary Mack Sennett. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

A Film Johnnie

Synopsis: In Charlie Chaplin's fifth Keystone comedy we get a look inside the famous laugh factory. Charlie is a movie fan and we first see him creating havoc at a theatre where he gets too involved with the action on the screen and the beautiful actress in the film. Ejected from the theatre, he proceeds to Read More

Tango Tangles

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Edgar Kennedy, Chester Conklin

Synopsis: Tango Tangles is an impromptu Keystone comedy which exploited the current "tango craze." A tango contest and exhibition prompted Mack Sennett to send a crew out to a local dance hall where some of the film was shot. Charlie Chaplin appears in a tuxedo, sans the famous Tramp makeup and costume, as Read More

Between Showers

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Ford Sterling, Emma Clifton, Chester Conklin, Sadie Lampe

Synopsis: In his fourth film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin was assigned for the last time to Henry Lehrman, his first director at Keystone. It was Chaplin's first film with the ostensible star of the film, Ford Sterling, who had announced that he would be leaving Keystone for a more lucrative deal well Read More

The Speed Kings

Synopsis: This is a prime example of the way Keystone mixed real life with comic mayhem. Real racecar drivers Teddy Tetzlaff and Earl Cooper play themselves in this short flick. Ford Sterling plays the father who wants his daughter (Mabel Normand) to marry Cooper. Normand, however, is a Tetzlaff fan. With Read More

Rivals