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Personal Info
Known For
Directing
Birthday
July 14, 1889
Died
October 8, 1928
Place of Birth
West Point, Mississippi, USA
Also Known As
- Lawrence Semon
- Ларри Симон
- Lawrence "Larry" Semon
Larry Semon
0.2 Popularity
Biography
American silent film comedian whose hugely successful career disappeared virtually overnight, Larry Semon was the son of a traveling vaudeville magician, Zera the Great. He grew up in show business and was trained in stage comedy and acrobatics. A talent for drawing and cartooning led to art school and then work as a cartoonist for various New York City newspapers. The humor evident in his published cartoons prompted executives at New York's Vitagraph Studios to hire him as a gag writer in 1916. He quickly proved himself and was promoted to director for the Hughie Mack series of comedies. His background in magic helped him create interesting new gags for the comedian. When Mack left the studio in 1917, Semon took over the starring role himself. His one-reelers were quite successful, and Vitagraph sent him to California to participate in its new West Coast operation. He produced as well as wrote, starred in and directed his own films, at the same time also producing films for other comics. In the summer of 1928 Semon apparently fell ill with tuberculosis and simultaneously, it seems, suffered a nervous breakdown. He entered a sanitarium near San Bernardino, CA, where he reportedly died on October 8. However, an air of mystery surrounds his death, since his wife (and former co-star) Dorothy Dwan was allowed almost no contact with him and never saw his body, which was ordered cremated after a tightly secured funeral, which was carried out per Semon's "previous instructions" and to which almost no attendees were allowed. The whereabouts of Semon's cremated remains are to this day a mystery, and his widow professed until her death to be mystified by the circumstances of his passing. With enormous financial obligations facing him Larry Semon could easily have considered a dramatic escape of this sort from his creditors. Whether he did, or whether his death was the sad final chapter to a high-rising, briefly brilliant, but ultimately short-lived career may never be known for certain.
Known For
Credits
A Simple Sap
as It
1928
5.0
🎬
Dummies
as The Entertainer
1928
5.0
Oh, What a Man!
as The Detective
1927
0.0
The Stunt Man
as Larry
1927
7.8
Underworld
as Slippy Lewis
1927
7.0
Spuds
as Spuds
1927
0.0
The Perfect Clown
as Bert Larry
1925
6.2
The Cloudhopper
as Borden Rhoom / Getz A. Bunn
1925
4.5
Go Straight!
as Self
1925
0.0
🎬
The Dome Doctor
as Peter Pep
1925
1.0
The Wizard of Oz
as Scarecrow / Toymaker
1925
5.4
Kid Speed
as The Speed Kid
1924
5.2
Her Boy Friend
as Larry, the Chief's son
1924
5.5
The Girl in the Limousine
as Tony
1924
6.0
Trouble Brewing
as Government agent
1924
6.0
Horseshoes
as Larry
1923
4.6
Lightning Love
as Larry, a Suitor
1923
6.0
The Gown Shop
as Larry, a salesman
1923
4.0
The Barnyard
as Lay Zee, Farm Hand
1923
5.5
The Midnight Cabaret
as Larry, a Waiter
1923
6.0
🎬
No Wedding Bells
as Larry
1923
3.8
🎬
The Counter Jumper
as Larry, the Counter Jumper
1922
5.3
Golf
as The son
1922
5.8
A Pair of Kings
as King August / Stranger
1922
4.0
🎬
A Weakend Driver
1922
5.0
The Show
as The Prop Man / Gentle Onlooker
1922
6.8
The Sawmill
as The Dumb-Bell
1922
5.2
The Bell Hop
as The Bellhop
1921
6.8
The Fall Guy
as Larry, the Fall Guy
1921
4.2
The Bakery
as Larry, a Bakery Clerk
1921
4.1
The Rent Collector
as Larry, the Rent Collector
1921
6.4
The Hick
as Larry, the Hick
1921
5.5
🎬
The Sportsman
as The Sportsman
1921
6.5
The Suitor
as The Suitor
1920
3.8
The Stage Hand
as The Stage Hand
1920
6.0
School Days
as Joe
1920
6.0
The Fly-Cop
as The Fly Cop
1920
5.2
The Head Waiter
as The Head Waiter
1919
6.0
The Grocery Clerk
as The Grocery Clerk
1919
5.2
Dew Drop Inn
as Larry, the Detective
1919
0.0
Dull Care
as Larry, a Detective
1919
5.7
Between the Acts
as Larry, the Handy Man and a Drunkard
1919
3.8
The Simple Life
as A Farmer's Boy
1919
0.0
His Home Sweet Home
as The Husband
1919
4.0
The Star Boarder
as Star Boarder / Little Joe, Escaped Convict
1919
7.0
Passing the Buck
as The House Detective
1919
6.8
Well, I'll Be
as The Sheriff
1919
0.0
Scamps and Scandals
as Larry
1919
5.2
Traps and Tangles
as Detective Sparks
1919
0.0
Pluck and Plotters
as The Janitor
1918
5.0
Frauds and Frenzies
as Larry, First Prisoner
1918
5.8
Bears and Bad Men
as Larry Cutshaw
1918
5.1
Huns and Hyphens
as Larry
1918
5.9
Dunces and Dangers
as Larry
1918
4.5
Bathing Beauties and Big Boobs
as Lawrence
1918
5.3
Hindoos and Hazards
as Larry
1918
7.0
🎬
Romans and Rascals
as Caesar / A Minstrel
1918
4.5
Tough Luck and Tin Lizzies
as Larry
1917
4.8
🎬
Plagues And Puppy Love
as Larry
1917
5.6
Risks and Roughnecks
as Our Hero
1917
4.5
Gall and Golf
as O.U. Dubb
1917
4.8
🎬
Turks and Troubles
1917
0.0
🎬
Footlights and Fakers
1917
0.0
🎬
He Never Touched Me
1917
0.0
🎬
Somewhere in Any Place
1917
0.0
🎬
Big Bluffs and Bowling Balls
1917
0.0
🎬
Jolts and Jewelry
1917
0.0
Bullies and Bullets
1917
0.0
🎬
Walls and Wallops
1916
5.0