Sidney Olcott (4)

Sidney Olcott (Toronto, Canadá, 20 de septiembre de 1873-Hollywood, Estados Unidos, 16 de diciembre de 1949) fue un productor, director, actor y guionista cinematográfico canadiense.

Biografía
Su verdadero nombre era John Sidney Alcott, nació en Toronto, Ontario (Canadá). Llegó a ser uno de los primeros grandes directores de la industria cinematográfica. Con el deseo de ser actor, de joven viajó a Nueva York, donde trabajó en el teatro hasta 1904, para posteriormente actuar en el cine con los Biograph Studios. Al poco tiempo dirigía películas y llegó a ser director general de Biograph.

En 1907 Frank Marion y Samuel Long, con apoyo financiero de George Kleine, formaron una nueva compañía cinematográfica llamada Kalem Company, consiguiendo que el cada vez más conocido Sidney Olcott trabajara para ella. Tras dirigir varios títulos de éxito para Kalem, incluyendo "Ben-Hur" (1907) con su dramática escena de la carrera de carros, Olcott se convirtió en director general.

En 1910 Sidney Olcott demostró su creatividad haciendo que Kalem Studios fuera la primera productora en viajar fuera de los Estados Unidos para filmar. De ascendencia irlandesa, y conociendo el gran peso de la audiencia irlandesa en los Estados Unidos, Olcott viajó a Irlanda, donde dirigió un film llamado "A Lad from Old Ireland." Llegó a hacer más de una docena de películas allí, aunque el inicio de la Primera Guerra Mundial le impidió continuar con sus planes de construir unos estudios permanentes en Beaufort, Condado de Kerry.

En 1912 viajó a Palestina para rodar el primer film de cinco rollos jamás filmado, y titulado "From the Manger To the Cross", la historia de Jesús de Nazaret. El concepto del film fue motivo de escepticismo al principio, pero cuando se estrenó fue alabado por la crítica y por el público. Con un coste de 35.000 dólares, "From the Manger to the Cross" dio a Kalem Company unos beneficios de casi un millón de dólares, una cantidad extraordinaria en 1912. La industria cinematográfica lo aclamó como el mejor director, y la película influenció en el trabajo de muchos grandes directores como D.W. Griffith y Cecil B. DeMille. "From the Manger to the Cross" es todavía utilizada hoy en día para enseñar las primeras técnicas cinematográficas. En 1998 el film fue seleccionado para entrar en el National Film Registry de la Biblioteca del Congreso de Estados Unidos.

A pesar de las ganancias obtenidas por los dueños del estudio, el sueldo de Olcott no se mejoró, por lo que finalmente optó por abandonar su trabajo, haciendo algún film de manera ocasional hasta que en 1915 su amiga canadiense Mary Pickford le animó a formar parte con ella de Famous Players (posteriormente Paramount Pictures). La Kalem Company nunca se recuperó del error de perder a Olcott, y en 1916 la empresa fue adquirida por Vitagraph Studios.

Olcott fue miembro fundador de la división de la Costa Este de Motion Picture Directors Association, una precursora de la actual Directors Guild of America, siendo posteriormente su presidente. Al igual que el resto de la industria, Sidney Olcott se mudó a Hollywood, California, donde dirigió muchas más películas de éxito con las principales estrellas del momento.

Olcott se casó con la actriz Valentine Grant, estrella de su film de 1916 "The Innocent Lie."

Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Olcott abrió su casa en Los Ángeles a soldados visitantes de la Commonwealth Británica. En su libro Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood, el escritor Charles Foster habla de este período de la vida de Olcott.

Sidney Olcott falleció en 1949 en el domicilio del actor y director Robert G. Vignola en Hollywood, California. wiki

Director (193 credits)
1927 The Claw
1926 La tierra del moro
1926 Como un gentleman
1926 Ranson's Folly
1925 The Best People
1925 Not So Long Ago
1925 Salome of the Tenements
1925 La hechicera
1924 La única mujer
1924 Monsieur Beaucaire
1924 The Humming Bird
1923 La diosa verde
1923 El nueva York de antaño (Little Old New York)
1922 Timothy's Quest
1921 Pardon My French
1921 God's Country and the Law
1921 The Right Way
1920 Scratch My Back
1919 Marriage for Convenience
1918 The Belgian
1916 The Daughter of MacGregor
1916 The Smugglers
1916 The Innocent Lie
1916 Poor Little Peppina
1916 Diplomacy
1916 My Lady Incog.
1915 The Taint (Short)
1915 The Ghost of Twisted Oaks (Short)
1915 Madame Butterfly
1915 Nan o' the Backwoods (Short)
1915 The Seven Sisters
1915 All for Old Ireland (Short)
1915 The Moth and the Flame
1915 The Railroad Raiders of '62 (Short) (archive footage, uncredited)
1915 The Gap of Dunloe (Short)
1915 New York and Its People (Short)
1915 Famous Rulers of the World (Short)
1915 Famous Men of Today (Short)
1915 Great Americans Past and Present (Short)
1914 The Little Rebel (Short)
1914 The Idle Rich (Short)
1914 The Mother of Men (Short)
1914 Tricking the Government (Short)
1914 In the Hands of the Brute (Short)
1914 Captured by Mexicans (Short)
1914 Come Back to Erin (Short)
1914 When Men Would Kill (Short)
1914 The Eye of the Government (Short)
1914 Through the Fires of Temptation (Short)
1914 For Ireland's Sake (Short)
1913 The Octoroon (Short)
1913 Uncle Tom's Cabin (Short)
1913 Perils of the Sea (Short)
1913 In the Clutches of the Ku Klux Klan (Short)
1913 In the Power of a Hypnotist (Short)
1913 When Men Hate (Short)
1913 A Daughter of the Confederacy (Short)
1913 Lady Peggy's Escape (Short)
1913 The Wives of Jamestown (Short)
1912 My Hielan' Lassie (Short)
1912 Shaun Rhue (Short)
1912 The Vengeance Mark (Short)
1912 The Shaughraun (Short)
1912 Ireland, the Oppressed (Short)
1912 Conway, the Kerry Dancer (Short)
1912 The Mayor from Ireland (Short)
1912 The Kerry Gow (Short)
1912 Del pesebre a la cruz (From the Manger to the Cross / Jesus of Nazareth)
1912 Ancient Temples of Egypt (Short documentary)
1912 The Poacher's Pardon (Short)
1912 Along the River Nile (Documentary short)
1912 Down Through the Ages (Short)
1912 A Prisoner of the Harem (Short)
1912 Winning a Widow (Short)
1912 Tragedy of the Desert (Short)
1912 Captured by Bedouins (Short)
1912 An Arabian Tragedy (Short)
1912 Making Photoplays in Egypt (Documentary short)
1912 Dust of the Desert (Short)
1912 Missionaries in Darkest Africa (Short)
1912 Luxor, Egypt (Documentary short)
1912 The Fighting Dervishes of the Desert (Short)
1912 Captain Rivera's Reward (Short)
1912 You Remember Ellen (Short)
1912 Far from Erin's Isle (Short)
1912 The Vagabonds (Short)
1912 His Mother (Short)
1912 The O'Neill (Short)
1912 A Southern Boy of '61 (Short)
1912 The O'Kalems' Visit to Killarney (Documentary short)
1911 Last Day of School (Short)
1911 Tangled Lives (Short)
1911 Molly Pitcher (Short)
1911 Arrah-Na-Pogue
1911 Among the Irish Fisher Folk (Documentary short)
1911 The Franciscan Friars of Killarney, Ireland (Documentary short)
1911 The Fishermaid of Ballydavid (Short)
1911 The Colleen Bawn (Short)
1911 Losing to Win (Short)
1911 Rory O'More (Short)
1911 Special Messenger (Short)
1911 The Romance of a Dixie Belle (Short) (unconfirmed)
1911 To the Aid of Stonewall Jackson (Short) (unconfirmed)
1911 Railroad Raiders of '62 (Short)
1911 The Love of Summer Morn (Short)
1911 In Blossom Time (Short)
1911 The Carnival (Short)
1911 When the Dead Return (Short)
1911 The Fiddle's Requiem (Short)
1911 In Old Florida (Short)
1911 By a Woman's Wit (Short)
1911 The Lass Who Couldn't Forget (Short)
1911 A Saw Mill Hero (Short)
1911 A War Time Escape (Short) (unconfirmed)
1911 An Irish Honeymoon (Short)
1911 Sailor Jack's Reformation (Short)
1911 The Open Road (Short)
1911 Little Sister (Short)
1911 Robbie and the Redskins (Short)
1911 Her Chum's Brother (Short)
1911 For Love of an Enemy (Short)
1910 The Stranger (Short)
1910 The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg (Short)
1910 The Little Spreewald Maiden (Short)
1910 Her Indian Mother (Short)
1910 Seth's Temptation (Short)
1910 A Lad from Old Ireland (Short)
1910 For a Woman's Honor (Short)
1910 The Education of Elizabeth (Short)
1910 The Engineer's Sweetheart (Short)
1910 The Heart of Edna Leslie (Short)
1910 The Evil Artist or a Girl Wronged (Short)
1910 The Conspiracy of Pontiac; or, At Fort Detroit in 1763 (Short)
1910 The Cow Puncher's Sweetheart (Short)
1910 The Canadian Moonshiners (Short)
1910 The Perversity of Fate (Short)
1910 A Colonial Belle (Short)
1910 The Wanderers (Short)
1910 The Castaways (Short) (unconfirmed)
1910 The Navajo's Bride (Short)
1910 The Cliff Dwellers (Short)
1910 The Seminole Halfbreeds (Short)
1910 The Aztec Sacrifice (Short)
1910 The Egret Hunter (Short)
1910 The Sacred Turquoise of the Zuni (Short)
1910 The Bravest Girl in the South (Short)
1910 The Forager (Short) (unconfirmed)
1910 The Further Adventures of the Girl Spy (Short)
1910 The Seminole's Trust (Short)
1910 Her Soldier Sweetheart (Short)
1910 The Indian Scout's Vengeance (Short)
1910 The Miser's Child (Short)
1910 The Feud (Short)
1910 The Confederate Spy (Short)
1910 The Stepmother (Short)
1910 The Romance of a Trained Nurse (Short)
1910 The Deacon's Daughter (Short)
1909 The Slave to Drink (Short)
1909 The Cardboard Baby (Short)
1909 The Law of the Mountains (Short)
1909 Rally 'Round the Flag (Short)
1909 The Geisha Who Saved Japan (Short)
1909 The Governor's Daughter (Short)
1909 Dora (Short)
1909 The Cattle Thieves (Short)
1909 The Girl Scout: or, The Canadian Contingent in the Boer War (Short)
1909 A Brother's Wrong (Short)
1909 The Man and the Girl (Short)
1909 The Hand-Organ Man (Short)
1909 The Mystery of the 'Sleeper' Trunk (Short)
1909 The Winning Boat (Short)
1909 Hiram's Bride (Short)
1909 The Pay Car (Short)
1909 The Conspirators: An Incident of a South American Revolution (Short)
1909 Queen of the Quarry (Short)
1909 Out of Work (Short)
1909 The Tom-Boy (Short)
1909 The Girl Spy: An Incident of the Civil War (Short)
1909 The Cracker's Bride (Short)
1909 The Seminole's Vengeance: or, The Slave Catchers of Florida (Short)
1909 The Old Soldier's Story (Short)
1909 The Octoroon: The Story of the Turpentine Forest (Short)
1909 A Florida Feud: or, Love in the Everglades (Short)
1908 Hannah Dustin: The Border Wars of New England (Short)
1908 David and Goliath (Short)
1908 The Mystery of the Bride, in Black and White (Short)
1908 The Scarlet Letter (Short)
1908 Henry Hudson (Short)
1908 Way Down East (Short)
1908 The Days of '61 (Short)
1907 The Sleigh Belle (Short)
1907 Ben Hur (Short)
1907 The Wooing of Miles Standish (Short)
IMDB

Enlaces completados:
OK Ben Hur (Sidney Olcott, 1907)
OK From the Manger to the Cross (Sidney Olcott, 1912)
OK Little Old New York (Sidney Olcott, 1923)
OK Monsieur Beaucaire (Sidney Olcott, 1924)

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