Wallace MacDonald
1891 - 1978Wallace Archibald MacDonald (5 May 1891, Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada - 30 October 1978, Santa Barbara, California) was a Canadian silent film actor, also a film producer.
MacDonald started as a messenger boy with the Dominion Steel Company in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He later worked up to teller with the Royal Bank in Sydney before the bank transferred him to Vancouver, British Columbia. From there, he moved to California, where he acted on the stage before making inroads into Hollywood.
MacDonald initially began as an actor in films in 1914 and appeared in almost 120 motion pictures between then and 1932. He had notable roles in such films as Youth's Endearing Charm in 1916 working with Mary Miles Minter and Harry von Meter.
Late in World War I he returned briefly to Nova Scotia to enlist in the 10th Canadian Siege Battery where he assisted in recruiting for the Canadian Army. With the advent of sound, MacDonald's acting career diminished, and most of his roles between 1927 and 1932 went uncredited. He retired from acting in 1932 to concentrate on script writing. However, by 1937 he had recognized the potential of film production. It is in his role of producer that MacDonald is now probably best remembered. He produced well over 100 films between 1937 and 1959.
He died in 1978. Sometimes he is mistaken as a brother of actor Francis McDonald. Though both resembled one another and were born in 1891, they were born three months apart and spelled their surnames differently.
The Charmer
Sidney Olcott
Pola Negri, Wallace MacDonald
A wild dancer in a cheap Seville cafe, Mariposa is taken to New York by Señor Sprott, a prominent theatrical producer. Billed as "The Charmer," Mariposa becomes the toast of two continents. Among her most ardent admirers are Ralph Bayne, a millionaire playboy, and his chauffeur, Dan Murray, both of whom first met her in Spain. Madly in love with Bayne, Mrs. Sedgwick invites Mariposa and her mother to a weekend party in a deliberate attempt to humiliate the beautiful dancer. Bayne quickly realizes that Mariposa is out of place in high society, and, determining to make her his mistress, takes her home with him. Mrs. Sedgwick unexpectedly arrives at Bayne's swank suite ( followed by her suspicious husband), and Mariposa protects the society woman's reputation at the cost of her own.
The Charmer
New Lives for Old
Clarence G. Badger
Betty Compson, Wallace MacDonald
Olympe is a cabaret dancer who offers her services to France when her country goes to war. She becomes a spy and provides valuable intelligence information during World War I by winning the confidence of a German officer. Hugh Warren is the American soldier who falls for Olympe. She allows him to believe she is a simple peasant and reveals nothing of her career as a spy. The two fall in love and are married, but the villainous German agent De Montinrich reveals to her husband's family that she is a tawdry club dancer. Unable to reveal her role in espionage, Olympe is ostracized by her friends and family. When the French government honors Olympe for her wartime bravery, her family no longer considers her a blemish on their sterling reputation.
New Lives for Old
Curlytop
Maurice Elvey
Shirley Mason, Wallace MacDonald
Big Bill Branigan, one of the tough characters of London's Limehouse district, falls in love with Curlytop because of her sweet innocence. He leaves his sweetheart, Bessie, for her and resolves to go straight. When he sets out to find a job, the jealous Bessie gets Curlytop drunk and hacks off her long curls.
Curlytop
Wife Trouble
Wallace MacDonald
Robert Graves, Muriel Evans
Graves has a model come and demonstrate some lingerie at his office, with a view toward buying a birthday gift for his overly jealous wife. Said wife appears just at the wrong moment, and the scantily clad model has to go to extreme measures to avoid being caught, even ducking out on a fire escape.
Wife Trouble
Youth's Endearing Charm
William C. Dowlan
Mary Miles Minter, Wallace MacDonald
Orphan Mary Wade, is the ward of a family of farmers who keep her busy with drudgery. Mr. Jenkins, the head of the household, makes advances to Mary, she flees to the city with her dog Zippy and lands in court for imitating a beggar who pretends to be blind.
Youth's Endearing Charm
Are All Men Alike?
Phil Rosen
May Allison, Wallace MacDonald
In this comedy-drama, May Allison plays Teddy Hayden, a very independent society miss. When her childhood sweetheart, Gerry West (Wallace MacDonald) takes her to a Greenwich Village cafe, she thinks she's found where she belongs. So she spends all her time there and gets herself in a load of trouble.
Are All Men Alike?
The Day of Faith
Tod Browning
Eleanor Boardman, Tyrone Power Sr.
Jane Maynard opens a mission in memory of philanthropist Bland Hendricks. John Anstell, son of a powerful and selfish millionaire, Michael Anstell, falls in love with Jane, to the old man's disapproval. Anstell tries to undermine Jane's work by hiring reporter Tom Barnett to write an unfavorable story about the mission.
The Day of Faith
The Last Flight
William Dieterle
Richard Barthelmess, David Manners
Cary, Shep, Bill, and Francis are pilots during World War I. The four friends, haunted by the devastation of the war, head to Paris instead of home, where they meet Nikki, an eccentric and wealthy young woman. Nikki is drawn to Cary, and the five friends, tagged by the boorish reporter, Frink, drink their way from Paris to Lisbon.
The Last Flight
The Mayor of Hell
Archie Mayo
James Cagney, Madge Evans
Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.
The Mayor of Hell
Hello Trouble
Lambert Hillyer
Buck Jones, Lina Basquette
After killing a friend in a gunfight, Jeff Douglas quits the Texas Rangers. He arrives at the Kenyon ranch just as Jonathan Kenyon apparently commits suicide. He and Janet Kenyon then become the new half owners. At first, he refuses to wear a gun and is believed to be a coward, but as trouble mounts, he straps it on once again.
Hello Trouble
