1882-08-05 ( 142 years old ) in Trivignano, Veneto, Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew.
He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period.
Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917).
His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore.
Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual.
He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.
Movies
Honor Thy Father
1915-06-25
The Railroad Raiders of '62
1915-03-20
The Show Girl's Glove
1914-06-22
The Padrone's Plot
1913-12-01
The Vampire
1913-10-15
Shenandoah
1913-07-04
The Alien
1913-05-07
The Scimitar of the Prophet
1913-04-11
The War Correspondent
1913-03-08
The Message of the Palms
1913-02-26
The Peril of the Dance Hall
1913-02-17
Lady Peggy’s Escape
1913-02-08
The Prosecuting Attorney
1913-02-03
A Desperate Chance
1913-01-18
A Sawmill Hazard
1913-01-11
The Wives of Jamestown
1913-01-10
The Shaughraun
1912-12-23
Ireland, the Oppressed
1912-12-14
The Little Gluers
1912-11-18
From the Manger to the Cross
1912-10-03
A Prisoner of the Harem
1912-07-19
Tragedy of the Desert
1912-07-01
Captured by Bedouins
1912-06-26
An Arabian Tragedy
1912-06-19
The O'Neill
1912-01-12
The Colleen Bawn
1911-10-16
Rory O'More
1911-09-03
Railroad Raiders of '62
1911-06-15
The Fiddler’s Requiem
1911-05-03
A Sawmill Hero
1911-03-22
When Lovers Part
1910-12-23
The Lad from Old Ireland
1910-11-23
The Fight for Freedom
1908-07-17
Over the Hills to the Poor House
1908-06-26
The Black Hand
1906-03-29
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