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(January 11, 1886 - October 11, 1971)
 Born
in Oskaloosa, Iowa, he was one of three children who grew up in a
violent household. Chester Conklin ran away from home and headed to
Des Moines where he found employment as a hotel bellhop but then
moved to Omaha, Nebraska where his interest in live theatre led to a
career in comedic acting. He spent several years touring with stock
companies, doing vaudeville shows, as well as clown work with a
travelling circus.
A short, stocky man, as part of his vaudeville act Conklin grew a
large moustache that later in film became a trademark. While in
Venice, California during the 1913 winter break, the then
twenty-seven-year-old Conklin went to Keystone Studios and applied
for a job. Hired, Henry Lehrman directed him in his first film, a
comedy short titled "Cupid in a Dental Parlor." After making several
films, in 1914 Conklin appeared in "Making a Living," in which
Charlie Chaplin made his film debut. He would go on to make more
than a dozen films with Chaplin while at Keystone and the two became
lifelong friends. Years later, Conklin would perform with Chaplin
two more times in feature-length films, first in 1936 in Modern
Times and in 1940's The Great Dictator.
However, while at Keystone, Conklin became most famous when he was
teamed up with the robust comic Mack Swain to make a series of
comedies. With Swain as "Ambrose" and Conklin as the grand
mustachioed "Walrus", they performed these roles in several films
including "The Battle of Ambrose and Walrus" and "Love, Speed and
Thrills," both made in 1915. Beyond these "Ambrose & Walrus"
comedies, the two appeared together in twenty-six different films.
In 1920, Chester Conklin went to Fox Film Corporation then to Famous
Players-Lasky Corporation where he worked for several years doing
comedy shorts. In between, he had a significant role in director
Erich von Stroheim's acclaimed 1924 MGM production, Greed and in
1928 in the Christie Film Company version of Tillie's Punctured
Romance with W.C. Fields. In the 1930s, Conklin made the transition
to talkies, and although he would continue to act for another thirty
years, age and the shift in moviegoer tastes to more sophisticated
comedy saw his roles limited to secondary or smaller parts.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Chester Conklin
has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street. |
