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(July 27, 1882 – May 25, 1974)
 Donald
Crisp was born George William Crisp in London, England, at the
family home in Bow (historically known as Stratford) on July 27,
1882.
While on the boat coming to America, Crisp's singing talents during
a ship's concert caught the attention of opera impresario John C.
Fisher who immediately offered him a job with his company. It was
while touring with the company in the United States and Cuba that
Crisp first became interested in the pursuing a career in the
theatre. By 1910 Crisp, now using the name Donald (he retained his
given name George as a middle name), was working as a stage manager
for the renowned entertainer, composer, playwright, and director
George M. Cohan. It was during this time he met and became friends
with soon-to-be legendary director D.W. Griffith, himself a former
stage actor who was now looking to direct films. When Griffith went
to seek his fortune in Hollywood in 1912 Crisp accompanied him.
From 1908 to 1930 Crisp, in addition to directing dozens of films,
would also appear in nearly 100 silent films, many in bit or small
parts. One notable exception was his casting by Griffith as General
Ulysses S. Grant in Griffith's landmark film Birth of a Nation in
1915. Another was his acclaimed role in the 1919 film Broken
Blossoms as the brutal and abusive father "Battling Burrows"
opposite Lillian Gish.
Crisp worked as an assistant to Griffith for several years and
learned much during this time from Griffith, an early master of
movie story telling who was influential in advancing a number early
techniques such as cross cutting in editing his films. This
experience fostered a similar passion in Crisp to become a director
in his own right. His first directing credit was Little Country
Mouse made in 1914. Owing to the assembly line manner in which films
were made in the early years of movie making, many directors (and
actors) would find themselves turning out a dozen or more films in a
single year. Over the next fifteen years Crisp would direct some 70
films in all, among the most notable are The Navigator (1924) with
Buster Keaton and Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) with Douglas Fairbanks.
With the advent of sound in films, coupled with his acknowledged
weariness for directing, Crisp moved entirely to acting after 1930
where he became a much sought after character actor. Throughout the
1930s and 1940s he appeared in a wide range of roles along side some
of the era's biggest stars including Clark Gable in Mutiny on the
Bounty (1935), Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939), and
Gregory Peck in Valley of Decision (1945).
A versatile supporting actor, Crisp could be equally good in either
lovable or sinister roles. During the same period he was playing
loving father figures or charming old codgers in classic films like
National Velvet and Lassie Come Home, he also turned in an acclaimed
performance as Commander Beach, the tormented presumptive
grandfather in Lewis Allen's The Uninvited (1944). Undoubtedly,
however, Crisp's most memorable role was as the taciturn but loving
father in How Green Was My Valley directed by John Ford. The film
received ten Oscar nominations, winning five, including Best Picture
with Crisp winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1941. |
