|
(January 11, 1887 - February 18,
1963)
 When
growing up, Blue built up his physique to become a football player.
He not only played football, but he was also a fireman, railroad
worker, coal miner, cowpuncher, ranch hand, circus rider,
lumberjack, and finally, a day laborer at D.W. Griffith Studios.
In his first movie of 1915, The Birth of a Nation, he became a
stuntman and an extra of the movie. In his next movie, he starred in
another small part in the movie, Intolerance:Love's Struggle the
ages. Gradually moving to supporting roles for both D.W. Griffith
and Cecil B. DeMille, Blue earned his breakthrough role as Danton in
Orphans of the Storm, starring sisters, Lillian Gish and Dorothy
Gish. Then he rose to stardom as a rugged romantic lead along with
top leading actresses such as Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, and Norma
Shearer. Things was looking up for one Hollywood's leading men when
he became one of the few silent stars to survive the talkie
revolution, when movies transformed from silent films to sound until
in 1929, he lost his investment in 1929 during the stock market
crash.
He rebuilt his career as a character actor, working until his
retirement in 1954. One of his more memorable roles was the sheriff
in Key Largo.
Monte Blue has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6286
Hollywood Blvd. |
