Harry Langdon

Date of Birth: June 15, 1884
Place of Birth: Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

Harry Langdon Biography

EasyEdit

(What's this?)

What's going on here?
Flixster members are collaborating to create the definitive resource for Harry Langdon information on the Internet. We're adding all the images, info, and ideas that best tell this actor's unique story. To add your knowledge of Harry Langdon, just log in and click the EasyEdit button at the top of the wiki pages. (Click here for help.)

Harry Langdon mini-bio: Langdon first performed when he ran away from home at the age of 12-13 to join a travelling medicine show. In 1903 he scored a lasting success in vaudeville with an act called "Johnny's New Car" which he performed for twenty years. In 1923, he signed with Principal Pictures as a series star, but transferred to Keystone when Mack Sennett bought the contract. Early in his film career, he had the good fortune to work regularly with the young Frank Capra. The two developed a unique character of an innocent man-child who found himself in dramatic and hazardous circumstances with only providence and good luck making him come out on top. This character clicked with the public and Langdon enjoyed a streak of artistic and commercial successes using it with Capra's direction. Unfortunately, he began to take the praise of his talent too seriously and broke with Capra so he could hog all the glory himself with his films. This proved to be a disasterous mistake as his first film "Three's a Crowd", a sickeningly sentimental film that plainly showed that he did not even approach the talent and skill of Capra which was needed to keep his character style viable. It has been also speculated the public was getting tired of Langdon's character, which contributed to Langdon's first solo film being an artistic and commericial failure. That film was the first in a series of bombs that ruined Langdon's career and relegated him to minor films from third string companies for the rest of his life. He died 22 December 1944, Los Angeles, California, USA (cerebral hemorrhage)