A. Edward Sutherland
American actor, film director

A. Edward Sutherland

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American actor, film director
A.K.A.
Eddie Sutherland, Edward Sutherland
Gender:
Male
Places:
United KingdomUnited States of America
Is:
Film directorActorFilm actor
Work field:
Film, TV, Stage & Radio
Birth:
5 January 1895(London, England, UK)
Death:
31 December 1973(Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, USA)
Star sign:
Capricorn
Family:
Spouse(s):
Louise Brooks (July 1926-20 June 1928)Marjorie Daw (20 April 1923-1925)
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Albert Edward Sutherland (January 5, 1895 – December 31, 1973) was a film director and actor. Born in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaudeville performer. He was a nephew of both Blanche Ring and Thomas Meighan, who was married to Frances Ring, another of his mother's sisters.

Sutherland acted in 37 known films early in his career, beginning as a Keystone Cop in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), which starred Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Marie Dressler.

Career

Sutherland was directed by Charles Chaplin in A Woman of Paris (1923), two years before Sutherland began his directing career with the help of Chaplin.

Frequently billed as "Eddie Sutherland," he is best known as a director; he directed more than 50 movies between 1925 and 1956. His breakout film was Behind the Front (1926), which made stars of the two leads and established Sutherland as a comedic director. He had an especially hard time working with Stan Laurel, whom he disliked ("I'd rather eat a tarantula than work with Laurel again"). On the other hand, he became close friends with the more famously acerbic W.C. Fields, with whom he established a lifelong friendship.

Sutherland's last directing assignment was working on the Mack & Myer for Hire TV comedies with Joey Faye and Mickey Deans for Sandy Howard TV Productions and Trans-Lux Television in 1965. (Info can be found at www.tvparty.com.)

Personal life

Sutherland was married five times. Among his wives were Marjorie Daw (from 1923 to 1925) and Louise Brooks (from July 1926 to June 1928). He and Brooks met on the set of It's the Old Army Game, which he directed and which also co-starred his aunt Blanche Ring. Brooks and Sutherland did not have a happy marriage; there were numerous reports on both sides of infidelity. He did not have children in any of his marriages. Sutherland lived in and owned the Calypso Apartments in South Palm Springs, California, where he died in 1973.

Partial filmography as actor

  • The Danger Girl (1916)
  • Which Woman? (1918) directed by Tod Browning
  • Love Insurance (1919)
  • A Girl Named Mary (1919)
  • All of a Sudden Peggy (1920)
  • The Paliser Case (1920)
  • Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920) directed by William C. deMille
  • The Dollar-a-Year Man (1921)
  • The Light in the Clearing (1921)
  • The Witching Hour (1921) directed by William Desmond Taylor
  • Everything for Sale (1921)
  • Nancy from Nowhere (1922)
  • The Ordeal (1922)
  • Elope If You Must (1922)
  • The Loaded Door (1922)
  • The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924)

Partial filmography as director

Silent era

Sound era