William Garwood

Silent-film star William Garwood was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri. In his late teens he took to the stage. He worked at the Lakeside Theater in Denver, Colorado, both behind and in front of the curtains, and acted with stars of the caliber of Douglas Fairbanks, Maude Fealy and Olive Wyndham. After two years there he journeyed to New York City, where he eventually was hired by the Charles Frohman organization and appeared in many of their plays. He also did stock work, traveling across the country to such places as San Francisco and Los Angeles. He broke into films in 1910, with the Thanhouser Co. He stayed there for about a year, then left for greener pastures. However, he returned the next year. In 1913 he left the company again, this time freelancing for American and Majestic, for whom he made The Toy (1913), among others. In addition to his acting work, he developed a passion for real estate. He had a large ranch near Whittier, California, owned several oceanfront properties and extensive agricultural holdings near Santa Barbara. In 1914 he left American for Universal Pictures, where he signed a two-year contract. His first Universal film was On Dangerous Ground (1915), directed by Lucius Henderson. At the end of his contract with Universal he was signed by Thomas H. Ince with Ince's Kay-Bee Films, and for them he made The Little Brother (1917). Over the next several years he made films for a variety of studios and even directed one, A Proxy Husband (1919), for Universal. It was also his final film, and he retired shortly afterward. A confirmed bachelor, Garwood never married. He died of a combination of a coronary occlusion and cirrhosis of the liver on December 28, 1950, in Los Angeles.