Background

Francis Xavier Bushman was born on January 10, 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of John and Mary Bushman. His father was a traveling salesman.

Education

Bushman received a parochial school education and then attended Ammendale College in Maryland. Although his mother had forbidden him from going to the theater, Bushman sneaked out of school to do so.

Career

In 1899 Francis Bushman joined the Fawcett Stock Company in Baltimore, and appeared in many plays as an extra. In 1907 he made his Broadway debut playing a featured role in Queen of the Moulin Rouge. His good looks led to film offers, and in 1911 he signed a contract with Essanay Studios in Chicago. His first film, His Friend's Wife, a one-reeler with Dorothy Phillips, was released on June 6, 1911.

Almost immediately he became a favorite of movie audiences. He made sixteen additional films in 1911 and more than thirty in 1912, emerging as a major film star. In 1912 Bushman was cast opposite Beverly Bayne in A Good Catch and they proved immensely popular.

In 1915 he and Bayne starred in Graustark, his most popular film. Hailed as "the handsomest man in the world" and "the king of the movies, " he employed eighteen secretaries to answer his fan mail. Bushman purchased a large estate in Maryland, which he called "Bushmanor. "

After Bushman left Essanay in 1915, he signed with the Metro Film Company, later part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Three years later he established his own studio, Quality Pictures, and seemed poised for even greater success. Bushman made only two films in 1919 and by 1926 only two more, one of which, Modern Marriage (1923), was filmed by his second company, FXB Pictures.

In 1926 Bushman had an opportunity for a comeback when he was cast as the villain, Messala, in Louis B. Mayer's Ben-Hur. This role brought him to Hollywood, the new center of the motion picture industry. The film was a success and Bushman's performance was well received by critics. However, Mayer felt that Bushman had deliberately stolen scenes from Mayer's protégé Ramon Novarro. When Bushman's butler subsequently snubbed Mayer, Bushman's career went into eclipse.

While he appeared sporadically in serials and in minor roles in B pictures, he never recaptured his star status. The final blow to Bushman's motion-picture career was the introduction of sound. His flamboyant acting style, developed for and suitable to silent films, did not transfer well to the new medium.

Bushman's inability to find work and the stock market collapse led him to declare bankruptcy in 1929.

During these proceedings it was revealed that Bushman, who had earned some $10 million as a movie actor, was $100, 000 in debt.

During the 1930's and 1940's Bushman played many roles in radio dramas, especially soap operas, which allowed him to live comfortably if not lavishly.

Later he appeared frequently on television but never in a starring or continuing role, except as the host of a late-night movie series on a local station in Los Angeles. In 1951 his fame was briefly rekindled when he played King Saul in the film David and Bathsheba and went on a national tour to promote the picture for Twentieth Century-Fox.

Together they won $30, 000 on the television quiz show "The Big Surprise. " He continued to appear as a character actor in films, most notably in Sabrina (1954), and he was in a television production of Peer Gynt. His last film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, was released in 1966.

He died in Pacific Palisades, California, soon after finishing a guest role on the television series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. " He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Achievements

• Bushman was the first great romantic lead in the history of motion pictures and part of the first great romantic film team. He helped establish film as the major American entertainment medium, not only because of his popularity, but because his off-screen exploits captured the enthusiasm of the public. His most popular film was " Graustark", which he made in 1915. After this movie he got an unofficial title of "the handsomest man in the world" and "the king of the movies" .

Works

More photos

• book

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  • The Galloping Ghost - 12 chapter serial

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  • Dick Tracy Volume 4

    (The Spider is a grotesquely, masked, club-footed criminal...)

  • Dangerous Traffic (1926) / The Thrill Seekers (1927) (Lost Silent Thrillers)

    (Dangerous Traffic (1926): Rookie newspaperman Ned Charter...)

  • Galloping Ghost VHS

    (A gambling ring run out of the Mogul Taxi company is inte...)

  • Desert Command

    (In this action-packed adaptation of Alexander Dumas' The ...)

  • Caryl of the Mountains

    ((1936) Some money's stolen, a fur trapper gets murdered.....)

  • Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ

    (NTSC/Region 0. Out-of-print in the US. The epic first...)

  • Eyes Right (1926) / Who's Your Friend (1925)

Views

Adhering to the motto “Take things as they come, fear nothing and nobody, ” Bushman never considered himself a has-been, nor did Hollywood society treat him as such.

Personality

His glamorous lifestyle was heavily publicized, but his contract forbade any public mention of his wife and children. There he raised Great Danes and horses and maintained an aviary. He quickly developed a lavish lifestyle, characterized by $100 tips, a lavender boudoir, a lavender Rolls-Royce, and lavender cigarettes.

Connections

In 1902 Bushman met and married Josephine Fladune. By 1909 they had five children, one of whom became an actor known professionally as Francis X. Bushman, Jr. , Although Bushman took various odd jobs to support his family (he was a sculptor's model, for statues of Lord Baltimore and Nathan Hale), he continued to work in stock companies.

When his wife filed for divorce his career suffered a setback from which it never fully recovered. The revelation that he had a wife and five children seriously eroded his appeal as a romantic idol. His marriage on July 29, 1918, to costar Bayne soon after the divorce did not rekindle that interest. They had one child. Bushman's marriage to Beverly Bayne had ended in divorce and in 1932 he married Norma Atkins, who owned a chain of beauty salons.

Bushman's third wife died in 1956 and on August 15 of that year he married Iva Richardson.

Father:

John Bushman

Mother:

Mary Bushman

4th wife:

Iva Millicient Richardson

1st wife:

Josephine Fladine Duval

2nd wife:

Beverly Bayne

Son:

Francis X. Bushman, Jr.

3rd wife:

Norma Emily Atkin

References

• King of the Movies: Francis X. Bushman
• Francis X. Bushman - Hollywood's first star talks about his life & times