Background

Herbert Brenon was born on January 13, 1880 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Edward St. John Brenon, a journalist and editor, and Frances Harris, a writer. His born name was Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon.

Education

Since Brenon grew up in London, he attended St. Paul's School and King's College, University of London.

Career

In 1896 Brenon Herbert immigrated to the United States and spent the next few years working in the theater in New York City and with touring groups.

In 1906 Brenon operated a nickelodeon in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Three years later he obtained a job in New York City as a scenarist-editor with Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Co. (IMP, forerunner of Universal).

All for Her (1912), a one-reeler with George Ober, was the first film he directed.

In 1913 Laemmle sent Brenon abroad with a small company that made several films in England, France, and Germany. Neptune's Daughter (1914), a seven-reel water spectacle starring Annette Kellerman, was filmed in Bermuda at great expense; it set attendance records. Brenon wrote most of his early films and frequently acted in them. In 1914 Brenon left IMP and made one film with his own company, Tiffany Films.

In 1915 and 1916 he made several films for William Fox, usually serving as his own scenarist and producer. He directed Theda Bara in four films in 1915, among them The Two Orphans (which also starred Jean Sothern and Brenon). By this time he was one of the most famous personalities in the film industry. Details of his production in Jamaica of A Daughter of the Gods, another "mermaid" extravaganza with Annette Kellerman, as well as of his consequent quarrel and lawsuits with Fox, were widely reported.

Angered by the unprecedented amounts of time and money spent on the film, Fox removed Brenon's name from the credits of the film and had it reedited. When the movie was released in 1916, it was a huge success. After his break with Fox, Brenon formed the Herbert Brenon Film Corp. , which made six films, including War Brides (1916, an antiwar film, in which Alla Nazimova and Richard Barthelmess made their screen debuts); The Lone Wolf (1917, with Bert Lytell); The Fall of the Romanoffs (1917); and The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1918, with Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson). The Invasion of Britain (Victory and Peace), an ambitious propaganda film that Brenon directed for the British War Office in 1918, was a hapless project that was never publicly shown.

Brenon returned to the United States briefly in 1918 to obtain his final citizenship papers. Then he went to Europe again to make a series of movies with Marie Doro. In 1921 he was back in Hollywood directing three Norma Talmadge vehicles for Joseph M. Schenck. A group of films that he made for Fox in 1922 included Any Wife, with Pearl White, and three films starring William Farnum. Between 1923 and 1927 Brenon directed seventeen films for Famous Players-Lasky (later Paramount). These were the most important years of his career. The highly acclaimed Peter Pan (1924) had seventeen-year-old Betty Bronson in the title role and Ernest Torrence as Captain Hook. A Kiss for Cinderella (1925) continued the successful collaboration of James Barrie, Brenon, and Betty Bronson.

Highlights of 1926 were Dancing Mothers, starring Clara Bow and Conway Tearle; The Great Gatsby, with Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby; and Beau Geste, "one of the classic action-spectacles of the silent screen" (according to Geltzer), with a cast headed by Ronald Colman. Some of Brenon's other Paramount films were The Spanish Dancer (1923, starring Pola Negri, Antonio Moreno, and Wallace Beery; the first of nine Brenon films with photography by James Wong Howe); The Woman With Four Faces (1923, starring Betty Compson and Richard Dix); Shadows of Paris (1924, starring Pola Negri); and The Song and Dance Man (1926, starring Tom Moore). Brenon also produced many of his Paramount films.

In 1927 Brenon left Paramount to make Sorrell and Son on his own; this film, which starred H. B. Warner, was Brenon's favorite. Until 1933 he directed for several Hollywood studios--primarily RKO--usually producing his own work. Laugh Clown, Laugh (1928), with Lon Chaney and Loretta Young, was his last silent film. He reluctantly added "synchronized sound effects" (a music score) to The Rescue (1929, with Ronald Colman and Lily Damita), and made his first talkie, The Lummox, in 1930.

Among the six other sound films that he made in Hollywood were The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930, with Chester Morris) and The Girl of the Rio (1932, with Dolores Del Rio). In 1935 Brenon went to England, where until 1940 he directed diverse films for British companies. These included Housemaster (1938, with Otto Kruger), which was the best received; Yellow Sands (1938, starring Marie Tempest and Robert Newton); and The Flying Squad (1940, with Sebastian Shaw, Jack Hawkins, and Phyllis Brooks), which was the last film Brenon made.

He returned to the United States during World War II and retired. He died in Los Angeles, California and was interred in a private mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

Achievements

• Herbert Brenon's chief achievement was in establishing of the Herbert Brenon Film Corporation in 1916. He directed 38 motion pictures in a career that spanned from 1913 to 1940. Among his notable productions were the first screen adaptations of "Peter Pan" (1924), "Beau Geste" (926) and "The Great Gatsby" (1926). He was nominated for a Best Direct Academy Award for his 1927 film "Sorrell and Son". In the silent film era Brenon was frequently grouped with Cecil B. DeMile and D. W. Griffith as one of the "Big Three" of filmmaking. Although less well-known, he is remembered as the creator of spectacular silent films and the director of numerous noted screen stars.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Someone at the Door DVD

    ( When Sally inherits a country house, her young brother ...)

  • Wine, Women, And Song (1934) Original One-Sheet Movie Poster 27x41 Linen Backed LILYAN TASHMAN Film Directed by HERBERT BRENON.

    (Original Chadwick One-Sheet Poster (27x41) for the film W...)

  • Lon Chaney Collection

    (Celebrating the virtuosity of the man of a thousand faces...)

  • THE SPANISH DANCER (1923) and THE MAN FROM TIA JUANA (1917)

    (THE SPANISH DANCER (1923) and THE MAN FROM TIA JUANA (191...)

  • Dancing Mothers

    (Silent melodrama that ruffled more than a few feathers wi...)

  • Beau Ideal

    (An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to r...)

  • The Actors: Rare Films Of Clara Bow

    (This DVD Contains: Dancing Mothers - 1926; Mantrap - 1926...)

  • Ridi Pagliaccio, Ridi!

    (tito, clown in un circo girovago, trova una bambina abban...)

  • The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1918 &1935)

    (In dreary London to Mrs. Sharpe's lodging house where dis...)

  • Beau Ideal by Alpha Video by Herbert Brenon

    (brand new)

  • The Brenon chinchilla service handbook

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Richard Koszarski wrote in 1976: "By the 20's Brenon had established himself at Paramount as a craftsman of the highest order. . Notable for their intelligence and controlled sentiment, his films are especially strong in the richness of their performances. "

Connections

On February 18, 1904, Herbert Brenon married Helen Oberg, who took the stage name of Helen Downing when they toured as a vaudeville team. They had one son.

Father:

Edward St. John Brenon

journalist, editor

Mother:

Frances Harris

writer

Wife:

Helen Violet Oberg Brenon

1884–1955

associate:

Cecil B. DeMile

associate:

D. W. Griffith

References

• The Camera battery in position, ready for action! An off-stage snap" of the company filming Herbert Brenon's RKO radio pictures production "Devil's Battalion" (Beau Ideal) on location on the desert near Yuma, Arizona"
• Early American cinema, (International film guide series)
• War Films A Pictorial History
• Herbert Brenon: An American Cinema Odyssey
• The Movies Begin: Making Movies in New Jersey, 1887-1920 by Paul C. Spehr (1977-05-01)