Background
James Cruze was born on 27 March 1884 in Five Points, Utah, United States. Cruze was of Danish parentage.
James Cruze was born on 27 March 1884 in Five Points, Utah, United States. Cruze was of Danish parentage.
He began as an actor and became a director in 1915. Very little of his work is known today. But as well as such ponderous Westerns as The Covered Wagon, which is of historical interest in the way it initiated the pioneering theme, he made some Fatty Arbuckle comedies.
By the mid-1920s. James Cruze, Inc. or Productions was formed, and he mixed direction with the vague “supervision." The Great Gabbo starred von Stroheim, but Cruze still seems that sort of nonentity to contrast with the more vital figures of the 1920s. Few people can have seen enough of his films to be sure.
He married once to actress Betty Compson.