The Final Years of King Baggot – From the ‘King of the Movies’ to Bit Player

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film IVANHOE will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity. A look at the films that Baggot appeared in after the silent period ended may help explain how one can go from immense fame and the back to anonymity.

Baggot appeared in at least 200 silent motion pictures between 1909 and 1921, ruling the international box-office during much of that period. In 1913, IVANHOE and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, both starring Baggot, were Universal Studio’s two top-grossing films. By 1912 he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president. Baggot wrote 18 screenplays and directed 45 movies from 1912 to 1928 including TUMBLEWEEDS (1925), an enormously popular and influential western starring William S. Hart. Baggot directed his last film, ROMANCE OF A ROGUE, in 1927 when he was 48 years old. At this point, the career of the man who had been Universal’s first star and a solid, often brilliant director came screeching to a halt.

King Baggot in THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1915)

There was series of events around this point in Baggot’s life that may help explain his sudden exit from stardom. Baggot’s alcoholism was well-documented and out of control and his wife of 18 years, Ruth Baggot, filed for divorce in 1930. Universal head Carl Laemmle, responsible for much of Baggot’s success, was in declining health by the late 1920s and less involved in the studio’s decisions. But it was the introduction of sound which, though it led to a boom in the motion picture industry, had an adverse effect on the employability of many Hollywood actors. Stars with heavy accents or otherwise discordant voices that had previously been concealed were particularly at risk. The careers John Gilbert, Norma Talmadge, Clara Bow, and others declined quickly with the advent of sound, ostensibly because their speaking voices didn’t match the image that audiences had of them, though other issues may have been at hand, such as salary disputes and clashes with studio executives. King Baggot however did not have that problem. Stage-trained, his speaking voice was strong and resonant, yet still, no one was beating down his door to hire him as an actor or as a director. To make matters worse, he was arrested in June of 1930 for driving while drunk. He was fined $50 for the offense and the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the scandal.

By the early ‘30s, the great depression had hit and millions were out of work, including King Baggot. After doing nothing for a year, his old studio Universal hired him back – but as a character actor in bit parts. The first film from this stage of his career was THE CZAR OF BROADWAY, which starred Betty Compson, an actress successful in making the transitions from silent to talkies. Baggot was listed sixth in the cast and had several lines. His next supporting role was in ONCE A GENTLEMAN (1930) starring Edward Everett Horton. Also in a small part was Francis X. Bushman, another major silent star who had once rivalled Baggot as the most popular leading man in America. In 1931 Baggot had speaking roles in SWEEPSTAKES for RKO Studio and SCAREHEADS for Richard Talmadge Productions. These were small roles but at least he was given lines to read. In 1932, Baggot landed his best speaking part in Monogram’s POLICE COURT. It was ironically the story of a once-famous screen actor caught in the downward spiral of alcoholism. King played the part of Henry Field, a movie director. POLICE COURT can be viewed in its entirety online HERE (King Baggot shows up around the 13-minute mark and has several lines throughout a sequence that runs about 5 minutes.)

http://free-classic-movies.com/movies-03f/03f-1932-02-20-Police-Court

As Movie Director Henry Field in POLICE COURT (1932)

Also in 1932, King Baggot appeared in GIRL OF THE RIO as a hotel maître d’, George Cukor’s WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD as a studio head, and HELLO TROUBLE for Columbia Pictures. These were bit parts with just a line or two of dialog.

WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD (1932)

In the 1932 comedy short THE BIG FLASH starring Harry Langdon, Baggot played “Mr. Hinkle” in the opening scene.

King Baggot in THE BIG FLASH (1932)

In 1933, King Baggot and his former leading lady Florence Lawrence were given small roles in the drama SECRETS, which was to be the final film to star Mary Pickford, who had starred opposite Baggot many times earlier in her career.

King Baggot had a one-scene speaking role in THE DEATH KISS in 1933, a film that reunited three of the stars of Universal’s 1931 triumph DRACULA; Bela Lugosi, David Manners, and Edward Van Sloan. THE DEATH KISS can be viewed online HERE. Baggot’s scene comes at about the 31-minute mark. THE DEATH KISS is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Classics

1934 was a good year for King Baggot – he managed to be cast in seven films for Universal. BELOVED was a large-scale musical starring John Boles and Gloria Stuart. The cast was a large one and included many old silent players.

Baggot’s most significant cameo in 1934 was in the Universal horror film THE BLACK CAT, which was the first pairing of the studio’s horror kings Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Baggot, who had starred in Universal’s very first horror film, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 21 years earlier, appeared in THE BLACK CAT as one of the Satan worshippers who show up at Karloff’s castle near the end of the film.

King Baggot with Bela Lugosi in THE BLACK CAT (1934)

Producer Carl Laemmle and Universal clearly had fun casting these ‘cultists’. None had lines and they all appear just briefly but some of them include:
– Paul Panzer, who appeared in hundreds of films as far back as 1905, but is probably best known for playing villains in silent serials like THE PERILS OF PAULINE and THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE.
– John George, a dwarf who acted in films from 1918 to 1960 and appeared with Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN (as Alonzo’s assistant Cojo).
– Symona Boniface, who appeared in many comedy shorts in a career that lasted from 1925 to 1956. She appeared opposite the Three Stooges several times including the shorts ‘An Ache in Every Stake’, ‘A Plumbing We Will Go’, and ‘Pardon my Scotch’
– Virginia Ainsworth – who appeared in many silent films
– Lois January – an actress who played the manicurist in THE WIZARD OF ZO who sings to Dorothy that “we can make a dimpled smile out of a frown” one of her last roles was in the “Bad Medicine” episode of KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER
– Harry Walker – who was one of the crewmen in KING KONG

with Boris Karloff in THE BLACK CAT

Other wordless roles for Baggot in 1934 were as a policeman in LOVE CAPTIVE also with Gloria Stuart, an episode of the Buck Jones serial THE RED RIDER, CHEATING CHEATERS with Fay Wray, ROMANCE IN THE RAIN (as Milton McGillicuddy), as a priest in FATHER BROWN, DETECTIVE, a doorman in I’VE BEEN AROUND, and as an airplane inspector in TAILSPIN TOMMY.

Worked picked up significantly for Baggot in 1935 as he officially settled in to his new career as a wordless ‘bit player’. He was a gambler opposite Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields in MISSISSIPPI, a policeman in both A NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN and IT HAPPENED IN NEW YORK, and a druggist in THREE KIDS AND A QUEEN. Baggot was in the serials CALL OF THE SAVAGE, CHINATOWN SQUAD, and THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK MERRIWELL, walked through a lobby in NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS, and had bits in SHE GETS HER MAN, and DIAMOND JIM. The most famous film of 1935 Baggot appeared in was the Marx Brothers classic A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Unbilled, King Baggot is in the scene where the Marx Brothers impersonated aviators and wore beards at the docks in New York. Baggot is one of the dignitaries and there exists a great on-set photo of him posing with Groucho, Chico, and Harpo looking quite distinguished in his top hat and tails.

With The Marx Brothers in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)

Watching DVDs of these films today, it’s often difficult to spot King Baggot, if he can be found at all. Much fanfare greeted the announcement of Universal’s epic SAN FRANSCICO in 1936 with the studio announcing the participation of many of their silent stars, including King Baggot, Rhea Mitchell, and Florence Lawrence, but because the cast was huge and their parts so tiny, it’s impossible to spot any of them. Press blurbs in 1936 announced Baggot would be in THE DEVIL DOLL, WE WENT TO COLLEGE, and MAD HOLIDAY, but he’s nowhere to be found in the final prints of those either.

1935 publicity photo from MGM announcing that the studio had hired ‘noted stars of yesterday’ – King Baggot is second from the left.

He can be identified easily in 1937 when he earned several close-ups as a race track official in another Marx Brothers comedy, A DAY AT THE RACES.

King Baggot in A DAY AT THE RACES (1936)

That year he also appeared as a customs official opposite Dick Powell and Luise Ranier in THE EMPEROR’S CANDLESTICKS and as a witness to an accident in TORTURE MONEY, a two-reel short that was part of the Crime Does Not Pay series.

King Baggot in the 1937 serial CRIME DOES NOT PAY

King Baggot made no more screen appearances for the next three years. In 1941 he played a doorman in COME LIVE WITH ME starring Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr. In 1942 he could be seen applauding in several audience scenes in the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical BABES ON BROADWAY. He was an unbilled extra in GRAND CENTRAL MURDER, a court police officer in HER CARDBOARD LOVER starring Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor, an old miner in JACKASS MAIL, and ‘man on the street’ in TISH starring Marjorie Main and Zasu Pitts. In 1945 he could be seen in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD as a patron who walks by Lou Costello in a barbershop at the film’s beginning and played ‘Man at Graduation Ceremony’ in THE SECRET HEART. He’s not hard to recognize as a courtroom spectator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE in 1946 though he never shares the screen with John Garfield or Lana Turner.

King Baggot in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945)

King Baggot’s final screen appearances were in 1947 when he played a bank employee in MY BROTHER TALKS TO HORSES, a man in the audience in MERTON OF THE MOVIES, and a man at the coat check counter in the musical GOOD NEWS. Publicity notes for the 1946 film THE YEARLING stated that star Gregory Peck would be joined by Baggot, cast in his ‘comeback’ role as ‘Pa Weatherby’ but the final film features neither Baggot or a character by that name.

King Baggot as a courtroom spectator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1947)

When King Baggot died, there were no tributes from his peers, no splashy funeral procession, or major headlines trumpeting his death. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA, interred with a flat stone that reads simply “King Baggot”. The one-time King of Hollywood, the handsome Irish boy from St. Louis, may have left this world as insignificantly as he entered it, but he certainly made his mark.