Max Linder

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1883-12-16

Deathday 1925-11-01 (41 years old)

Place of Birth Cavernes, Saint-Loubès, Gironde, France

Also Known As Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, Gentleman Max

Max Linder

Biography

Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.

Known For

Actor

2024
Life and Deaths of Max Linder

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Tout sur mon père Max Linder

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Birth of the Tramp

as Self (archive footage)

1983
The Man in the Silk Hat

as Self (archive footage)

1978
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma

as Self (archive footage)

1963
Laugh with Max Linder

as Self (archive footage)

1947
It Had to Be You

as Wedding Guest (uncredited)

1931
The Theft of the Mona Lisa

as (archive footage)

1924
1924
King of the Circus

as Max Graf von Pompadour

1922
The Three Must-Get-Theres

as Dart-In-Again

1921
Be My Wife

as Max, the Fiancé

1917
Max in a Taxi

as Himself

1917
1915
1914
1914
1913
Max's Hat

as Max

1913
1913
1912
1912
1912
Max Takes Back His Freedom

as Max (uncredited)

1911
1911
1911
1911
1911
1910
1910
1910
1910
Max Skiing

as Max

1910
1910
Le serment d'un prince

as Jacques de Lacerda

1909
The Gentleman Thief

as Arsène Lupin

1908
1908
1907
Harlequin's Story

as Polichinelle / Ponchinella / Harlequin

1907
C'est Papa qui a pris la purge

as Lover in the street

Director

1921
1921
Be My Wife

as Director

1917
1917
Max in a Taxi

as Director

1917
1917
Max and the Purse

as Director

1917
Max Comes Across

as Director

1915
Max in Monaco

as Director

1915
Chance and Love

as Director

1915
1914
Max Speaks English

as Director

1914
1914
Max Sets the Style

as Director

1914
1914
Max's Vacation

as Director

1914
1914
1914
Max asthmatique

as Director

1914
Max's Latest Hobby

as Director

1913
Max's Hat

as Director

1913
1913
Max Hates Cats

as Director

1913
Max Toreador

as Director

1913
1913
1913
Max as a Musician

as Director

1913
Le duel de Max

as Director

1913
Le billet doux

as Director

1912
1912
1912
1912
Max Wants to Grow

as Director

1912
Max: Boxer By Love

as Director

1912
Max and the Statue

as Director

1912
Max and the Donkey

as Director

1912
The Romance of Max

as Director

1912
An Agitated Night

as Director

1912
1912
The Water-Funker

as Director

1912
Long-Lasting Love

as Director

1912
Cordial Agreement

as Director

1912
The Wedding Trunk

as Director

1912
Jalousie

as Director

1912
Max, Tango Teacher

as Director

1912
Max Fears the Dogs

as Director

1912
1912
Un pari original

as Director

1911
Champion de boxe

as Director

1911
Max Takes Tonics

as Director

1911
1911
Max se marie

as Director

1911
Max a un duel

as Director

1910
Max's First Job

as Director

1910
Max Gets Stuck Up

as Director

1910
Max Embarrassed

as Director

1910
I Want a Baby

as Director

1910
1910
Max est distrait

as Director

1909
1909
Love's Surprises

as Director

1906
Attempted Suicide

as Director

Writer

1963
1927
Maxim's Porter

as Writer

1924
1924
Au Secours!

as Writer

1923
Par habitude

as Story

1921
1921
Be My Wife

as Writer

1919
Le Petit Café

as Writer

1917
1917
1915
Chance and Love

as Writer

1914
1914
Max's Vacation

as Writer

1913
1913
Max's Hat

as Writer

1913
Le billet doux

as Scenario Writer

1912
1912
Jalousie

as Writer

1912
1912
1911
1911
Max Takes a Bath

as Scenario Writer

1911
1911
1910
1910
I Want a Baby

as Writer

1910
1906
Attempted Suicide

as Screenplay

Producer

1921
Be My Wife

as Producer

1921