Milton Sills

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1882-01-11

Deathday 1930-09-15 (48 years old)

Place of Birth Chicago, Illinois, USA

Milton Sills

Biography

From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.

Known For

Actor

1961
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

as Self (archive footage)

1930
The Sea Wolf

as 'Wolf' Larsen

1930
1928
The Crash

as Jim Flannagan

1928
The Barker

as Nifty Miller

1928
The Hawk's Nest

as The Hawk/John Finchley

1928
Burning Daylight

as Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish

1927
The Valley of the Giants

as Bryce Cardigan

1927
Hard-Boiled Haggerty

as Hard-Boiled Haggerty

1927
Framed

as Etienne Hilaire

1927
The Sea Tiger

as Justin Ramos

1926
The Silent Lover

as Count Pierre Tornal

1926
Paradise

as Tony

1926
Men of Steel

as Jan Bokak

1926
Puppets

as Nicola Riccobini

1925
The Knockout

as Sandy Donlin

1925
1925
As Man Desires

as Major John Craig

1924
Madonna of the Streets

as Reverend John Morton

1924
The Sea Hawk

as Sir Oliver Tressilian

1924
Flowing Gold

as Calvin Gray

1924
A Lady of Quality

as Gerald Mertoun, Duke of Osmonde

1923
Flaming Youth

as Cary Scott

1923
Adam's Rib

as Michael Ramsay

1923
The Spoilers

as Roy Glennister

1923
Legally Dead

as Will Campbell / George Brown

1923
Souls for Sale

as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)

1923
The Isle of Lost Ships

as Frank Howard

1923
What a Wife Learned

as Rudolph Martin

1923
The Last Hour

as Steve Cline

1922
The Forgotten Law

as Richard Jarnette

1922
Seeing Stars

as Self

1922
Skin Deep

as Bud Doyle

1922
One Clear Call

as Dr. Alan Hamilton

1921
Miss Lulu Bett

as Neil Cornish

1921
The Great Moment

as Bayard Delaval

1921
At the End of the World

as Gordon Deane

1921
The Faith Healer

as Michaelis

1920
The Furnace

as Keene Mordaunt

1920
The Street Called Straight

as Peter Devenant

1919
Eyes of Youth

as Louis Anthony

1919
The Hushed Hour

as Luke Appleton

1919
The Stronger Vow

as Juan Estudillo

1919
Satan Junior

as Paul Worden

1918
The Hell Cat

as Sheriff Jack Webb

1918
The Claw

as Major Anthony Kinsella

1918
The Yellow Ticket

as Julian Rolfe

1917
1917
The Honor System

as Joseph Stanton

1917
Patria

as Capt. Donald Parr

1915
Under Southern Skies

as Burleigh Mavor

Writer

1926
Men of Steel

as Writer

1925
A Lover's Oath

as Writer

Editor

1925
A Lover's Oath

as Editor