Robert G. Vignola

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1882-08-05

Deathday 1953-10-25 (71 years old)

Place of Birth Trivignano, Veneto, Italy

Also Known As Robert Vignola

Robert G. Vignola

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew. He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period. Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917). His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore. Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual. He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.

Known For

Director

1935
The Perfect Clue

as Director

1934
The Scarlet Letter

as Director

1933
Broken Dreams

as Director

1928
Tropic Madness

as Director

1927
Cabaret

as Director

1926
Fifth Avenue

as Director

1925
Déclassé

as Director

1925
The Way of a Girl

as Director

1924
Yolanda

as Director

1924
Married Flirts

as Director

1923
Adam and Eva

as Director

1922
Beauty's Worth

as Director

1922
The Young Diana

as Director

1921
Enchantment

as Director

1921
1921
1921
1920
1920
1919
The Winning Girl

as Director

1919
1918
The Knife

as Director

1918
The Claw

as Director

1918
Women's Weapons

as Director

1917
1917
Great Expectations

as Director

1917
Her Better Self

as Director

1917
1916
The Evil Thereof

as Director

1916
Under Cover

as Director

1916
The Black Crook

as Director

1916
The Moment Before

as Director

1916
Seventeen

as Director

1916
The Spider

as Director

1915
The Stolen Ruby

as Director

1915
1915
A Sister's Burden

as Director

1915
Honor Thy Father

as Director

1915
The Destroyer

as Director

1915
The Crooked Path

as Director

1915
The Siren's Reign

as Director

1915
The Haunting Fear

as Director

1915
1915
1914
The Shadow

as Director

1914
1914
The Cabaret Dancer

as Director

1914
Through the Flames

as Director

1914
1914
The Storm at Sea

as Director

1914
1914
The Hand of Fate

as Director

1914
Into the Depths

as Director

1914
The Menace of Fate

as Director

1914
The False Guardian

as Director

1914
A Midnight Tragedy

as Director

1914
The Barefoot Boy

as Director

1914
1914
Her Bitter Lesson

as Director

1914
1914
The Man of Iron

as Director

1914
1913
Primitive Man

as Director

1913
1913
The Alien

as Director

1913
1913
1913
1913
The Lost Diamond

as Director

1913
The Hidden Witness

as Director

1913
A Stolen Identity

as Director

1913
The Bribe

as Director

1913
The Vampire

as Director

1911
Rory O'More

as Director

Actor

1915
Honor Thy Father

as Chick Fenway - a Thief

1915
The Railroad Raiders of '62

as Railroad Engineer (archive footage) (uncredited)

1913
1913
Shenandoah

as Undetermined Role

1913
The Alien

as Paola

1913
The Scimitar of the Prophet

as Hadjji - a Mohammedan Priest

1913
The War Correspondent

as Hal Martin - the Star Reporter

1913
The Message of the Palms

as Uncle Tom - the Colonel's Servant

1913
The Peril of the Dance Hall

as Pablo Florenti - Pepita's Father

1913
1913
The Prosecuting Attorney

as The Criminal

1913
A Desperate Chance

as Joe Mellon - the Brakeman

1913
A Sawmill Hazard

as Geoffrey Stern

1913
The Wives of Jamestown

as Shamus O’Daly

1912
The Shaughraun

as Harvey Duff

1912
Ireland, the Oppressed

as Michael Dee

1912
The Little Gluers

as Darby O'Drive

1912
A Prisoner of the Harem

as Mahmoud Pasha

1912
Tragedy of the Desert

as The Flirtatious Malmoud Bey

1912
Captured by Bedouins

as Judge Barnett - the Father

1912
An Arabian Tragedy

as Ayub Kashif

1911
The Colleen Bawn

as Mr. Corrigan

1911
Rory O'More

as Black William

1911
1911
The Fiddler’s Requiem

as Dolores' fiance

1910
The Lad from Old Ireland

as Man in Campaign Office

Writer

1915
Don Caesar de Bazan

as Scenario Writer

1914
1914
1913
The Vampire

as Scenario Writer