Monte Blue
Monte Blue was born January 11, 1887. His father died
when he was eight in a railroad accident, and, because his mother
could not support four children, he was sent to an orphanage where
he built his physique playing football. Reportedly, he at one
time worked as a railroader, fireman, coal miner, cowpuncher,
circus rider, and lumberjack. He traveled west and obtained work
as a day laborer at D.W. Griffith's studios. He was later employed
as a stuntman in "The Birth of a Nation" (1915). Appearing
in supporting roles for Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille over the
next few years, he finally gained notice as Danton in Griffith's
"Orphans of the Storm" (1921). Blue remained popular
throughout the 1920's making over 90 silent films between 1915
and 1929. He worked with some of the silent movie era's most famous
stars such as Mary Pickford, Patsy Ruth Miller, Florence Vidor,
Mae Murray, the Gish sisters, Gloria Swanson and others, as well
as making two pictures under the direction of Ernest Lubitsch.
One of his best roles was as the idealistic yet ill-fated Dr.
Matthew Lloyd in "White Shadows of the South Seas" (1928)
one of the last silents he made. Although mostly in supporting
and bits parts, Blue found success in the sound era, as well,
making nearly 200 appearances in movies and television between
1929 and 1960. He was married three times -- to Erma Gladys whom
he divorced in 1923, then to Tova Jansen in 1924 to whom he remained
married for 32 years until her death in 1956. He married again
in 1959 to Betty Jean Munson Mess and remained married to her
until his death on February 18, 1963, of a heart attack that resulted
from influenza complications.
Selected films of this star available for viewing:
Birth of a Nation (1916)
Intolerance (1916)
The Matrimaniac (1916)
Wild and
Woolly (1917)
M'Liss (1918)
Johanna Enlists (1918)
The Affairs
of Anatol (1921)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
The Marriage
Circle (1924)
So This Is Paris (1926)
White
Shadows in the South Seas (1928)
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