FILM STAR'S DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

FILM STAR'S DEATH.

HENRY B. WAI/THAIX.

The death occurred on June 17 in a Hollywood sanatorium of Henry B. Walthall, famous as the "Little Colonoi" in D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation," produced in 1917.

Born in Alabama in 1879 and educated for tlie law, Walthall served in the United States army during the SpanishAmerican War, but was invalided out. He was then aged only 19. The stage called him, and in 1906 he was induced to act by D. W. Griffith for the very "flipkery" cinema—then regarded by stage etars as "poison" to their reputations. He played in a number of Griffith's earlier efforts before making his name in "The Birth of a Nation."

Later he became one of the stars of the old Essanay Company. His innumerable silent appearances include "The Road to Mandalay," "Three Faces East," "The Barrier," "The Scarlet Letter," '"The Bridge of San Luis Rev," "The Unknown Soldier" and "Abraham Lincoln."

His talkies have been "Self Defence," "Laughing at Life," "42nd Street," "Love Time," "The Lemon Drop Kid," "Bachelor of Arte," "Helldorado," "The Scarlet Letter" and "Dante's Inferno."