Early Life and Education
Griffith was born in Crestwood, Kentucky to Mary Perkins and Jacob "Roaring Jake" Griffith, who were of Anglo-Welsh ancestry. His father served as a Confederate Army colonel in the American Civil War and was elected as a Kentucky state legislator. Griffith was raised as a Methodist. D. W. attended a one-room schoolhouse where he was taught by his older sister, Mattie Griffith. After his father died when the boy was ten, the family struggled with poverty. When Griffith was 14, his mother abandoned the farm and moved the family to Louisville, where she opened a boarding house. It failed shortly after. Griffith left high school to help support the family. He first took a job in a dry goods store, and later in a bookstore.
Griffith began his creative career as a playwright but met with little success; only one of his plays was accepted for a performance. Griffith decided to become an actor, and appeared in many plays as an extra.
Read more about this topic: D. W. Griffith
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