King Baggot - Movie Career

Movie Career

Baggot's first movie was the romance short The Awakening of Bess (1909) opposite Florence Lawrence. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP in Fort Lee, New Jersey. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie stars" to be given billing, a marquee and promotion in advertising.

In April 1910, Baggot was at home with his mother and family in St. Louis, when the U.S. Census was taken there. He starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies opposite Mary Pickford, who was hired to replace Lawrence after she and Solter broke their contracts, including the one-reel romance/drama Sweet Memories, which was directed by Thomas H. Ince.

Baggot also began writing screenplays and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president.

On December 3, 1912, he and Ruth Considine (August 28, 1889–December 22, 1936) were married in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They had one son, Robert King Baggot (July 11, 1914–May 18, 1965). A cameraman, he died in Hawaii, while working on a movie. Robert King Baggot had two sons, cinematographer Stephen King Baggot (born 1943) and Bruce Baggot (born 1947).

Baggot starred as Wilfred of Ivanhoe in Ivanhoe (1913), a feature length adventure drama that was filmed on location in England and at Chepstow Castle in Wales. He played the role as Jean Dumas in the drama Absinthe (1914), which was filmed in Paris. In his 1914 two-reel movie Shadows, Baggot directed as well as played the parts of ten different characters.

When he registered for the draft of World War I, on September 12, 1918, Baggot and his wife were living in New York City. He starred in the crime/drama The Hawk's Trail (1919) opposite Grace Darmond.

As a director, he gave Marie Prevost her first starring role in the romantic comedy Kissed (1922). Baggot directed Mary Philbin and William Haines in the romance The Gaiety Girl (1924).

He formed his own production company, King Baggot Productions, and produced and directed The Home Maker (1925), a drama starring Clive Brook and Alice Joyce about the reversal of traditional roles between a husband and wife, which was released through Universal. That same year, Baggot directed William S. Hart in his most famous western, Tumbleweeds, a drama about the Oklahoma land rush of 1893.