Robert G. Vignola
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 | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 5.369 |
Birthday | 1882-08-05 |
Place of Birth | Trivignano, Veneto, Italy |
Also Known As | Robert Vignola, |
1906
The Black Hand
5.6/8
Two gang members send a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding money if he did not want his shop to be destroyed and his daughter Maria kidnapped....
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The Black Hand
1911
Railroad Raiders of '62
5/1
Union raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War incident on which Buster Keaton's The General and Disney...
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Railroad Raiders of '62
1912
From the Manger to the Cross
5.2/21
The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.
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From the Manger to the Cross
1910
The Lad from Old Ireland
5.1/12
A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.
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The Lad from Old Ireland
1911
The Colleen Bawn
6.5/3
A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will stop at nothing, including murder, to see that he ma...
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The Colleen Bawn
1910
When Lovers Part
4/1
A young couple’s love is forbidden by the girl’s father. He forces her to write a farewell letter. Three years later, the Civil War begins and the fat...
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When Lovers Part
1911
The Fiddler’s Requiem
0/0
The old musician playing his fiddle in his garret home dreams of his youth and his lost love. As the past unfolds itself he sees his sweetheart, Dolor...
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The Fiddler’s Requiem
1911
Rory O'More
4.2/2
Based on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad about him, this one-reeler is one of the Kalem pictures s...
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Rory O'More
1911
A Sawmill Hero
0/0
Jim Hemminway went to college, but did not make good. He had a fine time, but flunked in his studies. His father, displeased with Jim's college experi...
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A Sawmill Hero
1912
Captured by Bedouins
0/0
An American officer disguises himself as an Arab in order to rescue an American woman kidnapped by Arab tribesmen.
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Captured by Bedouins
1908
The Fight for Freedom
0/0
In a saloon in a Mexican border town, a group of cowboys, including a Mexican named Pedro, play poker. One man is discovered cheating, and is shot dea...
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The Fight for Freedom
1908
Over the Hills to the Poor House
5/1
The widowed elderly mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, wishing to relieve herself of the burden of care of her property, decides...
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Over the Hills to the Poor House
1913
The Vampire
7/1
The story hinges on the redemption of a country boy, an artist, who has fallen among evil companions, and is an outcast.
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The Vampire
1912
An Arabian Tragedy
0/0
Ayub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless. He eventually determines to divorce Fatima and free he...
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An Arabian Tragedy
1912
A Prisoner of the Harem
0/0
Alice Durand, after weeks of discouragement, reads the following advertisement in the New York Herald: "Governess wanted. Young American woman, well e...
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A Prisoner of the Harem
1912
The Little Gluers
0/0
The Kerry Gow is a 1912 short
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The Little Gluers
1912
Ireland, the Oppressed
0/0
The story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by hard-hearted landlords, hill fighting and the final trium...
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Ireland, the Oppressed
1912
The Shaughraun
0/0
Robert Ffolliott is a young Irish lad who is done out of his land and sent off to a penal colony in Australia following false accusations by the greed...
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The Shaughraun
1913
A Sawmill Hazard
0/0
Mrs. Herton, a widow, lives in comfortable circumstances with her son, Roland. Over forty years of age, she is still an attractive woman, but lacks se...
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A Sawmill Hazard
1913
A Desperate Chance
0/0
A railroad melodrama.
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A Desperate Chance
1913
The Prosecuting Attorney
0/0
The prosecuting attorney's impassioned address clinches the conviction of the criminal who, breaking away from his guard, viciously assaults the prose...
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The Prosecuting Attorney
1913
The Peril of the Dance Hall
0/0
After the death of his wife Pablo Florenti, an Italian, takes his little daughter, Pepita, and embarks for America, where he secures employment as a c...
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The Peril of the Dance Hall
1913
The Message of the Palms
0/0
Henry Strong, a young civil engineer, is placed in charge of a party which makes a preliminary survey for a railroad. In their work they enter the pro...
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The Message of the Palms
1913
The Scimitar of the Prophet
0/0
While touring Egypt, Harris and his wife visit an old temple and are fascinated by a sacred scimitar, which, at the corner of a shrine, is religiously...
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The Scimitar of the Prophet
1913
The Alien
0/0
Paolo, a skilled mechanic in a modler's factory in Italy, defends his friend Brocco, when the latter is discharged and incurs the foreman's enmity. Th...
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The Alien
1913
Shenandoah
0/0
An American Civil War melodrama.
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Shenandoah
1913
The Padrone's Plot
0/0
Tony Vallenci, just over from Italy, is offered a job by Pietro Valli, an unscrupulous padrone. Ignorant of American money, Tony signs a contract call...
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The Padrone's Plot
1914
The Show Girl's Glove
0/0
Hampton, a broker, employs a detective to investigate Stella, a show girl, with whom his younger brother Dick is in love. As a result of the detective...
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The Show Girl's Glove
1913
The War Correspondent
0/0
Jack Fisher secures a position as reporter on a metropolitan daily and incurs the enmity of Martin, the star reporter, because of friendly relations w...
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The War Correspondent
1915
Honor Thy Father
0/0
Although it means the mortgaging of their home, Roger Dayton's parents send him to law school. Selfish and ungrateful, the boy forgets all about the o...
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Honor Thy Father
1915
The Railroad Raiders of '62
0/0
Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his experiences during the Civil War, and how he lost his arm....
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