Harry Benham
Also Known As: not available
Biography: From Wikipedia Harry Benham (February 26, 1884 – July 17, 1969) was an American silent film actor. Born in Valparaiso, Indiana, as a child Benham and his family moved to Chicago, where he was raised and attended school. Benham had a talent for singing and sang in his local church choir. In 1904, the production Peggy From Paris came to Chicago and, at age 20, Benham became a member of the chorus while earning a living in the wholesale paper business. Benham was soon selected to play the leading role in the production and remained in that role throughout the production's three-year run. He was subsequently able to garner more roles in other plays, such as The Sultan of Sulu, Woodland, Marrying Mary, The Gay Musician, H.M.S. Pinafore, Florodora, The Mayoress, and Madame Sherry. In 1910 Benham joined the Thanhouser Company in New Rochelle, New York, for whom he played the leading role in many of the company's films through 1915. He married actress Ethyle Cooke, and together they had two children, Dorothy and Leland, who also became prominent Thanhouser personalities. Benham died on July 17, 1969 in Sarasota, Florida, aged 85.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Valparaiso, Indiana, USA
Birthday: February 25, 1884
Deathday: July 17, 1969
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
Her Secret
Overview: The husband was stern, solemn and never could understand why anyone should laugh. The wife didn't have much sense, perhaps, but she was full of life and laughter. Why they should have married was a mystery; that there should have come a matrimonial shipwreck was hardly a surprise.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-06-06
Popularity:
Your Best Friend
Overview: A Jewish mother in New York finds herself at odds with her son's new wife, a pretty Gentile girl.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-03-26
Popularity:
Under Two Flags
Overview: Drama of life in the foreign legion of Africa
Genres: Adventure Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-07-02
Popularity:
The Dancer's Peril
Overview: The Grand Duke Alexis has been happy with his wife, Lola, formerly the queen of the St. Petersburg ballet, and their baby daughter, Vasta. But the lowering cloud that has always hung over them through the refusal of the Russian Court to recognize their marriage breaks when the Duke learns there is an intrigue against his wife's life.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-03-12
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Polly with a Past
Overview: Polly Shannon takes a job as a maid to earn money to go to Paris and study opera. She becomes embroiled in a scheme by her two employers to help their friend in the love of a woman who does not fancy him: She will pretend to be interested in their friend instead. The film has been lost.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1920-11-29
Popularity:
The Last of the Carnabys
Overview: The affluent Carnabys have now dwindled in fortune and family, leaving just Lucy and her brother, Gordon in financial straits. Situations escalate as they struggle to pay their bills and deal with Gordon's gambling debts.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-07-22
Popularity:
Hush Money
Overview: The only daughter of wealthy Wall Street banker, Evelyn Murray, while with her aristocratic fiancé, Bert Van Vliet, runs down and injures newsboy Terry McGuire. To avoid an embarrassing outcome, Bert persuades her to flee the scene of the accident. Evelyn is conscience-stricken and informs her father; he is then forced to pay "hush money" to a garage attendant who has witnessed the accident.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1921-11-01
Popularity:
A Woman's Loyalty
Overview: The greenhouse proprietor did not take any heart in his work, for he firmly believed he was destined to be a great painter. The result was he neglected business for his easel and customers gradually fell off until the inevitable happened, he went into bankruptcy. His wife, who had faith in her husband's ability with the brush and a deep and abiding love for him, supported the household by her skill as a dressmaker. One day, unexpected good fortune came to the couple, a distant relative of the wife's died and left her $1,000 in his will. The woman made all sorts of plans, but finally decided that she would pay off the mortgage on their little home. Then she noticed for the first time that her husband had left the room, and following him she demanded to know what was wrong. At first he would not tell her, but he finally explained that he wanted the money himself, for it would pay for the art course in Paris.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-05-05
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Daughter of Kings
Overview: J. Courtleigh Brice, son of a self-made father, lives abroad where he does little except spend the money his father has left and lament the fact that he is not of noble birth. Some business connected with his estate brings him back to America. On the wharf he is buttonholed by reporters, who put him down as one who finds American women "loud," and quote his declaration that he will marry no one except a titled gentlewoman.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-05-23
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The Heart of the Princess Marsari
Overview: The girl's father is Gunga Ras, a Hindu student of the occult. The girl's uncle is found dead and the lover blamed, but she personally investigates the crime. The father is suspected, but it develops that the death was really caused by use of liquid air in the hands of another
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-05-18
Popularity:
The Missing Heir
Overview: A lawyer is given the execution of a will, which bequeaths to the child of a disinherited son a large fortune. The disinherited son is now dead. The father, on his deathbed is penitent. By way of making amends he leaves to his son's offspring, his entire fortune. He is ignorant of his grandchild's fate, but provides that a thorough search should be made.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-11-07
Popularity:
She
Overview: She was the first attempt in film to depict the story of H. Rider Haggard's 1886 novel She: A History of Adventure.
Genres: Fantasy Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-25
Popularity:
The Tomboy
Overview: A wealthy miner, having no near relatives, leaves his two little daughters to the guardianship of a former chum of his, who had left the west with a fortune and returned to his old home in an eastern city. The guardian is rather overwhelmed by his responsibilities, but induces his old aunt to come and keep house for him, and prepares to give his charges a hearty welcome. The guardian is a young man, and is surprised to find that one of his wards is of marriageable age, beautiful and vivacious. He promptly proceeds to lose his heart to her, and while she admires him immensely the girl is finally thoroughly impressed with the idea that her guardian would gladly be rid of her. T
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-19
Popularity:
Their Burglar
Overview: In the course of a fashionable reception at her home, a young girl quarrels with her suitor. Piqued by a fancied wrong, the girl with complaisance accepts the proposal of a foreign nobleman and determines to forget The Man forever. As time progresses and the day set for her wedding to the sallow baron approaches, she is obsessed by a feeling of discontent and a yearning for her former lover.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-11-03
Popularity:
Jilted
Overview: Age old tale of a couple marooned.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-05-14
Popularity:
Letters of a Lifetime
Overview: The wealthy old bachelor returned to his home after a visit to his club, and found waiting him news that his time on earth was pitifully brief. He had money to pay for the best of medical attention, but doctors could not save him. For the first time it struck the old millionaire that no man or woman would care whether he lived or died. Essentially selfish, he had never made friends.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-10-01
Popularity:
The Warning
Overview: Happy in the love of his devoted wife and their child, a young businessman found life's pathway pleasant. Then the greatest of sorrows came; his wife died and he was plunged into gloom.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-10-04
Popularity:
The Repeater
Overview: The story's hero, a reformer in politics, has been accused and convicted of "padding the registration lists," but on procured evidence and on a frame-up, made by the ring leader's heeler, William Russell. He is sent to prison and the story works out to his coming home, a cleared and rehabilitated man, on Christmas Eve.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-12-22
Popularity:
A Romance of the U.S.N.
Overview: A foolish quarrel with his sweetheart and a desire for adventure caused a young man to enlist in the United States Navy. Soon after his departure his fiancée learned that she had treated him unjustly, but was unable to get any trace of him.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-12-06
Popularity:
Brains vs. Brawn
Overview: Among the suitors of a wealthy widow was a middle aged scientist, and while the woman was glad to regard him as a friend, she did not see how she could ever accept him as a husband. The widow was a great lover of athletics, and one day dragged the professor to witness a meet. As they were about to return, an effort was made to rob the widow, and only because of the bravery of one of the young athletes, was the crook captured and the pocketbook recovered. In a few days it dawned upon the professor that while he might be a big potato in the field of science, he was only a small lemon in the garden of love.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-12-15
Popularity:
The Head of the Ribbon Counter
Overview: The head of the ribbon counter was the most popular clerk in the store. Customers liked him, employees admired him and even "the boss" regarded him highly. Rival merchants vainly tried to win him away, but he refused all their offers, being thoroughly happy where he was. There came a day, however, when he found the need of friendship.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-06-15
Popularity:
The Girl of the Cabaret
Overview: A young girl, who had talent as a violinist, came to New York determined to win fame on the concert stage. She found the field overcrowded, but accepted an engagement as violin soloist in a cabaret restaurant. She was pretty and her playing pleased the patrons of the place. One evening a roughly dressed man came into the restaurant. His attire was in sharp contrast to the foppish men in evening dress who were languidly eating their meals. When the young violinist made her appearance the countryman showed by his manner that she had made a deep impression upon him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-08-08
Popularity:
The Mischief Maker
Overview: Effie Marchand refuses to marry a man she has never met, but who has been picked out by her mother, is exiled to boarding school Then, when sculpting teacher Jules Gerard asks her to pose for him, an always impulsive Effie quickly consents. During one of the modeling sessions, however, Jules tries to seduce her, and Effie is saved only when Al Tournay, a visitor to the studio, fights off the sculptor. Later, when Jules' latest nude statue looks just like Effie, who really only posed for the head, an outraged principal expels her. Effie then begins a romance with Al, and when they get married, Effie's mother takes the wedding as just one more sign of her daughter's impulsiveness. Mrs. Marchand soon finds out, however, that her new son-in-law is the man she had chosen for Effie long before, and so mother and daughter are quickly reconciled.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1916-11-26
Popularity:
The Warfare of the Flesh
Overview: Melodrama in which the rich arrogant George gives money to poor Frank and Jane, so he may spend a night with Jane. Jane goes along with it because she need the money to save her sick husband.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-05-22
Popularity:
The Old Curiosity Shop
Overview: A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-01-29
Popularity:
Dora Thorne
Overview: A young lord elopes with an employee's daughter. The visit of a lady to her home causes the young wife to leave her husband. Years later the peer succeeds to his family estates. Approaching his wife for forgiveness, his entreaties are of no avail. He meets his daughter on the cliffs, and she by accident falls and is killed. The sight of the dead body causes the wife to seek the protection and consolation of her husband
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-04-30
Popularity:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Overview: Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-01-16
Popularity:
The Mummy
Overview: An electric current accidentally brings a female mummy back to life with decidedly romantic inclinations, much to the surprise of a young Egyptologist and his less than understanding fiancée. This film is presumed lost.
Genres: Comedy Horror Romance Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-03-07
Popularity:
The Portrait of Lady Anne
Overview: The ghost of a selfish, inconsiderate woman must make up for her past transgressions by making sure that her descendant marries the man who is right for her.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-07-23
Popularity:
King Rene’s Daughter
Overview: This elaborate and well-staged silent version of Hertz' play is exceedingly well produced for 1913: it starts off by introducing the actors by name and role, then showing them in double exposure in street clothes and in costumes. The production values are also elaborate and the look of the set designs reminds one of the elaborate backdrops that Melies used in his shots.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-07-01
Popularity:
Moths
Overview: A French woman has to marry a Russian to preserve the reputation of her society mother. However she is in love with someone else.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-08-31
Popularity:
Pamela Congreve
Overview: A sileny film drama directed by Eugene Moore.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-05-25
Popularity:
Nicholas Nickleby
Overview: With The Old Curiosity Shop and David Copperfield, both released in 1911, and Nicholas Nickleby in 1912, Thanhouser established itself as producer of the best Dickens adaptations in American film.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-03-18
Popularity:
The Voice of Conscience
Overview: Two girls fall in love with the same man. Out motoring one day they are thrown from the machine and carried to the hospital. One of the girls poisons the other. The story swings into a very pleasant finish.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-09-02
Popularity:
Madam Blanche, Beauty Doctor
Overview: A good example of the clever light comedy Thanhouser produced for its Falstaff label, while other studios cranked out broad slapstick comedies. Harry Benham and Mignon Anderson were versatile and popular Thanhouser stars, here showing considerable skill in light comedy, a genre that invites plenty of satirical social observation such as the burgeoning beauty-salon industry here. Cinema technique shows much more intricate editing and freer use of closeups than just a year or two earlier.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-07-08
Popularity:
Zudora
Overview: Zudora, not knowing she's an heiress to a $20 million fortune, lives with her uncle, a mystic and detective, who covets her inheritance. She wants to marry John Storm but her uncle is against it. However, the uncle makes a bargain; if Zudora can solve the next twenty mysteries brought to him, she can marry as she chooses. Episodes 1,2 and 8, plus another unidentified chapter, survive. The rest is believed to be lost.
Genres: Mystery Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-11-20
Popularity:
Just a Shabby Doll
Overview: A romantic story utilizing flashback sequences, featuring Harry Benham, Mignon Anderson and Helen Badgley (http://thanhouser.org/).
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-03-10
Popularity:
Star of Bethlehem
Overview: Following a bright wandering star, three magi from the East travel to Bethlehem of Judea to meet a very special newborn baby. Meanwhile, King Herod, driven by a hideous prophecy, orders him to be found and murdered.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-12-24
Popularity:
Get Rich Quick
Overview: An investment plan that tells potential investors they can "get rich quickly" turns out to be a swindle, and investors are in danger of losing all their money.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-05-25
Popularity:
In a Garden
Overview: Over the years, an old gardener observes a romance develop between a young boy and girl. 20 years after they break up over a misunderstanding, the old man is instrumental in bringing them back together again.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-10-24
Popularity:
Cinderella
Overview: Elaborately produced version of the well known George O. Nichols fairy tale interrupted by just a few summarizing intertitles, with Florence LaBadie and Harry Benham.
Genres: Romance Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-21
Popularity:
His Uncle's Wives
Overview: A painter in New York City discovers that he has inherited a harem. Since he's already married and his wife would definitely not approve, he must find a way to rid himself of his inheritance.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-02-01
Popularity:
East Lynne
Overview: Based on the novel of the same name by Mrs. Henry Wood (Ellen Wood).
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-01-26
Popularity:
One Flag at Last
Overview: A Southern girl helps an escaped Union soldier in the midst of the Civil War.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-09-18
Popularity:
David Copperfield
Overview: Thanhouser Company three-reel silent film based on Charles Dickens’s story of an English lad's tribulation-filled journey to adulthood, Thanhouser released the three films over the course of three weeks beginning on October 17, 1911, one 1,000 foot reel per week.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-10-17
Popularity:
Cecilia of the Pink Roses
Overview: Cecilia is a spunky Irish girl from a struggling family, faced with the imminent death of her mother.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-06-02
Popularity:
The Love Craze
Overview: A Florence Lawrence short film directed by Winthrop Kelley
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-11-18
Popularity:
The Path of Happiness
Overview: Sick of life in the city after his fiancée deserts him, Merrill Day goes to the country for a rest with his sister and niece. There he meets Joan, who has lived in the hills for her whole life, and they quickly begin a romance. Grekko, however, a hunchback who has loved Joan for years, convinces her that Merrill's sister is really Merrill's wife.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1916-01-31
Popularity:
Sherlock Holmes Solves the Sign of the Four
Overview: An adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel starring Sherlock Holmes.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-02-25
Popularity:
Robin Hood
Overview: Robin Hood and his followers aid the poor and oppressed from their hideout in Sherwood Forest, pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Genres: Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-09-23
Popularity:
The Lady from the Sea
Overview: Ellida was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, and spent many hours near the water's edge. While she was still scarcely more than a child, one of these ships put in for repairs at a fishing village near the lighthouse, and its second officer, while on a day's outing to kill time, visited the lighthouse. He there met Ellida, whose youth and beauty he admired. While his ship was still undergoing repairs, the second officer quarreled with his captain, and a fight ensued in which the captain was killed. The guilty man escaped from the ship, and making his way to the lighthouse, forced Ellida to assist in his flight.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-12
Popularity:
When You and I Were Young
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-07-16
Popularity:
When Hungry Hamlet Fled
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-08-17
Popularity:
The Country Girl
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-06-15
Popularity:
A Freight Car Honeymoon
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-06-06
Popularity:
The Wrecked Taxi
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-08-16
Popularity:
The Man Inside
Overview: Years after Barry Thornton disappears from Panama while under suspicion of stealing American defense plans for the canal, his daughter Eleanor, now the ward of Barry's twin brother Dana, is still obsessed with the mystery. Senator Carew informs her that he has solved it, but he is murdered before he can give her the details.
Genres: Crime Drama Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1916-01-17
Popularity:
The Forest Rose
Overview: Forester and Maywood, two wealthy neighbor planters, volunteered their services to defend their country when the war of the Revolution broke out. Forester was made colonel of his regiment, while Maywood became a captain. The men mortgaged their plantations and gave the benefits to the government, which was hard pressed for funds. Colonel Forester was mortally wounded at the battle of Cowpens, but before he passed away, Captain Maywood promised that he would care for Forester's motherless little girl.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-11-29
Popularity:
The Victim
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1920-12-01
Popularity:
His Two Patients
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-07-25
Popularity:
The Girl of the Sea
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-06-01
Popularity: