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Paul Willis
Paul Willis
	Mae Marsh and Paul Willis in Nobody's Kid (1921).
Born	Spencer Paul Gregory; April 9, 1900; Chicago, Illinois
Died	November 3, 1960 (aged 0); Los Angeles, California
Other names	Paul Gregory Willis

Paul Gregory Willis^[1] (born Spencer Paul Gregory; April 9, 1900^[2]^[1] – November 3, 1960) was an American actor of the silent film era.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois,^[1] the son of Spencer Orville Gregory and Cora Ryer Lee,^[2] Willis began his career as a child actor in the 1910s, making his screen debut for Vitagraph Studios at the age of thirteen in the title role of the 1913 drama-short Little Kaintuck.^[1]^[3]^[4] He would go on to play a variety of juvenile roles, often opposite child actress Mildred Harris.^[5] One notable film starring Willis was the 1914 comedy-short Bill Goes in Business for Himself, directed by Edward Dillon and supervised by D. W. Griffith, whose cast also featured future film director Tod Browning.^[6] Willis's breakthrough performance came with his feature film debut in the 1916 screen adaptation of James B. Hendryx's novel, The Promise.^[1]^[5] The following year, he appeared opposite popular onscreen duo Harold Lockwood and May Allison in the romantic drama The Promise.^[7]

Through the 1910s and into the 1920s, Paul Willis would appear opposite such actors as Carmel Myers, Lester Cuneo, Broncho Billy Anderson and Mae Marsh.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Willis is possibly best recalled for his portrayal of Dickon Sowerby in the 1919 Gustav von Seyffertitz-directed film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel The Secret Garden for the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation, in which he appeared opposite actors Lila Lee, Richard Rosson and Spottiswoode Aitken.^[11] The film is now considered lost. In December of that year, Motion Picture News reported that Wallis and actress Molly Malone had been signed by Robertson-Cole to appear in the company's Supreme Comedies series.

Paul Willis, who has made good in the heavier side of screen dramatics, believes he is better suited for the comedy and has now become a full-fledged fun producer. The rising young star has played juvenile leads with the best stars in the country. [...] Scott Sidney, director of many of the Robertson-Cole comedy successes, will be in charge of the latest acquisition to the comedy-producing forces.^[12]

Within three months, Willis had been added to the cast of fellow recent acquisition Mae Marsh's upcoming Robertson-Cole debut, Nobody's Kid, adapted from Kate Langley Bosher's popular 1910 novel, Mary Cary, Frequently Martha.^[13]^[14]^[10] In 1921, Willis appeared as himself alongside Pauline Curley in the promotional film, Paul's Picnic Party on Pickering Pleasure Pier, which was both filmed and screened at the aforementioned Pier, in Ocean Park, California.^[15]^[16]

Willis retired from acting at age 23. His final film appearance was in the 1923 Tom Forman-directed drama Money! Money! Money!, opposite Katherine MacDonald and Carl Stockdale.

Willis died at the age of 60 in Los Angeles, California in 1960.^[17]^[18]

Partial filmography

Little Kaintuck (1913, Short) - Little Kaintuck
The Brute (1914, Short) - Ted Barton - Black's Son
Johanna, the Barbarian (1914, Short) - George - Johanna's Son
The Poor Folks' Boy (1914, Short) - Benny Benson
The Milkfed Boy (1914, Short) - The Widow's Milkfed Boy
Bill Goes in Business for Himself (1914, Short) - Bill's Other Friend
The Little Matchmaker (1915, Short) - Paul
A Man for All That (1915, Short) - The Young Boy
The Little Soldier Man (1915, Short) - Paul
A Rightful Theft (1915, Short) - Paul Brown - the Widow's Son
The Old Batch (1915, Short) - Johnny - the Adopted Son
The Little Lumberjack (1915, Short) - Paul - the Little Lumberjack
The Indian Trapper's Vindication (1915, Short) - Arnold King - their Son
Could a Man Do More? (1915, Short) - Richard Sherwood
The Fall of a Nation (1916) - Billy
The Promise (1917) - Charlie Manton
The Haunted Pajamas (1917) - Francis Billings
The Trouble Buster (1917) - 'Blackie' Moyle
Shootin' Mad (1918)
The Secret Garden (1919) - Dickon Sowerby
The Son-of-a-Gun (1919) - Buddy Brown
The Cry of the Weak (1919) - Budd
Nobody's Kid (1921) - John Maxwell
Thunderclap (1921) - Tommy
Money! Money! Money! (1923) - Lennie Hobbs (final film role)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Juvenile Type That Pleases". The Movie Magazine. 1915. December 1915. Vol. 2, No. 3. p. 106. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQB9-TSZ : Thu May 09 21:13:47 UTC 2024), Entry for Spencer Paul Gregory and Spencer Orville Gregory.
^ "Little Kaintuck". The Great Falls Leader. December 10, 2013. p. 5. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ Special Collections Belk Library, Appalachian State University. Southern Mountaineers Filmography Archived August 4, 2012, at archive.today
^ ^a ^b Yale, Grace G. (July 13, 1921). "Paul's Picnic Party, Pickering Pleasure Pier". Evening Vanguard. p. 6. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ Usai, Paolo Cherchi (2008). The Griffith Project, Volume 12: Essays on D.W. Griffith. London: Palgrave MacMillan. p. 166. ISBN 9781838710699.
^ "Amusements: 'The Promise'". The Waco Times-Herald. March 25, 1917. p. 12. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "The Haunted Pajamas". Motography. May 26, 1917. Vol. XVII, No. 21. p. 1105. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "Bronco Billy Anderson at the Globe Sunday". San Pedro News-Pilot. March 15, 1919. p. 6 Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Mae Marsh and Paul Willis play a bit". The Waco Times-Herald. May 28, 1922. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ The New York Times Movies
^ "Molly Malone and Paul Willis Are Engaged by Robertson-Cole". Motion Picture News. December 6, 1919. Vol. 20, No. 24. p. 4106. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "Screenland and It's People". The Buffalo News. March 20, 1920. p. 7. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "A Laugh; A Tear; A Thought". Great Falls Tribune. November 6, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ Yale, Grace G. (July 12, 1921). "Movie Takes Scenes at Ocean Park Center". Evening Vanguard. p. 6. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "Pickering Free Open Air Theatre Presents 'Paul's Picnic Party'; 'The Screaming Shadow". Evening Vanguard. July 15, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
^ "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPN-G7KB : Sun Mar 10 03:50:12 UTC 2024), Entry for Paul Gregory Willis, 3 November 1960.
^ California, Los Angeles, Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery, Deceased Card File Index, 1877-1989", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W8D8-CZPZ : Sat Mar 09 03:02:44 UTC 2024), Entry for Paul Gregory Willis, 4 Nov 1960.