1. Crane Wilbur was an American writer, actor and director for stage, radio and screen.
16 Facts About Crane Wilbur
1. 2.
Crane Wilbur was a prolific writer and director of at least 67 films from the silent era into the sound era, but it was as an actor that he found lasting recognition, particularly playing opposite Pearl White in the iconic serial The Perils of Pauline.
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Crane Wilbur brought to the first motion pictures merry eyes, a great, thick crop of wavy, black hair and an athlete's interest in swimming and horseback riding.
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Crane Wilbur was born Irwin Wilbur on November 17,1886, in Athens, New York.
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Crane Wilbur's father was a shipbuilder who committed suicide while Crane was a young man.
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In seventeen films made between 1910 and 1913, Crane Wilbur established himself as a realistic performer who brought youth, good looks, and strength to his characterizations.
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Crane Wilbur identified with these players and became a member of their stock company.
8.
Crane Wilbur tested for and won the coveted role of Harry in the proposed serial.
9.
In 1916, Crane Wilbur scored a personal hit with a five-reel Mutual Masterpiece film, Vengeance is Mine, a thrilling story about the abolishment of capital punishment.
10.
Vitagraph then hired him for his next assignment, The Heart of Maryland, and on its completion, Crane Wilbur broke from film work altogether.
11.
Crane Wilbur wrote a modernization of The Bat, a play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood.
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In 1924 Crane Wilbur was touring in his own play, The Monster, a mystery tale that made The Bat look like a bedtime story.
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Crane Wilbur was notable for his 1926 success in New York on Broadway in The Bride of the Lamb with Alice Brady, and later in 1930 in On the Spot with Anna May Wong.
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Crane Wilbur returned to Hollywood in 1929 to resume his acting, writing and directing career with many fictional and documentary films.
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Crane Wilbur's modernization had been an enormous success for many years, grossing upwards of $9,000,000.
16.
Crane Wilbur suffered a stroke and died on October 18,1973, in Toluca Lake, California.