Monte Blue profile
Actor profile

Monte Blue

10th January 1887 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Acting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Monte Blue (January 11, 1887 – February 18, 1963) was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles. Blue was born as Gerard Montgomery Bluefeather in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father was half French, half Cherokee Indian. One of five children, his father died and his mother could not raise five children alone. Along with another brother, they both admitted to the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home. This did not stop him working his way through to Purdue University. When growing up, Blue built up his physique to become a football player (he grew to six feet three inches tall). He not only played football, but he was also a fireman, railroad worker, coal miner, cowpuncher, ranch hand, circus rider, lumberjack, and finally, a day laborer at the studios of D. W. Griffith. He had no theatrical experience when he came to the screen. In his first movie, The Birth of a Nation (1915), he was a stuntman and an extra in the movie. In his next movie, he starred in another small part in the movie, Intolerance (1916). Gradually moving to supporting roles for both D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, Blue earned his breakthrough role as Danton in Orphans of the Storm, starring sisters, Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish. Then he rose to stardom as a rugged romantic lead along with top leading actresses such as Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, and Norma Shearer. His most prolific female screen partner was Marie Prevost with whom he made several films in the mid 20s at Warner Brothers. Blue's finest silent screen performance was as the alcoholic doctor who finds paradise in MGM's White Shadows in the South Seas (1928). Blue became one of the few silent stars to survive the talkie revolution. However, he lost his investments in the stock market crash of 1929. He rebuilt his career as a character actor, working until his retirement in 1954. One of his more memorable roles was the sheriff in Key Largo. He divorced his first wife in 1923 and married Tova Jansen in 1924. He had two children, Barbara Ann and Richard Monte. During the later part of his life, Monte Blue was an active Mason and the advance man for the Hamid-Morton Shrine Circus; while on business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he had a heart attack because of complications from influenza, dying at age 76. Monte Blue has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6286 Hollywood Blvd. Description above from the Wikipedia article Monte Blue, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

225 Movies 9 TV Shows 234 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Warpath poster
Warpath 22nd November 1951 as First Emigrant
Backfire poster
Backfire 26th January 1950 as Det. Sgt. Pluther (uncredited)
Humoresque poster
Humoresque 25th January 1947 as Moving Man (uncredited)
Casablanca poster
Casablanca 15th January 1943 as American (uncredited)
Juarez poster
Juarez 10th June 1939 as Lerdo de Tajada
Nevada poster
Nevada 29th November 1935 as Clem Dillon
'G' Men poster
'G' Men 4th May 1935 as Fingerprint Expert
The Show of Shows poster
The Show of Shows 21st November 1929 as Condemned Man (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Conquest poster
Conquest 22nd December 1928 as Donald Overton
The Brute poster
The Brute 20th April 1927 as Martin 'Easy-Going' Sondes
Brass poster
Brass 4th March 1923 as Philip Baldwin
M'Liss poster
M'Liss 5th May 1918 as Mexican Joe Dominguez