Volume III: Biographies

SULLIVAN, William A. ("Billy") *

Actor, assistant director (1914-1916)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Billy Sullivan was an actor with Thanhouser from 1914 to 1916.

Biographical Notes: William A. Sullivan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1891. Usually named as Billy Sullivan in publicity, to avoid confusion with a William H. Sullivan, a well-known stage actor, he appeared in various 1914 Thanhouser films, the 1914-1915 serial, The Million Dollar Mystery, and a Falstaff film in 1915. During the time he worked with Thanhouser he also appeared on the stage at intervals and in December 1914 he was a headliner with his close friend Gordon Hollingshead, also a Thanhouser player, in a vaudeville act at Loew's Theatre in New Rochelle.

The New Rochelle Pioneer, September 26, 1914, carried this item: "Billy Sullivan has Gordon Hollingshead's heart broken because he's discovered a little girl in the Bronx that's one dear little girl, and as a result, Gordon, who has been paling with Billy, has to go out and study astronomy alone." In March 1915 he lived at 74 Main Street, New Rochelle, and had recently opened a studio to teach ragtime piano playing as well as stage dancing, including buck and wing, clog, softshoe, and other styles. In early 1916 Billy Sullivan was with Thanhouser's Jacksonville company as assistant director, sometimes designated as co-director, to William A. Howell in the production of Falstaff comedies. The New Rochelle Pioneer, June 3, 1916, announced that he was among nearly two dozen important players, directors, and cameramen who were dismissed by the studio on Saturday morning, May 27, 1916, as part of an economy move. In 1917 and 1918 Billy Sullivan appeared in various Astra films (released through Pathé), including The Cigarette Girl , Over the Hill, The Honest Thief, and Lightning Raider (serial). Sullivan remained in films through the 1930s, and died on May 23, 1946 in Great Neck, New York.

Notes: 1. He was erroneously identified as "Harry" Sullivan in The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 12, 1915, in a review of the film, Movie Fans. 2. As noted, he is not to be confused with William H. Sullivan, born in Syracuse, New York, who was a prominent stage actor during the first two decades of the 20th century. 3. Another actor, William Bourke Sullivan, was in such stage plays as The Bostonians, The Sho-Gun, and Katinka.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: Beating Back (released by Direct-From-Broadway Features 6-9-1914), Gold (9-15-1914), The Harvest of Regrets (9-27-1914), The Cripple (10-6-1914), Old Jackson's Girl (10-20-1914), When Vice Shuddered (Princess 11-6-1914), Pawns of Fate (11-17-1914)

1914-1915 Serial: The Million Dollar Mystery

1915: Movie Fans (Falstaff 4-30-1915)

1916: Snow Storm and Sunshine (Falstaff 2-10-1916), Perkins' Peace Party (Falstaff 2-17-1916), Maud Muller Modernized (Falstaff 3-2-1916), Ambitious Awkward Andy (Falstaff 3-9-1916), Theodore's Terrible Thirst (Falstaff 3-14-1916), Rupert's Rube Relation (Falstaff 3-16-1916), Paul's Political Pull (Falstaff 3-28-1916), Ruining Randall's Reputation (Falstaff 4-3-1916), The Professor's Peculiar Precautions (Falstaff 4-8-1916), Dad's Darling Daughters (Falstaff 4-24-1916), The Kiddies' Kaptain Kidd (Falstaff 5-8-1916), Making the Major a Mayor (Falstaff 6-15-1916; ready for release but not issued)

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