Volume III: Biographies

WALTON, Charles *

Actor (1912-1913)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Charles Walton was an actor with Thanhouser circa 1912-1913.

Biographical Notes: Charles Walton was born in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania in 1884. He was educated by a private tutor in Washington, D.C. and in New York schools and at one time was a page boy in the United States Capitol. His stage career included work with Charles Frohman, William A. Brady, John Cort, Weber and Anderson, Blanche Ring, and Charles Hopkins. In Washington, D.C. he was a director at the Hickman Dramatic School and was a player with the Columbia Theatre stock company. The actor's screen career included appearances in films by Fox, Famous Players, Thanhouser (A Mystery of Wall Street), Kinemacolor (Shattered Souls), and the first Weber and Fields picture. At one time he worked with D.W. Griffith and was a casting agent and assistant for such films as The Birth of a Nation and Way Down East.

The 1917 edition of the Motion Picture News Studio Directory noted that Charles Walton was 5'9" tall, weighed 160 pounds, and had a fair complexion, brown hair, and brown eyes. His home address at the time was The Creighton, West 47th Street, New York City. From the 1920s until close to the time of his death, Walton was involved in stage acting and managing. Late in his career he was a stage manager for the Shuberts in New York and Boston. Charles Walton died in New York City on November 18, 1955, in his apartment in the Bristol Hotel, 129 West 48th Street. He was survived by his twin brother, James William Walton.

Note: The Thanhouser actor is not to be confused with Charles Walton, a 25-year employee of Rank Film Distributors and branch manager of their Leeds, England office, who died at the age of 63 on September 9, 1960.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1913: A Mystery of Wall Street (2-11-1913)

# # #