Volume III: Biographies

KYLE, Howard *

Actor (1912)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Howard Kyle was an actor with Thanhouser in 1912.

Biographical Notes: Howard Kyle was born in Shullsburg, Wisconsin in 1861, and attended school in Mount Carroll, Illinois. During his infancy, he was very close to his aunt, Mrs. Susan Stevens, who was said to be the wealthiest person in Shullsburg. As he grew older, she often expressed the wish that he would become a lawyer. When he chose the footlights instead, she disinherited him from a bequest valued at $200,000, according to a 1901 newspaper article. His first stage appearance was in an amateur production of London Assurance. The George C. Miln company presentation of Hamlet, in Janesville, Wisconsin, furnished his professional debut, when Howard Kyle acted the role of the Second Grave Digger.

From that point, Howard Kyle was seen for a period of more than 50 years and in more than 250 roles. He was before the footlights with such performers as Margaret Mather, Margaret Anglin, Charles Coburn, Frederick Warde, Mme. Helene Modjeska, Julia Marlowe, Lillian Olcott, Fanny Kemble, and Loie Fuller. His New York stage debut was in Virginius, in 1887 at the Windsor Theatre in the Bowery. In 1894 he was in a stock company in Salt Lake City, in 1896 he was in stock in Pittsburgh, and in 1897 he was with a San Francisco stage company. Among the plays in which he appeared were Way Down East, Magda, Richelieu, Nathan Hale, John Ermine of Yellowstone, Rosemary, The Critic, Pygmalion and Galatea, The Octoroon, Hearts of Oak, Diplomacy, Nathan Hale, The Great Lover, The Servant in the House, Antony and Cleopatra, Joseph and His Brethren, The Greater Love, Electra, The Evangelist, Caliban, and Mary Magdalene.

At a period in his life when he was active in Shakespearean roles on the stage, Howard Kyle played the part of an unemployed Shakespearean actor in the 1912 Thanhouser film release of A Star Reborn. He was also seen in at least one other Thanhouser picture, Don't Pinch My Pup. It is believed that he was with the Thanhouser Company for just a short time.

In 1915 Howard Kyle married Amy Ursilla Hodges, who had been on stage with him the previous season in Polygamy. Following a California honeymoon, the couple made their home at 173 West 81st Street in New York City, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1917 he was corresponding secretary of the Actors' Equity Society. Howard Kyle died on December 1, 1950 in New York City, at Sanger's Nursing Home, 500 West 57th Street, New York City. Services were conducted at the Walter B. Cooke Funeral Chapel, 117 West 72nd Street in the same city.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: A Star Reborn (9-10-1912), Don't Pinch My Pup (9-8-1912)

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