John Gilbert

I am an actor and a major star of the silent film era.
Known as "the great lover," I rivaled even the great Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though I am often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, my decline as a star in fact had more to do with studio politics and money than the sound of my screen voice.
Born John Cecil Pringle on 10 July 1899 (some sources say 1897, I like to keep them guessing...) in Logan, Utah to stock company actor parents, I struggled through a childhood of abuse and neglect before coming to Hollywood as a teenager. I first found work as an extra with the Thomas Ince Studios, and soon became a favorite of Maurice Tourneur, who also hired me to write and direct several pictures. I quickly rose through the ranks, building my reputation as an actor in such films as “Heart o' the Hills” opposite Mary Pickford. In 1921, I signed a three year contract with Fox Film Corporation, where I was cast as a romantic leading man.
In 1924, I moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where I became a full-fledged star with such high-profile films as “His Hour” (directed by King Vidor and written by Elinor Glyn), “He Who Gets Slapped” (co-starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and Norma Shearer, and directed by Victor Sjöström), and “The Merry Widow” (directed by Erich von Stroheim and co-starring Mae Murray). In 1925, I was once again directed by King Vidor in the war epic “The Big Parade”, which became the second highest grossing silent film in cinema history. My performance in this film made me a major star. The following year, Vidor reunited me with two of my co-stars from that picture, Renée Adorée and Karl Dane, for the film “La Bohème” which also starred Lillian Gish.
I married the highly successful film actress Leatrice Joy in 1922. The union produced my lovely daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, but the tempestuous marriage only lasted two years. We divorced in 1924.
That same year, I made “Flesh and the Devil”, my first film with Greta Garbo. We soon began a very public relationship, much to the delight of our fans. I planned to marry her, but she got cold feet and never showed up for the ceremony. Despite our rocky off-screen relationship, we continued to generate box-office revenue for the studio, and MGM paired us in two more silents - “Love”, a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina, and “A Woman of Affairs”.
Throughout my time at MGM, I frequently clashed with studio head Louis B. Mayer over creative matters. While waiting to see if Garbo would show up for our wedding, Mayer "allegedly" made a rude remark to me that caused me to fly into a rage and physically attack the mogul. After that, my career began its downward slide. In spite of Mayer's disdain for me, I did have a powerful supporter in production head Irving Thalberg. We were old friends and Thalberg made efforts to reinvigorate my career, but Thalberg's failing health probably limited such efforts.
With the coming of sound, I first spoke in the the all-talking musical “Hollywood Revue of 1929”. I appeared in a Romeo and Juliet Technicolor sequence along with Norma Shearer in which we first played the part straight and then modernized it. Reviewers for the film did not note any problems with my voice at that time and, in fact, some praised it! My career faltered mainly due to the quality of the projects I was given. According to film reviews of the day, audiences actually laughed at my overly ardent love-making in my first all-talking feature “His Glorious Night” (1929). The dialogue was unintentionally ludicrous and the film played more like a bad comedy than a romantic drama. In one scene I kept kissing my leading lady while saying over and over again "I love you." Although I was given better roles in my later films, my career never recovered from this disaster. The film was released throughout the country to laughing audiences and my image as a great lover was tarnished. (The film has never been shown on television by Turner Entertainment due to the fact that MGM sold the rights to Paramount for a remake, so Turner doesn't own the film, and Paramount has absolutely no interest in doing anything with it).
In 1932 MGM made the film “Downstairs” from my original story, in which I played against type as a scheming, blackmailing chauffeur. The film was well received by critics, but did nothing to restore my popularity. Shortly after making the film I married my co-star Virginia Bruce. We had a daughter, Susan, and divorced in 1934. In 1933, I starred opposite Garbo for the last time in “Queen Christina”; Garbo was top-billed and my name beneath the title. The picture, however, failed to revive my career. By that point, alcoholism had severely damaged my health, and I died of a heart attack without ever regaining my former reputation.
After my passing on 9 January 1936, I was interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Though I'm famous for my romantic relationships with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, I was married four times: Olivia Burwell (1917 - 1922), Leatrice Joy (1923 - 1924), Ina Claire (1929 - 1931) and Virginia Bruce (1932 - 1934) and had two daughters - Leatrice Gilbert Fountain from my marriage to Leatrice Joy and Susan Gilbert from my marriage to Virginia Bruce. Leatrice Gilbert Fountain wrote an excellent biography of my life that was published in 1985.
I have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1755 Vine Street and in 1994, I was honored with my image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
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You are the 1920s!
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