George Bancroft

George Bancroft

ACTOR

George Bancroft was raised in Philadelphia and attended high school at Tomes Institute (Philadelphia). He won an impressive appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated as a commissioned officer. He served in the Navy for the prescribed period of required service but no more. He decided to turn to show business, first as a theater manager. He worked in the old and fading minstrel show variety format into the 1920s but then decided to try his hand at acting. By 1923, he was good enough for Broadway and spent about a year there doing two plays. But he was already good enough for some early camera work for by 1921, so he had made his first appearance in the silent movie medium. Being a big man with dark features, he was a natural for heavies. And it seemed that early Westerns were an easy fit as well after his first four films. Through 1924 and into 1925, he did four, culminating with pay dirt in his appealing performance as rogue Jack Slade in the James Cruze Western The Pony Express (1925). With him was another up-and-coming character actor, Wallace Beery. Bancroft's acting made Paramount Pictures take a look at him as star material. His roles as tough guy took on more flesh into the later 1920s, especially in association with director Josef von Sternberg and his well-honed gangster films that started with Underworld (1927). Their work culminated with Sternberg's Thunderbolt (1929) for which Bancroft received an Oscar nomination. He was tops at the box office.
  • When was
    George Bancroft born?

    George Bancroft was born on Saturday, September 30, 1882

  • Where was
    George Bancroft born?

    George Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

  • How old was
    George Bancroft when they died?

    George Bancroft was 74

  • When did George Bancroft die?

    George Bancroft died on
    Tuesday, October 2, 1956

  • How tall is George Bancroft?

    George Bancroft is 6'2"(1.88m)


Best Quotes

  • By common consent gray hairs are a crown of glory; the only object of respect that can never excite envy.
  • The public is wiser than the wisest critic.
  • In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.
  • Avarice is the vice of declining years.
  • Conscience is the mirror of our souls, which represents the errors of our lives in their full shape.
  • The best government rests on the people, and not on the few, on persons and not on property, on the free development of public opinion and not on authority.
  • Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul.
  • George Bancroft Quotes- See more quotes

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