Occupation

Actor, Director, Screenwriter

Born

Harry Langdon on the 15th June 1884, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

Married

Rose Fances      (1903 -1929) Divorced

Helen Walton   (1929 - 1932)

Mabel Sheldon  (1934 - ?) Divorced, 1 Son 1 Daughter

Re Married

Mabel Sheldon  (1938 - 15th June 1944)

Active

191? - 1944

Died

Of a Cerebral Hemorrhage, On the 22nd December 1944, Los Angeles, California, USA.

After working several odd jobs, Harry  Langdon joined an Omaha medicine show and went on to spend 20 years traveling with minstrel shows, circuses , burlesque, and vaudeville; he had some success with a comedy act called "Jimmy's New Car."

Langdon was in his late 30s when he  joined Mack Sennett's film company in 1923.

He quickly appeared in numerous two-reel comedies, in the course of which he developed his own screen persona: his childlike face covered by traditional pantomime white make-up, he wore a tightly buttoned jacket as though he were a boy who had outgrown it.

Juvenile in appearance, he played the  bewildered, clumsy, wide-eyed simpleton out of step with the behavior of normal  adults, eerily baffled by erotic situations and naively trusting in the world's  goodness.

The character caught on, and by 1926 he  was one of the Big Four of American screen comedy (along with Chaplin, Lloyd,  and Keaton).

His best work was done in collaboration  with director Harry Edwards and writer Frank Capra.

Langdon's enormous success fuelled his ego, and after a year or two he dispensed with Edwards and Capra and took sole responsibility for his films.

However, his talent was limited, and his efforts were disastrous; furthermore, he stubbornly refused to adapt his style  to changing tastes.

He was also a poor businessman, and he once spent the entire $150,000 budget of a film before a word of it had been  written.

Much of his own substantial salary went to alimony payments.

Langdon was soon fired by his film company, after which he returned to vaudeville for almost two years.

When he returned to Hollywood, the sound era was underway and he was out of touch with prevailing fashions.

By 1931 he had to file for bankruptcy.

He went on to appear in numerous films as  a character player, and also starred in dozen of talkie shorts, never reclaiming  his earlier popularity.