James Gordon Edwards (June 24, 1867 – December 31, 1925) was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and writer who began his career as a

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

actor and

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Biography

James Gordon Edwards was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1867 to parents of Scotch-French ancestry. He made his directorial debut with the 1914 film '' St. Elmo''. Edwards went on directing all of the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

's mega-budget spectacles, including all of actress

Theda Bara Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...

's productions between 1916 and 1919. Later, he became the production supervisor at Fox, and continued to direct until he died in 1925. One of his biggest projects was '' The Queen of Sheba'' (1921), a lost silent film which contained a huge chariot race, four years before '' Ben-Hur'' (1925). Essentially all of his films (other than a few low quality prints) for Fox Studios were lost in the

1937 Fox vault fire The 1937 Fox vault fire was a major fire that broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film-storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States, on July 9, 1937. Flammable nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film-industr ...

, which claimed 75% of all Fox films made before 1930. He was the stepgrandfather of director

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

. He was married to actress Angela McCaull, daughter of opera impresario John A. McCaull. Edwards died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

at age 58 in New York City. His widow later commissioned a mausoleum in his honor at Kensico Cemetery, where both of their ashes reside.

Filmography

Production supervisor

* '' A Daughter of the Gods'' (1916) - lost

Director

*''St. Elmo'' (1914) *''

Life's Shop Window ''Life's Shop Window'' is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Claire Whitney and Stuart Holmes. It is a film adaptation of the 1907 novel of the same name by Annie Sophie Cory. The film depicts the stor ...

'' (1914) - lost *''A Woman's Resurrection'' (1915) *''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...

'' (1915) - lost *''Should a Mother Tell'' (1915) *''The Song of Hate'' (1915) *''Blindness of Devotion'' (1915) *''The Unfaithful Wife'' (1915) *'' The Galley Slave'' (1915) - lost *'' Under Two Flags'' (1916) - lost *'' Her Double Life'' (1916) - lost *''A Wife's Sacrifice'' (1916) *'' The Vixen'' (1916) - lost *''The Green-Eyed Monster'' (1916) - lost *'' Romeo and Juliet'' (1916) - lost *''The Spider and the Fly'' (1916) *'' The Tiger Woman'' (1917) - lost *'' Tangled Lives'' (1917) - lost *'' Her Greatest Love'' (1917) - lost *'' The Rose of Blood'' (1917) - lost *'' Madame Du Barry (1917) - lost *'' Heart and Soul'' (1917) - lost *'' The Darling of Paris'' (1917) - lost *'' Cleopatra'' (1917) - lost *'' Camille'' (1917) - lost *'' When a Woman Sins'' (1918) - lost *'' Under the Yoke'' (1918) - lost *'' The Soul of Buddha'' (1918) - lost *'' The She Devil'' (1918) - lost *'' Salome'' (1918) - lost *'' The Forbidden Path'' (1918) - lost *''

A Woman There Was ''A Woman There Was'' is a 1919 American silent South Seas drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Theda Bara. The film is based on the short story "Creation's Tears", by George James Hopkins (under the name "Neje Hopkins"). Bara ...

'' (1919) - lost *''

Wolves of the Night ''Wolves of the Night'' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring William Farnum, Louise Lovely, and Lamar Johnstone. Cast * William Farnum as Bruce Andrews * Louise Lovely as Isabel Hollins * Lamar Johns ...

'' (1919) - lost *'' Wings of the Morning'' (1919) - lost *'' When Men Desire'' (1919) - lost *'' The Siren's Song'' (1919) - lost *'' The Lone Star Ranger'' (1919) - lost *'' The Light'' (1919) - lost *''The Last of the Duanes'' (1919) *''The Orphan'' (1920) *'' Heart Strings'' (1920) - lost *''

If I Were King ''If I Were King'' is a 1938 American biographical and historical film starring Ronald Colman as medieval poet François Villon, and featuring Basil Rathbone and Frances Dee. It is based on the 1901 play and novel, both of the same name, by Just ...

'' (1920) *''

Drag Harlan ''Drag Harlan'' is a 1920 American silent Western film produced and released by the Fox Film Corporation and directed by J. Gordon Edwards. The film is based on an original story for the screen and stars William Farnum along with Jackie Saund ...

'' (1920) *''The Adventurer'' (1920) *''The Joyous Troublemaker'' (1920) *''

The Scuttlers ''The Scuttlers'' is a lost 1920 American silent drama film produced and distributed by the Fox Film Corporation and directed by J. Gordon Edwards. William Farnum and Jackie Saunders star in this adventure. Cast *William Farnum as Jim Landers * ...

'' (1920) - lost *'' The Queen of Sheba'' (1921) - lost *''His Greatest Sacrifice'' (1921) * ''

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

'' (1922) - lost *''

The Silent Command ''The Silent Command'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards featuring Bela Lugosi as a foreign saboteur in his American film debut. The film, written by Anthony Paul Kelly and Rufus King (writer), Rufu ...

'' (1923) *''The Net'' (1923) *''

The Shepherd King ''The Shepherd King'' is a 1923 American silent biblical epic film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Violet Mersereau, Nerio Bernardi, and Guido Trento. It is a film adaptation of a 1904 Broadway play by Wright Lorimer and Arnold Reeve ...

'' (1923) - lost *'' It Is the Law'' (1924) - lost

Writer

* '' The Queen of Sheba'' (1921) * ''A Wife's Sacrifice'' (1916) * ''Blindness of Devotion'' (1915)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, J. Gordon 1867 births 1925 deaths Burials at Kensico Cemetery Canadian emigrants to the United States Film directors from Montreal Writers from Montreal Deaths from pneumonia in New York City