Jay Hunt (August 4, 1855 – November 18, 1932) was an American

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and actor. He directed nearly 70 films between 1911 and 1919. He continued his career as an actor until 1931. ''The White Squaw'', a 1920 film directed by Hunt, was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of mot ...

in 2011.

Formative years

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania on August 4, 1855, Hunt began his acting career at the

Arch Street Theatre The Arch Street Theatre, popularly referred to as The Arch, was one of three Philadelphia-based theaters for plays during the 19th century; the other two were the Walnut Street Theatre (still standing in 2024), and the Chestnut Street Theatre. ...

in that city, where he worked for

Louisa Lane Drew Louisa Lane Drew (January 10, 1820 – August 31, 1897) was an English-born British American actress and theatre owner-manager, and an ancestor of the prominent Barrymore-Drew acting family. Professionally, she was often billed and known a ...

Career

According to the ''Hollywood Citizen-News'', during his theatrical career, Hunt "had been associated with

Otis Skinner Otis A. Skinner (June 28, 1858 – January 4, 1942) was an American stage actor active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life and education Skinner was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 28, 1858, the middle of three b ...

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American stage actor and theatrical manager who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Th ...

, Mme. Modjecka, the Kiralfy Bros., Maud Granger, E. H. Sothern and was for 12 years director of the Bowdoyn Square Theater at Boston, Mass."

Death

Following his death in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 1932, funeral services were held from him at a funeral home in that city. His former theatre company, Troupers, Inc., arranged and conducted his memorial. His widow, Leah Hunt, then brought his remains back to the East Coast when she relocated to

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

Selected filmography

* '' Star of the North'' (1914) * '' The Man Who Went Out'' (1915)"Theatrical"
''The Allentown Leader'', July 31, 1915, page 8 * ''

Civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

'' (1916) * ''

The Black Sheep of the Family ''The Black Sheep of the Family'' is a 1916 American silent mystery film directed by Jay Hunt and starring Francelia Billington, Jack Holt, and Gilmore Hammond.Wlaschin p.31 Cast * Francelia Billington as Esther Saunders * Jack Holt as Ken ...

'' (1916) * '' The Promise'' (1917) * '' My Lady Robin Hood'' (1919) - directed * '' Yankee Speed'' (1924) * '' Wanted by the Law'' (1924) * '' Lightnin''' (1925) * '' Counsel for the Defense'' (1925) * '' The Gentle Cyclone'' (1926) * '' A Man Four-Square'' (1926) * '' Men of the Night'' (1926) * '' 3 Bad Men'' (1926) * '' The Golden Web'' (1926) * '' The Harvester'' (1927) * '' The Overland Stage'' (1927) * '' Captain Salvation'' (1927) * '' The Poor Millionaire'' (1930) * '' The Cheyenne Cyclone'' (1931)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Jay 1855 births 1932 deaths American male film actors Film directors from Pennsylvania Male actors from Philadelphia 20th-century American male actors