John Griffith Wray (August 30, 1881 – July 15, 1929) was an American stage actor and director who later became a noted Hollywood silent film director. He worked on 19 films between

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

and

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

that included ''

Anna Christie ''Anna Christie'' is a Play (theatre), play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway theatre, Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work. According ...

'' (1923) and '' Human Wreckage'' (1923),

Dorothy Davenport Fannie Dorothy Davenport (March 13, 1895 – October 12, 1977) was an American actress, screenwriter, film director, and producer. Born into a family of film performers, Davenport had her own independent career before her marriage to the film a ...

's story about her husband

Wallace Reid William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver. Early life Reid was born in St. Lou ...

's drug addiction and death.

Biography

Wray was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. By 1912 Wray was a leading actor and stage director with the World's Fair Stock Company's yearlong Hawaiian tour. He married actress Virginia Brissac in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

, on June 29, 1915, and became the step-father of screenwriter Ardel Wray. The couple divorced in 1927. In October 1928, less than a year before his death, Wray married Bradley King, a Hollywood screenwriter.John G. Wray Marries. ''New York Times'', October 8, 1928, p. 15

Selected filmography

*'' The Shark God (1913 film)'' * '' Homespun Folks'' (1920) * '' Lying Lips'' (1921) * '' Beau Revel'' (1921) *'' Hail the Woman'' (1921) *'' Human Wreckage'' (1923) * '' Soul of the Beast'' (1923) *'' What a Wife Learned'' (1923) *'' Her Reputation'' (1923) *''

'' (1923) *'' The Marriage Cheat'' (1924) *'' The Winding Stair'' (1925) *'' Hell's Four Hundred'' (1926) *'' The Gilded Butterfly'' (1926) *'' Singed'' (1927) *'' The Gateway of the Moon'' (1928) *'' The Careless Age'' (1929) *'' A Most Immoral Lady'' (1929) *'' The Sap from Syracuse'' (1930)

References

External links

* * 1881 births 1929 deaths American silent film directors Male actors from Minneapolis Film directors from Minnesota {{US-film-actor-1890s-stub