Reginald Leslie "Snowy" Baker (8 February 18842 December 1953) was an Australian athlete, sports promoter, and actor. Born in

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

, an inner-city suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Baker excelled at a number of sports, winning New South Wales

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

championships while still a teenager. Playing

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for Eastern Suburbs, he played several games for

against

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and in 1904 represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. At the

1908 London Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedul ...

, Baker represented

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

in swimming and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, as well as taking part in the middleweight boxing event, in which he won a silver medal. He also excelled in horsemanship, water polo, running, rowing and cricket.Mandle W. F.
Baker, Reginald Leslie (Snowy) (1884–1953)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

1979. Accessed 30 January 2015 However, "His stature as an athlete depends largely upon the enormous range rather than the outstanding excellence of his activities; it was as an entrepreneur-showman, publicist and businessman that he seems in retrospect to have been most important." Baker retired from competition after being injured in a motor-vehicle accident, and became involved in boxing promotion, bringing a number of top fighters from North America and Europe to fight in Australia. During this time, he began to act in a number of

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

roles which showcased his horsemanship, including '' The Enemy Within'', ''

The Man from Kangaroo The Man from Kangaroo is a 1920 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker. It was the first of several films he made with the husband and wife team of director Wilfred Lucas and writer Bess Meredyth, both of whom ...

'', and ''

The Shadow of Lightning Ridge ''The Shadow of Lightning Ridge'' is a 1920 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker. It has been called the most "Western"-like of the films Baker made in Australia. It is now considered a lost film. Charles ...

''. In 1920, Baker left Australia for the United States, where he became known as an entrepreneur and stunt coach. He died in 1953 in

Los Angeles 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, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, from

cerebrovascular disease Cerebrovascular disease includes a variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain and the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain are often damaged or deformed in these disorders. Th ...

Athletics record

Baker played 26 sports during his lifetime and excelled at most of them: * At the age of 13 Baker was the

open swimming champion for 110 and 220 yards (100 and 200m). * At 16 he played in the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

team against

. * At 17 he was middleweight boxing champion of New South Wales, and * At 18 took the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

and

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

boxing titles of

. Baker was also prominent at polo, water polo, cricket and diving, and proficient in surfing, fencing, hockey, rowing, yachting and equestrian events. He appeared at the

, representing Australasia in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, finishing fourth, and in the

where he lost in the first round, coming seventh against the powerful Germans who dominated the sport at the time. He also took part in the Olympic boxing competition, where he lost the final match against

Johnny Douglas John William Henry Tyler Douglas (3 September 1882 – 19 December 1930) was an English cricketer who was active in the early decades of the twentieth century. Douglas was an all-rounder who played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1 ...

, winning a silver medal. Baker is the only Australian athlete to complete in three separate sports at the Olympic Games, and he did it all at the same Olympics. Supporters of Snowy Baker, later claimed that Douglas' father was the referee and sole judge, but Douglas Sr was there merely to present the medals, in his role as president of the ABA, and had no part in the actual judging.

Rugby union career

Baker was a scrum-half who claimed two international rugby caps for Australia. His debut game was against Great Britain, at Sydney, on 2 July 1904.

Olympic boxing results

*Defeated William J. Dees (Great Britain) KO round 2 *Defeated William Childs (Great Britain) Decision *Defeated

William Philo William Philo (17 February 1882 in Islington, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom – 7 July 1916 in France) was a British Middleweight professional boxer who competed in the early twentieth century. He won a bronze medal in Boxing at the 1 ...

(Great Britain) KO round 1 *Lost to

(Great Britain) Decision

Sports administration

After his retirement from professional sport following a motor vehicle accident, Baker turned his hand to boxing promotion. Working with a dubious, larger-than-life character by the name of Hugh D. "Huge Deal" McIntosh, Baker became one of the premier boxing promoters in Australia, bringing to the country many of the best boxers of the day from North America and Europe. Numbered among these was the New York light and welterweight Harry Stone. As general manager of Stadia Ltd in 1914, he led negotiations to bring

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. A precocious pugilist, Carpentier fought in numerous categories. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasti ...

to Australia. Baker was responsible for starting the careers of many of Australia's best pugilists, most notably

Les Darcy James Leslie Darcy (28 October 189524 May 1917) was an Australian boxer. He was a middleweight, but held the Australian Heavyweight Championship title at the same time. Les Darcy was the 2003 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall ...

. However, he and Darcy had a major falling out, resulting in the latter stowing away to the United States. Having publicly denounced Darcy over his evasion of war service; when Darcy died in May 1917 from complications resulting from a botched dental procedure, many Australians blamed Baker for his death. It was this fall from grace in the eyes of the Australian public that would ultimately result in Baker's permanent relocation to California.

Film career

Baker became Australia's darling of the screen when his silent movie career took off. His movies included '' The Enemy Within'', ''

'', and ''

''. During this same time, he was also writing and editing a publication titled ''Snowy Baker's Magazine''. For many years, until he settled in the United States, Baker was Australia's leading actor and matinee idol. He was called "Australia's first action movie star".

US career

Baker moved to California in the 1920s. While residing there he acted in some films, managed a polo club and coached such actors as

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...

in horse riding. He taught

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

and

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

how to ride, fence and swim.

Filmography

* '' The Enemy Within'' (1918) * ''

The Lure of the Bush ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'' (1918) * ''

'' (1920) * ''

The Jackeroo of Coolabong ''The Jackeroo of Coolabong'' is a 1920 Australian silent film starring renowned Australian sportsman Snowy Baker. It was the last of three films he made with the husband and wife team of director Wilfred Lucas and writer Bess Meredyth, both of ...

'' (1920) aka ''The Fighting Breed'' * '' Sleeping Acres'' (1921) * ''Pals'' (1923) * '' His Last Race'' (1923) * '' The White Panther'' (1924) * '' The Empire Builders'' (1924) * '' The Sword of Valor'' (1924) * '' Fighter's Paradise'' (1924) *'' Big City'' (1937) * ''

The Kid From Texas ''The Kid from Texas'' is a 1950 American Western film that was Audie Murphy's first Technicolor Western and the first feature film on Murphy's Universal-International Pictures contract. It was directed by Kurt Neumann and featured Gale Storm ...

'' (1939)

Stage

*''The Bonded Woman'' (1922) - Los AngelesSchallert, Edwin. Review: "Show Has Large Map; ''Bonded Woman'', "Snowy" Baker, at Grauman's ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

8 August 1922: p.11.

References

External links

*
Reginald (Snowy) Leslie Baker at the National Film and Sound Archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Reginald 1884 births 1953 deaths Australia international rugby union players Boxers from Sydney Australian male divers Swimmers from Sydney Australian male silent film actors Australian boxing promoters Professional wrestling promoters Olympic boxers for Australasia Olympic divers for Australasia Olympic swimmers for Australasia Olympic silver medalists for Australasia Boxers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in boxing Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 20th-century Australian male actors Australian male boxers Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Middleweight boxers Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union scrum-halves Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from New South Wales Eastern Suburbs RUFC players Australian rugby union players New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen