Image of Milton Sills

Milton Sills

From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.


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Born:
Jan 12, 1882
Movie/TV Credits:
40
First Appeared:
In the movie Under Southern Skies 1915-09-20
Latest Project:
Movie The Legend of Rudolph Valentino 1961-05-24
Known For
Poster of The Crash
Poster of Men of Steel
Poster of Legally Dead
Poster of The Honor System
Filmography
Movie The Legend of Rudolph Valentino Self (archive footage) 1961-05-24
Movie Man Trouble Mac 1930-08-24
Movie The Sea Wolf 'Wolf' Larsen 1930-09-21
Movie His Captive Woman 1929-02-03
Movie Love and the Devil 1929-03-24
Movie Burning Daylight Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish 1928-03-10
Movie The Circus: Premiere Self 1928-01-13
Movie The Barker Nifty Miller 1928-10-02
Movie The Crash Jim Flannagan 1928-10-07
Movie The Sea Tiger Justin Ramos 1927-02-27
Movie The Valley of the Giants Bryce Cardigan 1927-12-04
Movie Framed Etienne Hilaire 1927-06-19
Movie Puppets Nicola Riccobini 1926-06-20
Movie Paradise Tony 1926-09-26
Movie Men of Steel Jan Bokak 1926-07-11
Movie As Man Desires Major John Craig 1925-01-11
Movie The Knockout Sandy Donlin 1925-08-23
Movie The Making of O'Malley O'Malley 1925-06-28
Movie A Lady of Quality Gerald Mertoun, Duke of Osmonde 1924-01-14
Movie The Sea Hawk Sir Oliver Tressilian 1924-06-14
Movie The Isle of Lost Ships Frank Howard 1923-03-17
Movie Legally Dead Will Campbell / George Brown 1923-07-30
Movie Souls for Sale Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited) 1923-04-22
Movie Adam's Rib Michael Ramsay 1923-09-24
Movie Flaming Youth Cary Scott 1923-11-12
Movie A Trip to Paramountown Self 1922-07-10
Movie Seeing Stars Self 1922-10-29
Movie Skin Deep Bud Doyle 1922-09-01
Movie The Faith Healer Michaelis 1921-03-13
Movie Miss Lulu Bett Neil Cornish 1921-11-01
Movie The Street Called Straight Peter Devenant 1920-02-01
Movie The Stronger Vow Juan Estudillo 1919-04-27
Movie Eyes of Youth Louis Anthony 1919-11-29
Movie The Hushed Hour Luke Appleton 1919-05-18
Movie The Claw Major Anthony Kinsella 1918-06-10
Movie The Hell Cat Sheriff Jack Webb 1918-11-24
Movie The Honor System Joseph Stanton 1917-02-12
Movie Patria Capt. Donald Parr 1917-01-14
Movie Under Southern Skies Burleigh Mavor 1915-09-20
Movie The Woman Who Lied 1915-10-06