Harry Benham
Harry Benham (February 26, 1884 – July 17, 1969) was an American silent film actor. Born in Valparaiso, Indiana, as a child Benham and his family moved to Chicago, where he was raised and attended school. Benham had a talent for singing and sang in his local church choir. In 1904, the production Peggy From Paris came to Chicago and, at age 20, Benham became a member of the chorus while earning a living in the wholesale paper business. Benham was soon selected to play the leading role in the production and remained in that role throughout the production's three-year run. He was subsequently able to garner more roles in other plays, such as The Sultan of Sulu, Woodland, Marrying Mary, The Gay Musician, H.M.S. Pinafore, Florodora, The Mayoress, and Madame Sherry. In 1910 Benham joined the Thanhouser Company, for whom he played the leading role in many of the company's films through 1915. It was after this period that he met actress Ethyle Cooke and married her; together they had two children, Dorothy and Leland, who also became prominent Thanhouser personalities. Benham died on July 17, 1969 in Sarasota, Florida, aged 85. An article about his role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
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The Voice of Conscience
Two girls fall in love with the same man. Out motoring one day they are thrown from the machine and carried to the hospital where one of the girls poisons the other. The story swings into a very pleasant finish. The shackles of studio filming are largely broken in THE VOICE OF...Watch Movie -
Cinderella
An elaborately produced version of the well known fairy tale interrupted by just a few summarizing intertitles, with Florence LaBadie and Harry Benham. Although in-camera trick photography is important for the story, it is rather conventional, having been introduced over ten years earlier by...Watch Movie -
The Star of Bethlehem
Biblical tale about the birth of Christ told with a cast of 100's. Thanhouser's ambitious STAR OF BETHLEHEM was one of the first steps toward true feature-length films (more than two reels long). It appeared the year before the Italian epic QUO VADIS? was screened in the U....Watch Movie -
King Rene's Daughter
A very romantic fiction set in renaissance France with florid, rich costuming. The story was originally a one-act verse play in Danish, “Iolanthe,” which also enjoyed great popularity in a fine English translation for the stage. Maude Fealy made her Thanhouser debut in the...Watch Movie
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Just a Shabby Doll
A relatively complex original romantic story is squeezed onto only one reel, but this was the last year that such a constraint was taken for granted. Of special interest here are the 1913 New York City backgrounds. In 1913 the inter-titles became more frequent and, for the...Watch Movie -
Get Rich Quick
The moral tale, a staple of early film, observes in this case how an elaborate swindle, the "Utopia Investment Corporation," affects one of its participants. The film challenges the quest for material wealth without concern for those victimized. A review in The Billboard praised Marguerite Snow's...Watch Movie -
The Portrait of Lady Anne
In 1770, the beautiful Lady Anne in a jealous fit throws over her lover who goes away to the war and is killed. Fast forward to 1912 where a descendant of Lady Anne is entertaining and much the same happens. A fantasy of romance and jealousy across 200 years. Sets are, in...Watch Movie
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Madam Blanche, Beauty Doctor
A good example of the clever light comedy Thanhouser produced for its Falstaff label, while other studios cranked out broad slapstick comedies. Harry Benham and Mignon Anderson were versatile and popular Thanhouser stars, here showing considerable skill in light comedy, a...Watch Movie -
In a Garden
The gardener tells the story he has seen unfolded within the precincts of a beautiful spot: the beginning of affection between two, the quarrel and the reconciliation years afterward. The ups and downs and ups of a romance over 30 years, told as a series of flashbacks by the gardener who...Watch Movie -
His Uncle's Wives
An artist unexpectedly inherits six wives who come to him from his uncle in Constantinople. His wife makes serious objections, and he finally packs them off to join a theatrical troupe, and happiness is restored. This simple situation comedy enjoys opulent sets of the home of...Watch Movie -
Zudora Episode #2: The Mystery of the Sleeping House
A mysterious and exotic secret society conducts elaborate ceremonies in American suburbia with the kidnapped heroine Zudora who they want to marry off to their leader as a substitute for the real princess who was taken by a rival tribe back in India. The sets range from cheap...Watch Movie

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