Gordon Griffith

Gordon Griffith

Born: July 4, 1907
Died: October 12, 1958
in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Gordon Griffith (July 4, 1907 – October 12, 1958) was an American assistant director, film producer, and one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. Griffith worked in the film industry for five decades, acting in over 60 films, and surviving the transition from silent films to talkies. During his acting career, he worked with Charlie Chaplin, and was the first actor to portray Tarzan on film.

Griffith died of a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 51.

[biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]

Movies for Gordon Griffith...

Outlaws of the Range
Title: Outlaws of the Range
Character: Grant
Released: April 7, 1936
Type: Movie
When Steve Harper chases down some rustlers, he loses his gun in the ensuing fistfight. After Wilson is killed, Steve's gun is found nearby and he as arrested. Jimmy Wilson breaks him out of jail and he heads after the real killer.
bee
Blazing Justice
Title: Blazing Justice
Character: Max
Released: January 18, 1936
Type: Movie
A cowboy captures two rustlers and collects a $5000 reward. Using the money to take a vacation, he winds up getting accused of a murder he didn't commit.
bee
Gun Play
Title: Gun Play
Character: Henchman Mark
Released: December 2, 1935
Type: Movie
A cowboy comes to the aid of a lady rancher threatened by Mexican bandits who believe there is a treasure buried on her land.
bee
Bars of Hate
Title: Bars of Hate
Character: Jim Grant
Released: November 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Ted Clark rescues pickpoket Danny from a mob, and restores Danny's loot, a pocketbook, to its owner Ann Dawson. She is carrying a letter that proves her brother, who is on death row, is innocent and Jim Grant is the guilty party. Ted and Danny help her escape from Grant's henchmen. They have several narrow escapes while on their way to give the proof to the Governor.
bee
Western Frontier
Title: Western Frontier
Character: Henchman Steve
Released: August 7, 1935
Type: Movie
Ken and his sister are separated while young when the Indians attack their wagon train. Ken, now grown, is sent after the outlaw known as the Golden hair Girl only to find that she's his long lost sister.
bee
What Price Crime
Title: What Price Crime
Character: Red - a Gangster
Released: May 27, 1935
Type: Movie
Thieves break into a warehouse that stores guns, steal them and kill the night watchman. An undercover agent assigned to the case happens to get into a traffic accident with the sister of the man the police suspect is head of the burglary ring, and in order to work his way into the gang, he romances the boss' sister. Complications ensue when the two fall in love.
bee
Speed Limited
Title: Speed Limited
Character: Government Man
Released: January 12, 1935
Type: Movie
A wealthy blonde gal in Las Vegas gets mixed up with a lady gangster and the G-man that is chasing the gangster.
bee
The Branded Man
Title: The Branded Man
Character: Bruce
Released: May 1, 1928
Type: Movie
Fred Colgate, wealthy young man, learns that his tramp wife has been unfaithful and leaves her, and goes to Mexico. An accident causes him to be thought dead. He becomes a prizefighter, and when he return to his home city, he encounters a strange situation.
bee
The Cat's Pajamas
Title: The Cat's Pajamas
Released: August 29, 1926
Type: Movie
bee
Little Annie Rooney
Title: Little Annie Rooney
Character: Tim Rooney
Released: October 18, 1925
Type: Movie
A feisty little girl, the daughter of a beat cop, faces the challenges of growing up in a tough city neighborhood.
bee
Catch My Smoke
Title: Catch My Smoke
Character: Bub Jessup
Released: December 31, 1922
Type: Movie
When Bob Stratton returns from war in France, he soon discovers his ranch in the hands of a pretty girl, Mary Thorne, who explains that upon her father's death she became the sole owner. Thorne had been the executor of Stratton's will, and thinking that Bob had been killed, he had appropriated the place for himself.
bee
The Village Blacksmith
Title: The Village Blacksmith
Character: Bill as a Child
Released: November 1, 1922
Type: Movie
(survived only 10 minutes) As young men, the squire (Marshall) and the village blacksmith (Walling) are in love with the same woman (Boardman), whom the blacksmith marries. This angers the squire. Years later, the squire's son Anson (Yearsley) dares the blacksmith's son Johnnie (Hackathorne) to climb a tree, from which he falls and is crippled. As adults, Anson and the blacksmith's daughter Alice (Valli) fall in love, which angers the blacksmith, who chastises his daughter. The blacksmith's other son Bill (Butler) returns from college and is injured in a train accident. Anson steals $480 from a church fund which is currently in Alice's possession. Alice is struck by lightning. The blacksmith take Anson and the squire to church where they both repent.
bee
Penrod
Title: Penrod
Character: Sam Williams
Released: February 20, 1922
Type: Movie
Young rapscallion Penrod Schofield causes a good deal of trouble in his community, all in the name of protecting kids from too-strict parents and nasty neighbors. He heads the ABPA (American Boys' Protective Association) and through it disrupts a number of local social events. The townspeople are pretty fed up with Penrod and his gang, but when a couple of outlaws come to town, Penrod shows his mettle.
bee
Cameron of the Royal Mounted
Title: Cameron of the Royal Mounted
Released: December 25, 1921
Type: Movie
A young Scottish immigrant to Canada becomes a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
bee
The Adventures of Tarzan
Title: The Adventures of Tarzan
Released: December 1, 1921
Type: Movie
Tarzan spurns the love of La, Queen of Opar. When he isn't trying to keep the Bolshevik Rokoff and Clayton (pretender to the Greystoke estate) from reaching Opar, he is attacked simultaneously by two lions, dropped into a pit when a volcano splits the ground, nearly sacrificed by sun worshipers, and so on.
bee
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Title: Little Lord Fauntleroy
Character: Boy Stealing Grapes (uncredited)
Released: September 15, 1921
Type: Movie
An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.
bee
A Daughter of the Law
Title: A Daughter of the Law
Character: Pete Jepsen
Released: February 6, 1921
Type: Movie
A city girl revenuer spies on illegal whiskey making in the hills.
bee
The Son of Tarzan
Title: The Son of Tarzan
Character: Jack
Released: April 30, 1920
Type: Movie
Tarzan's son Jack is kidnapped from England by his old enemy Paulovich. Jack escapes into the African jungle where he meets Meriem, a European girl held captive. Freeing her, he falls in love but she's sought by Paulovich. Then Tarzan arrives with Jane to save the day!
bee
Huckleberry Finn
Title: Huckleberry Finn
Character: Tom Sawyer
Released: February 29, 1920
Type: Movie
Huckleberry Finn, a rambuctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River. Accompanying him is Jim, a slave running away from being sold. Together the two strike a bond of friendship that takes them through harrowing events and thrilling adventures.
bee
The Solitary Sin
Title: The Solitary Sin
Character: Bob Meredith - Age 14
Released: July 1, 1919
Type: Movie
Bob, John, and Edward--three young boys growing up in the same neighborhood--have vastly-different experiences with sex. Bob's father patiently explains "the birds and the bees" to him, and even takes him to a hospital to see the effects of venereal disease.
bee
Under the Top
Title: Under the Top
Character: Jimmie Jones (prologue and epilogue)
Released: January 4, 1919
Type: Movie
Jimmie, a small-town boy, visits a traveling circus passing through town. he falls in love with Pansy, the daughter of the circus' tightrope walker, after he saves her from a gang of thugs...
bee
The Romance of Tarzan
Title: The Romance of Tarzan
Character: Tarzan as a Boy
Released: October 17, 1918
Type: Movie
Tarzan and Jane are to sail for England. They are attacked by natives and Tarzan is believed to have been killed. The Greystoke relatives return to England, the Porters (Jane's family) goes to their ranch near San Francisco. Tarzan shows up in a tuxedo and rescues Jane from outlaws...
bee
Tarzan of the Apes
Title: Tarzan of the Apes
Character: Young Tarzan
Released: January 27, 1918
Type: Movie
A female ape takes to mothering the orphaned boy (Tarzan) and raises him over the course of many years until a rescue mission is finally launched and the search party combs the jungle for the long-time missing Lord Greystoke. But then, one of the search members, Jane Porter, gets separated from the group and comes face to face with fearsome wild animals. Tarzan saves her from harm just in the knick of time and love begins to blossom.
bee
The Little American
Title: The Little American
Character: Child (uncredited)
Released: July 12, 1917
Type: Movie
A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.
bee
Gloriana
Title: Gloriana
Released: November 6, 1916
Type: Movie
A newly adopted girl is doted on by her adopted father but faces indifference from her adopted mother.
bee
Naked Hearts
Title: Naked Hearts
Character: Cecil - as a Child
Released: May 29, 1916
Type: Movie
Maud and Cecil have been in love since they were children in the pre-Civil War South, but Howard, Maud's domineering brother, disapproves of a marriage between them. Instead, he has chosen English nobleman Lord Lovelace as the ideal fiancé for Maud. On the night that the engagement is to be announced, however, she elopes with Cecil. The runaways are caught, though, after which, because of her loyalty to her brother, Maud sends Cecil away. When the Civil War begins, Howard, Lovelace and Cecil all volunteer, and are all soon reported killed in action. Heartbroken, Maud decides to become a nun, and takes her vows just moments before Cecil, whose death was mistakenly reported, returns from the battlefield and comes to the convent to ask her to marry him.
bee
Ben Blair
Title: Ben Blair
Character: Ben Blair, as a child
Released: March 9, 1916
Type: Movie
After the death of his mother, young Ben Blair finds a safe home on John Rankin’s ranch. But when Rankin is murdered, the older Ben sets out to seek vengeance.
bee
Kilmeny
Title: Kilmeny
Character: Pierre - the Boy
Released: July 22, 1915
Type: Movie
Little Doris Calhoun, of a wealthy English family, makes a playmate of Pierre, a crippled gypsy boy, and drifts away with him and the gypsy band on their wanderings and is seen no more. In twelve years she becomes a great favorite with the gypsies, who have named her Kilmeny, but rather than be married to a brutal fellow, Barouche, she flees the camp.
bee
Tillie's Punctured Romance
Title: Tillie's Punctured Romance
Character: Newsboy (uncredited)
Released: December 21, 1914
Type: Movie
A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.
bee
Those Country Kids
Title: Those Country Kids
Released: August 19, 1914
Type: Movie
Those Country Kids is a 1914 short comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand, and directed by Fatty Arbuckle.[1]
bee
The Fatal Mallet
Title: The Fatal Mallet
Character: Boy (uncredited)
Released: June 1, 1914
Type: Movie
Three men compete for the attentions of a pretty girl. One of them, a little tramp, plays dirty.
bee
Caught in a Cabaret
Title: Caught in a Cabaret
Character: Boy in Park (uncredited)
Released: April 27, 1914
Type: Movie
Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.
bee
Twenty Minutes of Love
Title: Twenty Minutes of Love
Character: Boy
Released: April 20, 1914
Type: Movie
Charlie is hanging around in the park, finding problems with a jealous suitor, a man who thinks that Charlie has robbed him a watch, a policeman and even a little boy, all because our friend can't stop snooping.
bee
A Bath House Beauty
Title: A Bath House Beauty
Character: Fatty's Son
Released: April 12, 1914
Type: Movie
Roscoe is a family man at the seaside, lumbered with a shrewish wife and an extremely annoying young son. He meets up with a charming young lady in a bathing costume, and the two of them break into a charming and delightful dance. Unfortunately, the bathing beauty has a husband with pistols...
bee
The Star Boarder
Title: The Star Boarder
Character: Landlady's Son (uncredited)
Released: April 4, 1914
Type: Movie
A fun-loving little boy's magic lantern show exposes some indiscreet moments between his landlady mother and her star boarder.
bee
The Chicken Chaser
Title: The Chicken Chaser
Released: April 1, 1914
Type: Movie
The Chicken Chaser is a 1914 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Charles Avery.
bee
Kid Auto Races at Venice
Title: Kid Auto Races at Venice
Character: The Boy (uncredited)
Released: February 7, 1914
Type: Movie
The Tramp interferes with the celebration of several kid auto races in Venice, California (Junior Vanderbilt Cup Race, January 10 and 11, 1914), standing himself in the way of the cameraman who is filming the event.
bee
Little Billy's Triumph
Title: Little Billy's Triumph
Released: January 28, 1914
Type: Movie
Little Billy wants to buy some ice cream with the dime his mother gave him, but the neighborhood bullies have other plans for that dime.
bee
His Sister's Kids
Title: His Sister's Kids
Character: 2nd Nephew
Released: December 13, 1913
Type: Movie
His Sister's Kids is a 1913 movie starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Minta Durfee.
bee
Mabel's Dramatic Career
Title: Mabel's Dramatic Career
Character: Boy
Released: September 8, 1913
Type: Movie
A young man falls in love with his mother's kitchen maid, Mabel. But his mother objects strongly, and arranges for him to meet another young woman whom she considers more suitable. Mabel confronts the young woman, and is dismissed from her position. Later, when the young man learns about the new career that Mabel has found, he begins to act in an agitated and unpredictable manner.
bee
The Riot
Title: The Riot
Character: One of the Neighborhood Kids
Released: August 7, 1913
Type: Movie
When a girl delivering expensive garments loses them to some Irish shanty town kids, her boss, a Jewish clothier, is livid and a fight breaks out. Soon the melee spreads to the whole neighborhood with brick throwing merging into bomb throwing, with the sides on clearly ethnic lines.