Robert G. Vignola

Robert G. Vignola

Born: August 5, 1882
Died: October 25, 1953
in Trivignano, Veneto, Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew.

He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period.

Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917).

His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore.

Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual.

He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.

Movies for Robert G. Vignola...

Honor Thy Father
Title: Honor Thy Father
Character: Chick Fenway - a Thief
Released: June 25, 1915
Type: Movie
Although it means the mortgaging of their home, Roger Dayton's parents send him to law school. Selfish and ungrateful, the boy forgets all about the old folks after his graduation.
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The Railroad Raiders of '62
Title: The Railroad Raiders of '62
Character: Railroad Engineer (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: March 20, 1915
Type: Movie
Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his experiences during the Civil War, and how he lost his arm. The Civil War flashback sequences consist of archive footage from Kalem's Railroad Raiders of '62 (1911), rather than newly filmed footage.
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The Show Girl's Glove
Title: The Show Girl's Glove
Released: June 22, 1914
Type: Movie
Hampton, a broker, employs a detective to investigate Stella, a show girl, with whom his younger brother Dick is in love. As a result of the detective's discoveries, Dick breaks his engagement with Stella. The woman calls at Dick's office late that afternoon. Hampton leaves the two alone. Unable to alter Dick's decision, Stella seizes a knife and threatens suicide. Dick tries to wrest the weapon from her and is accidentally killed.
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The Padrone's Plot
Title: The Padrone's Plot
Character: Tony
Released: December 1, 1913
Type: Movie
Tony Vallenci, just over from Italy, is offered a job by Pietro Valli, an unscrupulous padrone. Ignorant of American money, Tony signs a contract calling for a wage of sixty cents a day. He goes to work in a quarry owned by Dodge. The following day Tony is knocked down by an auto containing Mrs. Dodge. He is uninjured, but the kind lady takes him to his home.
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The Vampire
Title: The Vampire
Released: October 15, 1913
Type: Movie
The story hinges on the redemption of a country boy, an artist, who has fallen among evil companions, and is an outcast.
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Shenandoah
Title: Shenandoah
Character: Undetermined Role
Released: July 4, 1913
Type: Movie
An American Civil War melodrama.
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The Alien
Title: The Alien
Character: Paola
Released: May 7, 1913
Type: Movie
Paolo, a skilled mechanic in a modler's factory in Italy, defends his friend Brocco, when the latter is discharged and incurs the foreman's enmity. The treacherous Brocco steals an empty six-pound shell, which Paolo treasures as a relic of the war, and makes a bomb, with which he wrecks the modler's factory. A piece of the bomb which bears Paola's name is found and on this evidence the innocent man is sent to prison for five years.
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The Scimitar of the Prophet
Title: The Scimitar of the Prophet
Character: Hadjji - a Mohammedan Priest
Released: April 11, 1913
Type: Movie
While touring Egypt, Harris and his wife visit an old temple and are fascinated by a sacred scimitar, which, at the corner of a shrine, is religiously guarded by Hadjji, a Mohammedan priest. The wife is a curio fiend, and demands that Harris secure the scimitar, but the husband, having read in his guidebook that the scimitar was supposedly presented to the prophet in a vision and that the vengeance of Allah will follow whosoever disturbs it, begs her to abandon the foolish idea. She insists. That night Harris enters the temple with a rope ladder, steals the scimitar and escapes.
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The War Correspondent
Title: The War Correspondent
Character: Hal Martin - the Star Reporter
Released: March 8, 1913
Type: Movie
Jack Fisher secures a position as reporter on a metropolitan daily and incurs the enmity of Martin, the star reporter, because of friendly relations which he establishes with Myrtle, a young lady in the office. Martin secretly changes the copy which Jack has prepared for an important story and places the young man in such a position that he is discharged. Some time later Jack learns of an opening in Central America. He bids goodbye to Myrtle, who has never lost faith in him, and leaves for his new field. Shortly after his departure war is declared in a Central American republic and Martin is sent to the scene as war correspondent.
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The Message of the Palms
Title: The Message of the Palms
Character: Uncle Tom - the Colonel's Servant
Released: February 26, 1913
Type: Movie
Henry Strong, a young civil engineer, is placed in charge of a party which makes a preliminary survey for a railroad. In their work they enter the property of Colonel Carlton who objects decidedly to the invasion of his ancestral land. Henry secures the aid of the sheriff, who convinces Carlton that the young engineer is acting within his rights but the Colonel develops a spirit of animosity toward the surveyor.
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The Peril of the Dance Hall
Title: The Peril of the Dance Hall
Character: Pablo Florenti - Pepita's Father
Released: February 17, 1913
Type: Movie
After the death of his wife Pablo Florenti, an Italian, takes his little daughter, Pepita, and embarks for America, where he secures employment as a common laborer. Reaching young womanhood, Pepita becomes a typical American girl and is a source of joy to her father. One morning the old man meets with an accident while on his way to work and is assisted to his home by Ralph, a young motor-cyclist policeman. Ralph thus makes the acquaintance of Pepita. Pepita has refused several invitations to visit a public dance hall, knowing her father's objections.
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The Prosecuting Attorney
Title: The Prosecuting Attorney
Character: The Criminal
Released: February 3, 1913
Type: Movie
The prosecuting attorney's impassioned address clinches the conviction of the criminal who, breaking away from his guard, viciously assaults the prosecutor but is finally quieted. At home, the attorney's wife reads a newspaper account of the affair and is greatly disturbed.
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A Desperate Chance
Title: A Desperate Chance
Character: Joe Mellon - the Brakeman
Released: January 18, 1913
Type: Movie
A railroad melodrama.
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A Sawmill Hazard
Title: A Sawmill Hazard
Character: Geoffrey Stern
Released: January 11, 1913
Type: Movie
Mrs. Herton, a widow, lives in comfortable circumstances with her son, Roland. Over forty years of age, she is still an attractive woman, but lacks self-reliance and is greatly impressed by Geoffrey Stern who seeks her hand. Roland objects to Stern and endeavors to convince his mother that the selfish and unscrupulous suitor has been attracted by the comfortable home and timber lands owned by the widow. But the good woman is deceived by Stern's well-feigned devotion and agrees to marry him.
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The Shaughraun
Title: The Shaughraun
Character: Harvey Duff
Released: December 23, 1912
Type: Movie
Robert Ffolliott is a young Irish lad who is done out of his land and sent off to a penal colony in Australia following false accusations by the greedy Kinchella. Conn the Shaughraun comes to his rescue, helps him to escape from the prison ship and return to Ireland where he is united with his sweetheart.
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Ireland, the Oppressed
Title: Ireland, the Oppressed
Character: Michael Dee
Released: December 14, 1912
Type: Movie
The story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by hard-hearted landlords, hill fighting and the final triumph of the downtrodden.
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The Little Gluers
Title: The Little Gluers
Character: Darby O'Drive
Released: November 18, 1912
Type: Movie
The Kerry Gow is a 1912 short
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From the Manger to the Cross
Title: From the Manger to the Cross
Character: Judas
Released: October 3, 1912
Type: Movie
The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.
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A Prisoner of the Harem
Title: A Prisoner of the Harem
Character: Mahmoud Pasha
Released: July 19, 1912
Type: Movie
Alice Durand, after weeks of discouragement, reads the following advertisement in the New York Herald: "Governess wanted. Young American woman, well educated and speaking French and German, may obtain lucrative position with prominent Egyptian. Fare and expenses will be advanced. Write, enclosing photograph, to Mahmoud Pasha, Sphinx Club, Cairo, Egypt." Answering the advertisement, Alice seven weeks later, secures the position and leaves her New York boarding-house for Egypt.
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Captured by Bedouins
Title: Captured by Bedouins
Character: Judge Barnett - the Father
Released: June 26, 1912
Type: Movie
An American officer disguises himself as an Arab in order to rescue an American woman kidnapped by Arab tribesmen.
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An Arabian Tragedy
Title: An Arabian Tragedy
Character: Ayub Kashif
Released: June 19, 1912
Type: Movie
Ayub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless. He eventually determines to divorce Fatima and free her slave, whom he then will wed. Fatima, who still loves her husband, lives a life of sorrow, praying that her husband's love will return to her.
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The Colleen Bawn
Title: The Colleen Bawn
Character: Mr. Corrigan
Released: October 16, 1911
Type: Movie
A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will stop at nothing, including murder, to see that he marries his rich cousin.
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Rory O'More
Title: Rory O'More
Character: Black William
Released: September 3, 1911
Type: Movie
Based on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad about him, this one-reeler is one of the Kalem pictures shot by Olcott and his company on their second trip to the Emerald Isle.
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Railroad Raiders of '62
Title: Railroad Raiders of '62
Character: Engineer
Released: June 15, 1911
Type: Movie
Union raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War incident on which Buster Keaton's The General and Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase was based.
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The Fiddler’s Requiem
Title: The Fiddler’s Requiem
Character: Dolores' fiance
Released: May 3, 1911
Type: Movie
The old musician playing his fiddle in his garret home dreams of his youth and his lost love. As the past unfolds itself he sees his sweetheart, Dolores, forced by her parents to sign a contract of marriage with Don Carlos, and he again reads over in memory her message of farewell: "My on Love, This is my marriage ever, the death day of my soul. I cannot go without one last farewell to you, whom I will never see again. Wait for ma by the lake until you hear the bells chime. Yours in spirit until death, Dolores." Meeting her at the lake as requested, she gives him her old violin, saying, "I have breathed my soul into this violin. Whene'er it plays, it is my soul that speaks."
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A Sawmill Hero
Title: A Sawmill Hero
Released: March 22, 1911
Type: Movie
Jim Hemminway went to college, but did not make good. He had a fine time, but flunked in his studies. His father, displeased with Jim's college experience, decided to send him to a lumber camp in order to develop the manhood he believed there was in him. Arriving at the camp Jim pulled off his coat and entered with spirit into the work, determined to prove to his father that he was a "chip off the old block." Shortly after arriving at the camp he had a falling out with big Tom Granger, one of the camp bosses, and the acknowledged bully of that section of the country.
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When Lovers Part
Title: When Lovers Part
Released: December 23, 1910
Type: Movie
A young couple’s love is forbidden by the girl’s father. He forces her to write a farewell letter. Three years later, the Civil War begins and the father dies. At the end of the war, her boyfriend comes to visit her and all the suffering is forgotten.
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The Lad from Old Ireland
Title: The Lad from Old Ireland
Character: Man in Campaign Office
Released: January 1, 1910
Type: Movie
A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.
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The Fight for Freedom
Title: The Fight for Freedom
Released: July 17, 1908
Type: Movie
In a saloon in a Mexican border town, a group of cowboys, including a Mexican named Pedro, play poker. One man is discovered cheating, and is shot dead by Pedro, who is wounded as he attempts to escape. Pedro is followed home by the local sheriff, who proves the next victim of Pedro's quick temper and pistol. Pedro's wife, Juanita, is thrown into jail, but he manages to break her out. They head for the border, unaware that a posse is waiting for them.
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Over the Hills to the Poor House
Title: Over the Hills to the Poor House
Released: June 26, 1908
Type: Movie
The widowed elderly mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, wishing to relieve herself of the burden of care of her property, decides to divide it up among her children. To her son Charles, a wild but kind young fellow, she leaves a small amount, feeling that he will soon run through it. The good-hearted boy is perfectly satisfied, believing in the wisdom of his mother's actions. He assumes she will find a home with one of his siblings, who are married and settled. The old woman moves in with her married son, but is driven out by his wife over an argument about her young granddaughter. She is forced to move into a squalid apartment in a cheap tenement house, but is evicted for failing to pay her rent. Mack Sennett appears as a bartender in this film.
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The Black Hand
Title: The Black Hand
Released: March 29, 1906
Type: Movie
Two gang members send a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding money if he did not want his shop to be destroyed and his daughter Maria kidnapped. When he is unable to meet their request, they take Maria away. The Black Hand is the earliest surviving gangster film.