# 1911 in film

The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.

## Events

* February: The Motion Picture Story Magazine, the first American film fan magazine, is published. It is followed later in the year by Photoplay.
* April 8: Winsor McCay releases his first film Little Nemo, one of the earliest animated films.
* October 23 (October 10 OS): Svetozar Botorić's The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Leader Karađorđe (Život i dela besmrtnog vožda Karađorđa, Живот и дела бесмртног вожда Карађорђа) premieres in Belgrade and becomes the first feature film made in Serbia and the Balkans.
* October 26: Defence of Sevastopol («Оборона Севастополя») premieres at the Crimean palace of Tsar Nicholas II and becomes the first feature-length film made in the Russian Empire and one of the first in the world. It is also the first known film to use a multiple-camera setup (2 cameras)
* October 27: David Horsley's Nestor Motion Picture Company opens the first motion picture studio in Hollywood.
* November: The Kalem Company of New York pays the estate of author Lew Wallace $25,000 in legal settlement for having adapted Ben Hur (1907 film) from his novel without securing prior rights.

## Notable films released in 1911

United States unless stated

### A

* Aerial Anarchists, directed by Walter R. Booth – (GB)
* Alkali Ike's Auto, directed by Broncho Billy Anderson

### B

* Baron Munchausen's Dream (Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchausen), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
* Baseball and Bloomers (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company
* The Battle, directed by D. W. Griffith
* The Bells (lost), directed by W. J. Lincoln, based on the 1871 play by Leopold David Lewis – (Australia)
* Brown of Harvard, directed by Colin Campbell
* The Buddhist Priestess, produced by the Thanhouser Company

### C

* Cally's Comet, produced by the Thanhouser Company
* The Coffin Ship, produced by the Thanhouser Company

### D

* David Copperfield, directed by George O. Nichols, based on the 1850 novel by Charles Dickens
* Defence of Sevastopol, directed by Aleksandr Khanzhonkov and Vasily Goncharov – (Russia)
* The Diabolical Church Window (Le Vitrail diabolique) (incomplete), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
* The Dream, directed by Thomas H. Ince and George Loane Tucker, starring Mary Pickford

### E

* Enoch Arden, directed by D. W. Griffith

### F

* The Fall of Troy (La caduta di Troia), directed by Giovanni Pastrone, based on the Greek epic poem the Iliad by Homer – (Italy)
* First Indy 500 (First year footage from the auto race. Filmed on May 30, 1911.)
* For Her Sake (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company

### H

* Her Crowning Glory, directed by Laurence Trimble
* His Trust, directed by D. W. Griffith
* His Trust Fulfilled, directed by D. W. Griffith
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris), directed by Albert Capellani, based on the 1833 novel by Victor Hugo – (France)

### I

* L'Inferno (Dante's Inferno), directed by Francesco Bertolini and Giuseppe de Liguoro, based on the 14th-century narrative poem by Dante Alighieri – (Italy)

### L

* The Last Drop of Water, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet
* Little Nemo, directed by Winsor McCay
* The Lonedale Operator, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet

### M

* The Miser's Heart, directed by D. W. Griffith
* Der Müller und sein Kind (The Miller and His Child), directed by Walter Friedemann – (Austria)
* The Mummy (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company

### O

* The Odyssey (L'Odissea), directed by Francesco Bertolini and Giuseppe de Liguoro, based on the Greek epic poem by Homer – (Italy)

### P

* The Pasha's Daughter, produced by the Thanhouser Company
* Princess Clementina, directed by William G.B. Barker – (GB)

### S

* The Scarlet Letter, directed by Joseph W. Smiley and George Loane Tucker, starring King Baggot, based on the 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
* She, directed by George Nichols, based on the 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard
* A Spiritualistic Seance (Séance de spiritisme), directed by Léonce Perret – (France)
* Sweet Memories, directed by Thomas H. Ince, starring Mary Pickford and King Baggot
* Swords and Hearts, directed by D. W. Griffith

### T

* A Tale of Two Cities, directed by Charles Kent, starring Norma Talmadge, based on the 1959 novel by Charles Dickens

### W

* What Shall We Do with Our Old?, directed by D. W. Griffith

## Births

* January 5 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (died 2001)
* January 7 – Butterfly McQueen, actress (died 1995)
* January 22 – Mary Hayley Bell, actress, writer and dramatist, wife of Sir John Mills (d 2005)
* January 30 – Hugh Marlowe, actor (died 1982)
* January 31 – Eddie Byrne, actor (died 1981)
* February 6 – Ronald Reagan, actor, United States President (died 2004)
* February 9 – Gypsy Rose Lee, actress and burlesque dancer (died 1970)
* February 14 – Florence Rice, actress (died 1974)
* February 19 – Merle Oberon, actress (died 1979)
* February 20 – Margot Grahame, actress (died 1982)
* March 3 – Jean Harlow, actress (died 1937)
* March 10 – Edward Norris, actor, (died 2002)
* March 18 – Smiley Burnette, actor, musician (died 1967)
* April 23 – Ronald Neame, cinematographer, producer and director (died 2010)
* May 7 – Ishirō Honda, director (died 1993)
* May 11
** Louise Campbell, actress (died 1997)
** Phil Silvers, actor (died 1985)
* May 17 – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (died 1998)
* May 18 – Sigrid Gurie, actress (died 1969)
* May 23 - Bert Morrison, American actor, singer and jazz player (died 1995)
* May 27 – Vincent Price, actor (died 1993)
* May 30 – Douglas Fowley, actor (died 1998)
* June 1 – Gertrude Michael, actress (died 1964)
* June 3 – Ellen Corby, actress (died 1999)
* June 20 – Gail Patrick (died 1980)
* June 29 – Bernard Hermann, composer (died 1975)
* July 6 – Laverne Andrews, singer, actress, member of Andrews Sisters (died 1967)
* July 14 – Terry-Thomas, actor (died 1990)
* July 16 – Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer (died 1995)
* July 18 – Hume Cronyn, actor (died 2003)
* July 28 – Ann Doran, actress (died 2000)
* August 2 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (died 1979)
* August 3 – Alex McCrindle, British actor (died 1990)
* August 5 – Robert Taylor, actor (died 1969)
* August 6 – Lucille Ball, actress (died 1989)
* August 7 – Nicholas Ray, director (died 1979)
* August 12 – Cantinflas, actor (died 1993)
* August 19 – Constance Worth, actress (died 1963)
* September 2 – Erwin Hillier, cinematographer (died 2005)
* September 10 – Renée Simonot, actress and voice artist (died 2021)
* October 13 – Ashok Kumar, actor, India (died 2001)
* October 20 – Will Rogers, Jr., actor (died 1993)
* October 27 – Leif Erickson, actor (died 1986)
* October 30 – Ruth Hussey, actress (died 2005)
* October 31 – Sheila Bromley, actress, (died 2003)
* November 5
** Roy Rogers, singer, actor (died 1998)
** Baby Marie Osborne, child actress (died 2010)
* November 10 – Harry Andrews, actor (died 1989)
* December 8 – Lee J. Cobb, actor (died 1976)
* December 9 – Broderick Crawford, actor (died 1986)
* December 23 – James Gregory, actor (died 2002)
* December 29 – Claire Dodd, actress (died 1973)
* December 30 – Jeanette Nolan, actress (died 1998)

## Deaths

* January 18 – Arthur Marvin, cinematographer, (born 1859)
* May 29 – W. S. Gilbert, producer of musicals, half of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan, (born 1836)
* July 18 – Genevieve Lantelme, actress, (born 1883)
* August 11 – Verner Clarges, actor, (born 1846)
* October 27 – Francis Boggs, director, (born 1870)
* November 2 – Kyrle Bellew, actor, (born 1855)
* December 22 – Wright Lorimer, stage actor, screenwriter, (born 1874)
* Unknown – Woodville Latham, producer and exhibitor whose desire to shoot an entire boxing match on a single reel of film led to the invention of the Latham loop (born 1837)

## Debuts

* Lionel Barrymore – The Battle (*debatable; film debut much earlier)
* Francis X. Bushman – His Friend's Wife (short)
* Paul Kelly – Jimmie's Job (short)
* Edgar Kennedy – Brown of Harvard
* Ann Little – The Indian Maiden's Lesson (short)
* Harold Lockwood – The White Red Man (short)
* Anna Q. Nilsson – Molly Pitcher (short)
* Anita Stewart – A Tale of Two Cities as Anna Stewart
* Lenore Ulric – The First Man (1911 short)
* Lois Weber – director, actress, A Heroine of '76 (short); writer, On the Brink (short)