James Cruze

James Cruze (born Jens Cruz Bosen; March 27, 1884 – August 3, 1942) was a silent film actor and film director.
Early life
Born Jens Cruz Bosen in Ogden, Utah of Mormon parents, Cruze acquired his middle name solely by virtue of his birth date. As Cruze's longtime friend and colleague, actor Luke Cosgrave, explained in a 1930 interview:
Did you hear how Jimmy and I came together? I was playing in Boise with Charley Murray and we needed a young fellow for the good looking hero parts and I wired for Chester Stevens, who was in San Francisco, sending him a ticket to Boise. He got a job right then and handed the ticket to another young fellow. I met the train two days after I had expected Chester and thought how young he seemed. He soon informed me that he was not Chester but Jens Bosen of Ogden. You see, young Jens was born on March 27 and his mother wanted to name him after some famous man born on the same day, so she looked in the almanac, but no great man had a birthday on that date. But she did find it was the anniversary of the battle of Vera Cruze [sic], so she called him Jens Cruze Bosen.
Birth name notwithstanding, Bosen and/or his parents decided well before his professional stage debut to anglicize at least his given name, as evidenced by the impassioned 8th grade commencement speech he delivered, as James Bosen, at Ogden's Central School in June 1898.
Career
Cruze acted in, directed and or produced over 100 films, mainly during the silent era. His first known acting job was at Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1910. He started at Thanhouser Company in 1911 with She (1911), which is where the majority of his body of work was produced, much of it as the leading man.
After leaving Thanhouser in 1916, he worked for several other companies as director and producer, primarily for Paramount Pictures, from 1918 to 1938.
Cruze struggled to regain his successes of the silent era when sound came to film. His career declined as he descended further into alcoholism, and he ended his directing career at Republic Pictures. He spent the last four years of his life unemployed, before he killed himself in 1942.
Personal life
Cruze was first married to a fellow Latter Day Saint, identity unknown, circa 1901 until her death in 1907; they had five children. By no later than 1914, he had married actress Marguerite Snow, and they had a daughter, Julie Jane. They divorced in 1923. He married actress Betty Compson on October 14, 1924. He married Alberta Beatrice McCoy in June 1941, and they were still wed when he died.
Death
Cruze died on August 3, 1942, at his home in Hollywood, California, aged 58. His cremated remains are interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Filmography
As director
Partial list
The Wrong Road (1937)
Sutter's Gold (1936)
Two-Fisted (1935)
David Harum (1934)
Helldorado (1934)
Mr. Skitch (1933) with Will Rogers
I Cover the Waterfront (1933) with Claudette Colbert
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) with Lee Tracy
If I Had a Million (1932) 8 directors; Cruze directed segment with Gene Raymond and Frances Dee
Salvation Nell (1931) based on the play by Edward Sheldon
Once a Gentleman (1930)
The Great Gabbo (1929) with Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson
A Man's Man (1929) with William Haines
The Duke Steps Out (1929)
The Mating Call (1928) produced by Howard Hughes starring Thomas Meighan, Evelyn Brent, and Renée Adorée (Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in conjunction with UNLV, in 2016.)
The City Gone Wild (1927) with Louise Brooks—lost film
Old Ironsides (1926) partly filmed in experimental widescreen process Magnascope
Mannequin (1926) with Alice Joyce, Warner Baxter, Dolores Costello
The Pony Express (1925)
Beggar on Horseback (1925) based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly
Welcome Home (1925) with Lois Wilson
Merton of the Movies (1924) based on the novel by Harry Leon Wilson and the play by Kaufman and Connelly
The City That Never Sleeps (1924)
The Enemy Sex (1924) lost film
The Fighting Coward (1924) with Cullen Landis, Mary Astor
The Covered Wagon (1923)
Hollywood (1923) lost film
To the Ladies (1923)
One Glorious Day (1922) with Will Rogers
The Dictator (1922) with Wallace Reid, Lila Lee
Leap Year (1921) with Fatty Arbuckle
Crazy to Marry (1921) with Arbuckle
Gasoline Gus (1921) with Arbuckle
The Dollar-a-Year Man (1921) with Arbuckle
The Fast Freight (1921) with Arbuckle
The Charm School (1921) with Wallace Reid
Thirty Days (1922) with Reid and Hawley
Food for Scandal (1920)
An Adventure in Hearts (1919) with Robert Warwick
Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919) with Reid
The Valley of the Giants (1919) with Reid
You're Fired (1919) with Reid and Wanda Hawley
The Roaring Road (1919) with Reid
The Dub (1919)
As actor
The Last of the Mohicans (1911)
The Covered Wagon (1923) (scenes deleted) .... Indian (Cruze was also director)
The Slave Market (1921)
Johnny Get Your Gun (1919) .... The Duke of Bullconia
Under the Top (1919) .... 'Foxy' Stillmore
The Source (1918) .... Langlois
Less Than Kin (1918) .... Jinx
The City of Dim Faces (1918) .... Wing Lung
Believe Me, Xantippe (1918) .... Simp Calloway
Wild Youth (1918) .... Li Choo
The Hidden Pearls (1918) .... Koro Leon
Nan of Music Mountain (1917) .... Gale Morgan
The Call of the East (1917) .... Janzo
On the Level (1917) .... Ozmun
What Money Can't Buy (1917) .... Ferdinand Vaslof
The Web of Life (1917) .... Tom Wilson
Her Temptation (1917) .... Walton Maynard
The Snowbird (1916) .... Bruce Mitchell
Armstrong's Wife (1915) .... Harvey Arnold
His Guardian Auto (1915)
The Patriot and the Spy (1915) .... Pietro
The Heart of the Princess Marsari (1915)
Zudora (1914) .... Hassam Ali/Jim Baird, Reporter (film was retitled The Twenty Million Dollar Mystery)
From Wash to Washington (1914)
The Million Dollar Mystery (1914) .... Jim Norton
Rivalry (1914)
A Dog of Flanders (1914)
A Debut in the Secret Service (1914)
The Cat's Paw (1914)
The Desert Tribesman (1914)
Cardinal Richelieu's Ward (1914) .... Richelieu
A Leak in the Foreign Office (1914)
Joseph in the Land of Egypt (1914) .... Joseph
Why Reginald Reformed (1914)
The Woman Pays (1914)
The Adventures of a Diplomatic Freelance (1914)
Frou Frou (1914) .... Comte Paul de Valreas
The Legend of Provence (1913) .... Sir Henry
The Silver-Tongued Orator (1913)
The Plot Against the Governor (1913)
A Daughter Worth While (1913)
Moths (1913) .... Undetermined Name, villain
Robin Hood (1913) (uncredited)
The Message to Headquarters (1913)
The Ward of the King (1913)
An Unromantic Maiden (1913)
Tannhäuser (1913)
The Lost Combination (1913)
The Snare of Fate (1913)
Marble Heart (1913) .... Raphael
Her Sister's Secret (1913)
Rosie's Revenge (1913)
The Woman Who Did Not Care (1913)
Cymbeline (1913) .... Leonatus
For Her Boy's Sake (1913)
Her Gallant Knights (1913)
The Idol of the Hour (1913)
Good Morning, Judge (1913)
The Dove in the Eagle's Nest (1913) .... The Eagle
The Tiniest of Stars (1913) .... The Musician
A Poor Relation (1913)
When Ghost Meets Ghost (1913)
A Militant Suffragette (1912) .... John Strong, Mary's Fiancé
The Star of Bethlehem (1912) .... Micah, Joseph
The Other Half (1912) .... The Father
The Forest Rose (1912) .... Albert as an Older Man, Rose's Lover
The Thunderbolt (1912) .... The Dishonest Broker
Cross Your Heart (1912) .... The Little Boy Grown Up
The Ladder of Life (1912)
Put Yourself in His Place (1912) .... Edith's Husband
In a Garden (1912) .... Jack, as an Adult
The Woman in White (1912) .... Sir Percival
When Mercy Tempers Justice (1912) .... The Impoverished Father
Miss Robinson Crusoe (1912) .... Miss Crusoe's Rescuer and Lover
Letters of a Lifetime (1912) .... A Dying Bachelor
But the Greatest of These Is Charity (1912) .... The Rich Father
Undine (1912) .... Huldbrand, the Knight
Lucile (1912) .... Lord Alfred
Baby Hands (1912) .... The Husband
The Finger of Scorn (1912) .... The Minister
Nursie and the Knight (1912) .... The Father
Pa's Medicine (1912) .... The Doctor
Under Two Flags (1912)
Called Back (1912) .... Gilbert Vaughn
Whom God Hath Joined (1912) .... The Husband
The Ring of a Spanish Grandee (1912)
Jess (1912) .... Captain John Neil
Love's Miracle (1912) .... The Convict/Lover
Miss Arabella Snaith (1912) .... Harry Hargreaves, Novelist
The Cry of the Children (1912) .... The working father
Rejuvenation (1912) .... The Millionaire
Into the Desert (1912) .... The Arab
A Love of Long Ago (1912)
The Girl of the Grove (1912)
For Sale—A Life (1912) .... The Wealthy Young Clubman
he Golf Caddie's Dog (1912) .... The Lover
Flying to Fortune (1912) .... The Daughter's Sweetheart
The Arab's Bride (1912) .... The Wealthy Moor
On Probation (1912)
East Lynne (1912) .... Archibald Carlyle
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912) .... Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
She (1911) .... Leo Vincey / Kallikrates
Brother Bob's Baby (1911) .... Bob's Brother
Beneath the Veil (1911) .... The Artist
A Mother's Faith (1911) .... The Errant Son
The Last of the Mohicans (1911) .... Uncas
The Higher Law (1911)
A Boy of the Revolution (1911)
Back to Nature (1911)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1911)
Notes
References
Bibliography
Ray Starman, "James Cruze: Cinema's Forgotten Director", Films In Review'' (October 1985), p. 460-465
External links
1884 births
1942 deaths
American male silent film actors
American male film actors
English-language film directors
German-language film directors
Latter Day Saints from Utah
Male actors from Utah
20th-century American male actors
Silent film directors
1942 suicides