Sam De Grasse

Sam De Grasse
Samuel Alfred De Grasse (June 12, 1875 – November 29, 1953) was a Canadian actor. He was the uncle of cinematographer Robert De Grasse.
Biography
Samuel Alfred De Grasse was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick to Lange De Grasse and Helene (Comeau), both of French-Canadian descent. He trained to be a dentist, and married Annie McDonnell in 1904. Their daughter, Clementine Bell, was born in 1906. Annie died in 1909 while giving birth to another daughter, Olive, who also died. In 1910, Samuel was practicing dentistry and he and his daughter Clementine were living in Providence, Rhode Island along with his older sister, Mrs. Clementine Fauchy, and her 14-year-old son, Jerome Fauchy.
He married British actress Ada Fuller Golden and became a step-father to her three children. His own elder brother, Joe, went into the fledgling movie business and Sam decided to also give it a try. He traveled to New York City and, in 1912, he appeared in his first motion picture. At first he played standard secondary characters such as Dr. Robert Armstrong in Blind Husbands (1919), but when fellow Canadian Mary Pickford set up her own studio with her husband Douglas Fairbanks, he joined them. He portrayed the villainous Prince John in Douglas Fairbanks' 1922 Robin Hood. Afterward, he began to specialize in crafty or slimy villainous roles, such as Senator Charles Summer in The Birth of a Nation (1915), the mill owner Arthur Jenkins in Intolerance (1916), John Carver in The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923), Colonel Lestron in The Eagle of the Sea (1926), a pirate lieutenant in The Black Pirate (1926), a Pharisee in The King of Kings (1927) and King James in The Man Who Laughs (1928). Mary Pickford named him as one of her favorite stars.
In the 1960s, Jackie Coogan claimed Jean Harlow had lived in De Grasse's apartment for two years and was married to him when she was 16. At the time both de Grasse and Harlow were deceased. The claim was untrue -- Harlow was married to Charles McGrew when she was 16. However, she did appear as an extra in the film Honor Bound (1928), in which De Grasse played "Blood Keller".
Death
De Grasse lived on the west coast until his death at age 78 in Hollywood from a heart attack during his sleep. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Selected filmography
The Birth of a Nation (1915) - Sen. Charles Sumner (uncredited)
A Man and His Mate (1915) - Choo
A Child of God (1915) - Jim MacPherson
Martyrs of the Alamo (1915) - Silent Smith
Cross Currents (1915) - Silas Randolph
The Price of Power (1916) - James Garwood
Acquitted (1916) - Ira Wolcott
The Good Bad-Man (1916) - The Wolf / Bud Frazer
An Innocent Magdalene (1916) - Forbes Stewart
The Half-Breed (1916) - Sheriff Dunn
Intolerance (1916) - Arthur Jenkins
Diane of the Follies (1916) - Phillips Christy
The Children of the Feud (1916) - Dr. Richard Cavanagh
Jim Bludso (1917) - Ben Merrill
Her Official Fathers (1917) - Ethan Dexter
An Old-Fashioned Young Man (1917) - Harold T. King
Madame Bo-Peep (1917) - Jose Alvarez
Wild and Woolly (1917) - Steve Shelby - Indian Agent
The Empty Gun (1917, Short) - Jim
Anything Once (1917) - Herbert Wendling
The Winged Mystery (1917) - Mortimer Eddington
The Scarlet Car (1917) - Ernest Peabody
Six-Shooter Andy (1918) - Tom Slade
Brace Up (1918) - National Jim
The Guilt of Silence (1918) - Gambler Joe
The Mortgaged Wife (1918) - Meyer
Smashing Through (1918) - Earl Foster
Winner Takes All (1918) - Mark Thorne
A Woman's Fool (1918) - Minor Role
A Law Unto Herself (1918) - Kurt Von Klassner
The Narrow Path (1918) - Malcolm Dion
The Hope Chest (1918) - Ballantyne, Sr.
Sis Hopkins (1919) - Vibert
The Silk-Lined Burglar (1919) - Boston Blackie
The Exquisite Thief (1919) - Shaver Michael
Heart o' the Hills (1919) - Steve Honeycutt
Blind Husbands (1919) - The Husband, Dr. Robert Armstrong
Uncharted Channels (1920) - Nicholas Schonnn
Moon Madness (1920) - Adrien
The Devil's Pass Key (1920) - Warren Goodwright
The Skywayman (1920) - Dr. Wayne Leveridge
The Little Grey Mouse (1920) - John Cumberland
Unseen Forces (1920) - Captain Stanley
The Broken Gate (1920) - 'Hod' Brooks
The Cheater Reformed (1921) - Thomas Edinburgh
Courage (1921) - Stephan Blackmoore
A Wife's Awakening (1921) - George Otis
Robin Hood (1922) - Prince John
Forsaking All Others (1922) - Dr. Mason
Slippy McGee (1923) - Father De Rance
Circus Days (1923) - Lord
The Spoilers (1923) - Judge Stillman
A Prince of a King (1923) - Duke Roberto
The Dancer of the Nile (1923) - Pasheri
In the Palace of the King (1923) - King Philip II
Tiger Rose (1923) - Dr. Cusick
The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923) - John Carver
Painted People (1924) - Henry Parrish
Pagan Passions (1924) - Frank Langley
A Self-Made Failure (1924) - Cyrus Cruikshank
The Virgin (1924) - Ricardo Ruiz
On the Threshold (1925) - Daniel Masters
The Mansion of Aching Hearts (1925) - Martin Craig
One Year to Live (1925) - Dr. Lucien La Pierre
Sun-Up (1925) - Sheriff Weeks
Heir-Loons (1925)
Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) - Officer O'Dare
Mike (1926) - Brush
The Black Pirate (1926) - Pirate Lieutenant
Her Second Chance (1926) - Beachey
Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926) - Defense Attorney
The Eagle of the Sea (1926) - Col. Lestron
Love's Blindness (1926) - Benjamin Levy
When a Man Loves (1927) - Comte Guillot de Morfontaine
King of Kings (1927) - Pharisee
Captain Salvation (1927) - Peter Campbell
The Fighting Eagle (1927) - Talleyrand
The Country Doctor (1927) - Ira Harding
The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927) - Capt. David Slocum
The Man Who Laughs (1928) - King James II
Honor Bound (1928) - Blood Keller
The Racket (1928) - District Attorney Welch
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) - Freddie's Father
Dog Law (1928) - Minor Role (uncredited)
The Farmer's Daughter (1928) - (uncredited)
Silks and Saddles (1929) - William Morrissey
The Last Performance (1929) - District Attorney
Wall Street (1929) - John Willard
Captain of the Guard (1930) - Bazin (final film role)
See also
Other Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
References
External links
De Grasse at Northernstars.ca
Canadian male silent film actors
Canadian male film actors
Male actors from New Brunswick
1875 births
1953 deaths
People from Bathurst, New Brunswick
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century Canadian male actors
Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States