Slim Summerville

Slim Summerville (born George Joseph Somerville; July 10, 1892 – January 5, 1946) was an American film actor and director best known for his work in comedies.
Early life
Summerville was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his mother died when he was only five.
Moving from New Mexico to Canada and later to Oklahoma, he had a nomadic upbringing. In Canada, in Chatham, Ontario, he lived with his English grandparents and obtained his first job there, working as a messenger for the Canadian Pacific Telegraphs.
Film career
The beginning of Summerville's three-decade screen career can be traced to another early job he had, one working in a poolroom in California. There in 1912 he met actor Edgar Kennedy, who took him to see Mack Sennett, the head of Keystone Studios in Edendale. Sennett immediately hired him for $3.50 per day to perform in bit parts, his first being in the role of a "Keystone Kop" in the short Hoffmeyer's Legacy. Tall and gangly, Summerville used his physical appearance to great effect in many comedies during both the silent and sound eras. His work in films, however, was not limited to acting; he also directed more than 50 productions, mostly shorts.
Occasionally, Summerville played in dramatic films, such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Jesse James (1939), but he was most successful in comedies, including several with ZaSu Pitts. He also performed with child star Shirley Temple in the musical-comedy dramas Captain January (1936) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).
Personal life
Summerville married Gertrude Martha Roell on 19 November 1927. Five years later they adopted a four-week-old baby boy whom they christened Elliott George. The couple divorced in September 1936, and the following year Summerville married Eleanor Brown, a nurse who had cared for him while he was sick.
Death
Summerville died of a stroke on January 5, 1946, in Laguna Beach, California. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in South Los Angeles community of Inglewood, California. Two decades after his death, his beach-front house on Sleepy Hollow Lane in Laguna Beach was converted into the Beach House restaurant, which was later renamed the Driftwood Kitchen.
Legacy
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Slim Summerville has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6409 Hollywood Blvd.
He was inducted into the New Mexico Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2012.
Selected filmography
Hoffmeyer's Legacy (1912, Short) as Keystone Kop (uncredited)
Mabel's Busy Day (1914, Short) as Policeman (uncredited)
Fatty and the Heiress (1914, Short)
A Rowboat Romance (1914, Short)
Laughing Gas (1914, Short) as Pedestrian / Patient
Those Happy Days (1914, Short) as Cop (uncredited)
Lover's Luck (1914, Short) as Villager
Dough and Dynamite (1914) as Striking Baker (uncredited)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) as Policeman / Guest in Restaurant (uncredited)
Leading Lizzie Astray (1914, Short) as Dancing Cafe Patron (uncredited)
Fatty's Magic Pants (1914, Short) as Cop (uncredited)
Fatty and Minnie He-Haw (1914, Short) as Railroad Guard (uncredited)
Fatty's New Role (1915, Short) as Bartender
That Little Band of Gold (1915, Short) as Waiter / Audience Member (uncredited)
Their Social Splash (1915, Short) as Harold - the Groom
Her Painted Hero (1915, Short) as A Bill Poster
Fatty and the Broadway Stars (1915, Short) as Striking Carpenter
Hearts and Sparks (1916, Short) as The Moneylender's Pit Crewman
Are Waitresses Safe? (1917)
Skirts (1921)
Hello, 'Frisco (1924, also directed, Short) as Slim
The Texas Streak (1926) as Swede
The Denver Dude (1927) as Slim Jones
The Beloved Rogue (1927) as Jehan
Hey! Hey! Cowboy (1927) as Spike Doolin
Painted Ponies (1927) as Beanpole
The Chinese Parrot (1927) as Prospector
The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927)
Riding for Fame (1928) as High-Pockets
The Last Warning (1928) as Tommy Wall
King of the Rodeo (1929) as Slim
Strong Boy (1929) as Slim
Sailor's Holiday (1929) as Midway Photographer (uncredited)
One Hysterical Night (1929) as Robin Hood
The Shannons of Broadway (1929) as Newt
Tiger Rose (1929) as Heine
Troopers Three (1930) as 'Sunny'
The King of Jazz (1930) as Automobile Owner ('Springtime') / Rear End of Horse / Charles
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as Tjaden
The Little Accident (1930) as Hicks
Under Montana Skies (1930) as Sunshine
The Spoilers (1930) as Slapjack Simms
Her Man (1930) as The Swede
See America Thirst (1930) as Slim
Free Love (1930) as Gas Inspector
Many a Slip (1931) as Hopkins
The Front Page (1931) as Irving Pincus
El Tenorio del harem (1931) as El corneta
Bad Sister (1931) as Sam
Lasca of the Rio Grande (1931) as 'Crabapple' Thompson
Reckless Living (1931) as The Drunk
Heaven on Earth (1931) as The Jeweler
The Unexpected Father (1932) as Jasper Jones
Racing Youth (1932) as Slim
Tom Brown of Culver (1932) as Elmer (Slim) Whitman
Air Mail (1932) as 'Slim' McCune
They Just Had to Get Married (1932) as Sam Sutton
Out All Night (1933) as Ronald Colgate
Horse Play (1933) as Slim Perkins
Her First Mate (1933) as John Homer
Love, Honor, and Oh Baby! (1933) as Mark Reed
Love Birds (1934) as Henry Whipple
Their Big Moment (1934) as Bill Ambrose
Life Begins at 40 (1935) as T. Watterson Meriwether
The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935) as Fortune Friendly
Way Down East (1935) as Constable Seth Holcomb
The Country Doctor (1936) as Constable Jim Ogden
Captain January (1936) as Captain Nazro
White Fang (1936) as Slats Magee
Pepper (1936) as Uncle Ben Jolly
Can This Be Dixie? (1936) as Robert E. Lee Gurgle
Reunion (1936) as Jim Ogden
Off to the Races (1937) as Uncle George
Love Is News (1937) as Judge Hart
The Road Back (1937) as Tjaden
Fifty Roads to Town (1937) as Ed Henry
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) as Homer Busby
Kentucky Moonshine (1938) as Hank Hatfield
Five of a Kind (1938) as Jim Ogden
Submarine Patrol (1938) as Ellsworth 'Spuds' Fickett - Cook
Up the River (1938) as Slim Nelson
Jesse James (1939) as Jailer
Winner Take All (1939) as Mike Muldoon
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939) as Sheriff Fletcher
Henry Goes Arizona (1939) as Sheriff Parton
Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) as Jabez Monkman
Gold Rush Maisie (1940) as Fred Gubbins
Western Union (1941) as Herman
Tobacco Road (1941) as Peabody
Puddin' Head (1941) as Uncle Lem
Highway West (1941) as Gramps Abbott
Niagara Falls (1941) as Sam Sawyer
Miss Polly (1941) as Slim Wilkins
Uncle Joe (1941) as Joe Butterworth
The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942, Serial) as Missouri Benson
Garden of Eatin''' (1943, Short) as Slim
Bachelor Daze (1944, Short) as Slim Winters
Bride by Mistake (1944) as Samuel
Swing in the Saddle (1944) as Northup 'Slim' Bayliss
I'm from Arkansas (1944) as Juniper Jenkins aka Pa
Sing Me a Song of Texas (1945) as Happy
The Hoodlum Saint'' (1946) as Eel (final film role)
References
External links
1892 births
1946 deaths
20th-century American male actors
Male actors from Albuquerque, New Mexico
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery
Male Western (genre) film actors