Gilbert Anderson was born in 1882 and died in 1971. He was Hollywood's first western star, as well as a director and a powerful producer. Though he played a number of other roles, “Broncho Billy” Anderson is best remembered for helping to shape the western genre in a staggering output of nearly 400 “Broncho Billy” one- and tworeelers between 1907 and 1915, virtually all of which he also directed.
Born Max Aronson, the young man was intent on having a show business career, but he failed to make the grade on the New York stage. He made ends meet as a model before he was offered his first movie role in The Messenger Boy's Mistake (1902), directed by Edwin S. Porter. Anderson made his first breakthrough, though, in another, more memorable Porter film, The Great Train Robbery (1903). Though he didn't know how to ride a horse, Anderson played a number of characters in this seminal western.
During the following few years, he worked steadily, moving from one company to the next, starring in westerns and occasionally directing. Sensing the growth of the movie industry, Anderson wisely joined George K. Spoor in forming a new film company, Essanay (the name coming from the first letter of each of their last names, “S” and “A”). In the same year, Anderson gave himself the lead in a new western called The Bandit Makes Good. The lead character's name was Broncho Billy (later, the spelling was changed to Bronco). Virtually every week there was a new “Broncho Billy” film released by Essanay and starring Anderson. Later, in 1912, there were also “Alkali Ike” westerns with Anderson playing the title role in all of them as well.
His films were simple dramas with names such as The Heart of a Cowboy (1909), Broncho Billy's Redemption (1910), and The Border Ranger (1911). The tenor of many future westerns was established with his hero who possessed a pure soul and who would never shoot first. Unfortunately, Anderson's westerns were also extremely unrealistic, which eventually led to the rise of a grittier, more authentic form of horse opera with genuine westerners such as William S. Hart. By about 1915, however, Anderson's film company had become prosperous enough to be able to afford CHARLIE CHAPLIN's immense salary and produced a number of his wonderful shorts. But by the time Chaplin left Essanay in 1916, Anderson's westerns were in decline and the star decided to quit the film business, selling out to his partner. Fancying himself a theatrical producer rather than an actor, he went east to Broadway, his original destination. He failed miserably on the Great White Way and returned to Hollywood a few years later as both an actor and director, although he had little impact. He retired in the early 1920s.
Anderson was a fading memory to the millions of Broncho Billy fans who adored him when the movies were young. In 1957, though, he was rightfully awarded a special Oscar “for his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment.” He again slipped into obscurity until he made a cameo appearance along with a number of other former western stars, including Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele, and Fuzzy Knight, in The Bounty Killer (1965). It was the last time he ever appeared before a movie camera.
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