Dell Henderson

Birthday: 1877-07-04
Deathday: 1956-12-02
Birthplace: St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Delbert "Dell" Henderson (July 5, 1877 – December 2, 1956) was a Canadian-American actor, director, and writer. He began his long and prolific film career in the early days of silent film.

Born in the Southwestern Ontario city of St. Thomas, Dell Henderson started his acting career on the stage, but appeared in his first movie Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court already in 1908. Henderson was a frequent associate of film pioneer D.W. Griffith since 1909 and appeared in numerous of his early shorts in Hollywood. He also acted on a less prolific basis in the movies of producer Mack Sennett and his Keystone Studios. In addition to acting, Henderson also directed nearly 200 silent films between 1911 and 1928. Most of those films are forgotten or lost, but he also directed movies with silent stars like Harry Carey and Roscoe Arbuckle. Henderson also worked as a writer on numerous screenplays.

After retiring from directing in 1927, Henderson turned to acting full-time and played important supporting roles in King Vidor's The Crowd (1928) and as General Marmaduke Pepper in Show People (1928). The advent of sound film damaged his acting career, and he often had to play smaller roles. In the 1930s, the comedic character actor appeared on several occasions as a comic foil for such comedians as The Three Stooges, W. C. Fields and Laurel and Hardy. He often played somewhat pompous figures like judges, businessmen, detectives or mayors. Modern audiences will remember Henderson as annoyed hospital president Dr. Graves in The Three Stooges film Men in Black and the put-upon chaperone in the Little Rascals film Choo-Choo!. He also appeared as a Night Court Judge in Laurel and Hardy's Our Relations (1936) and as a friendly Car salesman in Leo McCarey's drama Make Way for Tomorrow (1937). Henderson ended his film career after numerous small roles in 1950.

Henderson died of a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 79. He was married with actress Florence Lee until his death, they made several silent films together.

Credits

Year Title
1927-04-09 The Rambling Ranger
1925-12-03 Accused
1925-07-15 The Bad Lands
1924-12-01 Battling Brewster
1924-05-25 One Law for the Woman
1924-02-10 Gambling Wives
1923-03-19 Jacqueline, or Blazing Barriers
1922-08-25 Sure-Fire Flint
1922-05-01 The Broken Silence
1921-02-20 Dynamite Allen
1920-05-09 The Dead Line
1919-04-28 Three Green Eyes
1919-03-24 Hit or Miss
1919-02-17 Courage for Two
1919-01-13 Love in a Hurry
1918-12-02 Hitting the Trail
1918-10-14 The Road to France
1918-09-09 By Hook or Crook
1918-08-12 The Beloved Blackmailer
1918-07-15 The Golden Wall
1918-02-18 My Wife
1918-02-04 Who Loved Him Best?
1918-01-14 The Impostor
1917-12-31 Her Second Husband
1917-11-19 Please Help Emily
1917-10-15 The Beautiful Adventure
1917-09-10 Outcast
1917-01-18 A Girl Like That
1916-12-04 A Coney Island Princess
1916-03-05 Wife and Auto Trouble
1916-01-16 Because He Loved Her
1915-06-11 Merely A Married Man
1915-06-07 Those Bitter Sweets
1915-05-21 For Better - But Worse
1915-04-28 A Bear Affair
1915-04-16 Ambrose's Nasty Temper
1915-03-24 Ambrose's Fury
1914-12-27 Gussle, the Golfer
1914-12-09 The Plumber
1914-12-04 Bertha, the Buttonhole-Maker
1914-11-05 'Curses!' They Remarked
1914-05-13 Liberty Belles
1913-09-20 For the Son of the House
1913-09-11 The Lady in Black
1913-09-08 A Modest Hero
1913-09-03 A Woman in the Ultimate
1913-08-27 Black and White
1913-08-18 The Suffragette Minstrels
1913-08-17 Father's Chicken Dinner
1913-08-14 Papa's Baby
1913-08-04 The Widow's Kids
1913-07-31 Those Little Flowers
1913-07-21 Pa Says
1913-06-19 Almost a Wild Man
1913-06-09 Red Hicks Defies the World
1913-05-26 Highbrow Love
1913-03-17 The Power of the Camera
1913-01-30 What Is the Use of Repining?
1912-09-05 Getting Rid of Trouble
1912-08-26 Mr. Grouch at the Seashore
1912-05-01 The Fickle Spaniard