FIVE STARS IN SILENT FILM

FIVE SILENT MOVIE STARS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE FILM INDUSTRY

Greta Garbo is one of my favorite actresses. She is number five on the list of the greatest female stars of all time, and for good reason. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling. In 1925, after Louis B. Mayer of MGM brought her to Hollywood, Garbo quickly stirred interest with the film Torrent (1926), and a year later she was an international star with her movie Flesh and the Devil. Her legacy includes being an international superstar during the late silent era and during "The Golden Age" of Hollywood. It is often said that at the peak of her popularity, Garbo had become a virtual cult figure. Her acting was thought to be ahead of her time and film critic Ty Burr has said about Garbo, "This was a new kind of actor--not the stage actor who had to play to the far seats but someone who could just look and with her eyes literally go from rage to sorrow in just a close-up." Garbo died in 1990, but her legend lives on. In 2011, her importance was discussed during the Cannes Film Festival.

Charlie Chaplin, another favorite of mine, his trademark of a bowler hat, baggy pants, oversized boots, mustache, and a funny walk made him the most famous (and wealthiest) man to ever live. Often considered a genius, Chaplin was the only film maker to ignore the coming of sound. His complexity and artistry makes him the greatest artist of all time.

Harold Lloyd entered films as a teenager at a fun factory. In 1917, he created a persona that would last him his whole lifetime. He is best known for his accident prone behaviors and naivety.

Rudulph Valentino, who was a hottie, drifted from Italy to Hollywood working as a dancer and gigolo. His specialty was acting as oily villains. Valentino found overnight stardom as the Argentinian hero of the first world war epic, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Featuring a famous tango, it's his best film. This is the movie where Valentino became an exotic heart-throb with gleaming eyes and flaring nostrils. His sudden death at 31 created a wave of hysteria that remains unmatched even today.

Lillian Gish's career was bound up with DW Griffith, under whose direction she worked from 1912 to 1921 in The Birth of a Nation, and other classics. She became arguably the greatest film actress of the time. She brought an ethereal openness to her work, a combination of vulnerability and resilience to all the films she starred in.