Stuart Holmes(1884-1971)
- Actor
Stuart Holmes, born Joseph Liebchen, was a silent screen leading man
(from 1909) who starred in Fox's first feature film,
Life's Shop Window (1914),
filmed on Staten Island for $4,500. Being of somewhat menacing
demeanour, the cold-eyed, moustachioed Holmes quickly discovered his
penchant for playing dastardly villains of French, Italian or Russian
extraction. He was highly rated by critics for his Grand Duke Michael
in
The Prisoner of Zenda (1922)
and for Alexander, nemesis of
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1924).
His characters rarely ever survived the final reel. After leaving Fox,
Holmes joined Metro for similar work and then segued into character
parts after the coming of sound. He was signed as a Warner Brothers
extra in the mid-30's and continued to amass uncredited or cameo bits
until his retirement in 1964, by which time he had appeared in some 530
films. His wife, Blanche Maynard, was a well-known Hollywood astrologer
and Holmes himself (when not busy on screen) spent his free time
wood-carving. He was reputedly rather good at it.
