Donald Crisp was born George William Crisp at 3 Clay Hall Road,Bow, London, on 27 July 1882.[2] He was the youngest of ten children (four boys and six girls) born to Elizabeth (née Christy) and James Crisp, a labourer. He was educated locally and in 1901 was living with his parents and working as a driver of ahorse-drawn vehicle.[3]
Crisp made a number of claims about his early life that were eventually proven false decades after his death. He claimed that he was born in 1880 inAberfeldy inPerthshire,Scotland, and even went so far as to maintain a Scottish accent throughout his life in Hollywood.[4] In fact, he had no connections to Scotland, but in 1996, a plaque commemorating him was unveiled by Scottish comedianJimmy Logan in Crisp's supposed hometown of Aberfeldy.[5] He claimed on alternative occasions that his father was a cattle farmer, a country doctor or a royal physician toKing Edward VII. He also claimed that he was educated atEton andOxford,[citation needed] and that he served as atrooper in the10th Hussars in theBoer War.[3]
While travelling on theSSCarmania to the United States in July 1906, Crisp's singing talents during a ship's concert caught the attention ofoperaimpresario John C. Fisher, who immediately offered him a job with his company. Crisp spent his first year inNew York City in theGrand Opera, and the following year as astage director. It was while touring with the company in the United States andCuba that Crisp first became interested in thetheatre.[6] By 1910, Crisp, now using the name Donald (he retained George as a middle name), was working as astage manager for the renowned entertainer, composer, playwright and directorGeorge M. Cohan. It was during this time that he met and befriended film directorD.W. Griffith. When Griffith ventured west to seek his fortune inHollywood in 1912, Crisp accompanied him.[citation needed]
From 1908 to 1930, Crisp, in addition to directing dozens of films, also appeared in nearly 100 silent films, though many inbit or small parts. One notable exception was his casting by Griffith asGeneralUlysses S. Grant in Griffith's landmark filmThe Birth of a Nation in 1915. Another was his role in Griffith's 1919 filmBroken Blossoms as "Battling Burrows", the brutal and abusive father of the film's heroine, Lucy Burrows (played byLillian Gish; the actress was only 11 years his junior).[citation needed]
Crisp worked as an assistant to Griffith for several years and learned much during this time from Griffith, an early master of film storytelling who was influential in advancing a number of early techniques, such ascross cutting in editing his films. This experience fostered a similar passion in Crisp to become a director in his own right. His first directing credit wasLittle Country Mouse, made in 1914. Many directors (and actors) would find themselves turning out a dozen or more films in a single year at this time. Over the next fifteen years, Crisp directed some 70 films in all, most notablyThe Navigator (1924) withBuster Keaton andDon Q, Son of Zorro (1925) withDouglas Fairbanks.[7]
When asked later by an interviewer why he eventually gave up directing and returned full-time to acting, Crisp commented that directing had become extremely wearisome because he was so often called upon, if not forced, to do favours forstudio chiefs by agreeing to employ their relatives in his films.[8] His final directorial effort was the filmThe Runaway Bride (1930).[2]
Crisp was an active and important liaison between the film industry and outside business interests. His extensive experience in business, the military and entertainment, including being a production andstudio executive, lent itself well to this task. He became a highly valuedadviser whose clear-headed forward thinking proved invaluable to theBank of America, which was one of the leading sources ofworking capital for the film industry for many years (an industry whose lifeblood was loans). Crisp served on the bank'sadvisory board for several decades, including a stint as itschairman. In this role, he had the ear of itsboard of directors, and many of the films eventually financed by the bank during the 1930s and 1940s got their most important approval from Crisp.[8]
Crisp eventually became one of the more wealthy members of the film industry. His "banker's sobriety", extensive contacts and clarity of thought allowed him to make good investments, particularly in thereal estate market. He continued to appear in films throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s. During more than half a century as an actor, he appeared in as many as 400two-reel andfeature-length productions, perhaps a great deal more.John Carradine, who counted over 500 films to his own credit (the Internet Movie Database records over 300), told his sonKeith, who repeated the story during a 2018Gilbert Gottfriedpodcast, that only Donald Crisp had appeared in more movies. Crisp's final screen role was as Grandpa Spencer alongside former film co-starsHenry Fonda andMaureen O'Hara in the 1963 filmSpencer's Mountain. This film, adapted from the novel byEarl Hamner, Jr., was the basis for the 1970s television seriesThe Waltons.[citation needed]
Crisp was in his eighties by the time he quit acting entirely, continuing to work long after it was financially necessary simply because he enjoyed it. He was married three times. In 1912, he married actress Helen Pease, and they remained together until her death the following year. In 1917, he married Marie Stark, whom he divorced in 1920; she went on to act in silent films as Marie Crisp. In 1932, he married filmscreenwriterJane Murfin, whom he divorced in 1944. He died in 1974, a few months short of his 92nd birthday, due to complications from a series ofstrokes. In addition to being one of the premier character actors of his era, he left behind an extensive list of contributions to the film industry he worked to promote for more than fifty years. He is buried atForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inGlendale, California.[11][12]
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