Warner Baxter is best known for his role in In Old Arizona. In the nomination for Best Actor for his work in the film, the performer received an Oscar.
The full name of the actor is Warner Leroy Baxter. He was born in Columbus on March 29 in 1889. Almost immediately after the birth of his son, his father died.
Childhood and youth
The widowed mother moved with her five-month-old baby to her brother's house. When his son was nine, he and his mother moved to San Francisco. The future famous artist spent his childhood in this city.
After the terrible earthquake that occurred there in 1906, the Baxters lost, like many others, almost everything they acquired. Mother and son had to live in a tent for a half month.
To support the family, the teenager went to work on a farm. When a nomadic acting troupe toured the city, Warner decided to join.
Studying in practice the basics of acting, the young man traveled all over the west of the country. Like other stars of that time, Baxter did not receive a professional education.
He could not even finish high school, as the family was very poor. In his youth, Warner tried many professions. He was both a courier and a seller.
Baxter had to solve problems that were very distant from cinema and had nothing to do with the art of cinema. However, the theater really captivated him. He started with teenage tomboy.
The start of his acting career began in 1910. At first, the performer played only in vaudeville. Then, on the amateur stage, he was offered the main roles. Nevertheless, the stage for Warner remained a hobby.
Filmmaking
His breakthrough into Hollywood stars seems to this day an incredible success. During the First World War, an unknown newcomer to the big cinematography had a chance to perform an impressive number of "silent" episodic characters.
In 1918 the actor made his film debut. In a short time he managed to achieve unprecedented success here too. From 2921 film roles to a novice performer were already the main ones. The most memorable for the audience were his works in the "Runaway" in 1926 and "Aviapost" in 1935.
The most striking role in 1928 is recognized as the old successful Mexican bandit Sisko Kid in the first sound western movie "In Old Arizona". She brought the actor an Oscar statuette in the Best Actor category.
There were many nominees. The competition was very intense. Academics chose between Paul Mooney in The Brave, Chester Morris in Alibi, George Bancroft in Thunderbolt, and Lewis Stone in The Patriot and Warner Baxter.
The award was the only one, and it is all the more surprising that the latter was immediately awarded the main award. The artist returned to the character who brought him worldwide recognition more than once in numerous sequels. They were filmed in the wake of the commercial success of the first work.
However, only the first of the "gangster" films was and remains a creative success. The performer received an Oscar-winning role thanks to an accident. In a traffic accident, the actor who had previously been chosen by the main character lost his eye.
A well-trained artist with a beautiful voice and imposing appearance fell in love with the film audience. Warner has become the most sought-after performer in the role of the main male roles of romantic orientation in Hollywood films of the thirties.
At the height of glory
In 1936, Baxter became the highest paid in Hollywood. However, at the top, he did not last long. After 1943, a gradual decline in the quality of the paintings offered to him began. As a result, the performer shifted to the second category projects.
However, Korner still received the leading roles. True, these were characters in low-budget detective series. During his film career, the artist starred in more than a hundred films. His most famous work of that time is The Crime Doctor.
From 1943 to 1949, a dozen episodes of the multi-part film were released at the Columbia Pictures studio. The screen version was based on the radio show of the same name. The duration of each episode did not exceed an hour. The selection of the actors was carried out very carefully.
Among them were real stars: Nina Foch, Robert Armstrong, Lynn Merick. Thanks to the outstanding directorial work of William Castle and George Archinbaud, the series became one of the most significant film projects of the forties.
For his contribution to the development of cinema, Baxter was awarded a personal star on Hollywood Boulevard of Glory.
Life off the screen
The actor's personal life was not so brilliant. His first marriage fell apart. Warner's chosen one in 1911 was his colleague Viola Caldwell. The relationship quickly cracked and in 1913 the couple officially broke up.
Winifred Bryson became Baxter's second wife in 1918. She did not manage in any way for the entire time of her appearance on the screen to be remembered by the audience. At first, family life was very successful.
However, after suffering a nervous breakdown in the early forties, Baxter fell into a deep depression. The disease knocked him out of the cage of successful performers and put an end to his further "stellar" career.
The wife stayed with him. The artist, when he was not filming, was engaged in inventive activity. In 1935 he created a searchlight that allows shooters to see more clearly at night targets.
He invented a radio communication device that allows emergency crews to change signals to ensure the safety of crossings through intersections. The author himself financed the installation of the invention in 1940.
In recent years, the famous performer has suffered from arthritis. He decided on a complex brain surgery, as the doctors promised that after it the pain would stop.
In 1951, after the procedure, Baxter developed pneumonia. He died of illness on May 7.
