Tall, stocky comic actor Dell Henderson left his stage career behind when he and his actress wife Florence joined D. W. Griffith's Biograph players in 1909. He was frequently co-starred with fellow Biograph contractee Mack Sennett, and when Sennett set up his own Keystone studio, Henderson went along as an actor and director. He continued directing into the 1920s, also functioning as producer on such features as Gambling Wives (1924), Quick Change (1925) and Rough Stuff (1925). In 1927, Henderson resumed his acting career; one of his best late-silent performances was as Marion Davies' father in 1928's Show People. During the talkie era, Henderson appeared in dozens of two-reel comedies produced by Sennett, Hal Roach and Columbia. Most of his feature-film roles at this time were bits, with such notable exceptions as the kindly used-car dealer in Leo McCarey's Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) and the night court judge in Laurel and Hardy's Our Relations (1936). Del Henderson's last public appearance was on a 1954 This is Your Life TV installment honoring his former colleague Mack Sennett.
by Hal Erickson
biography
