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The nephew of American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, the "Sage of Concord," dark-haired actor Ralph Emerson (born Walter William Emerson) was discovered for the screen while playing the juvenile lead in a Los Angeles production of Alias the Deacon. Specializing in rah-rah college boys and young bounders, Emerson earned prominent roles in Lillian Gish's The Enemy (1927) and William Haines' West Point (1928), but true stardom eluded him and he returned to the legitimate stage shortly after the advent of sound.