Neal Dodd on AllMovie

The screen's favorite minister, the Rev. Neal Dodd had established his first Hollywood church in a storefront in 1918. Two years later, he was functioning as technical advisor on The Furnace (1920) and, in 1921, became a founding member of a relief fund to aid film workers in need. A lifelong supporter of the industry, Dodd made himself available whenever a film needed a pastor and ended up making more than 300 screen appearances. In 1924, he became a founding member of the Motion Picture Relief Fund of America (later Motion Picture and Television Fund), the charitable organization that today runs the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA, a facility catering to retired motion picture and television personnel.