Angular, hawk-nosed Canadian silent-screen actor-director William Bertram, a former stage comic, began his American career in the early 1910s as leading man to Universal's great Indian star Princess Mona Darkfeather. In 1915 he directed the serial Neal of the Navy, starring Flo Ziegfeld beauty Lillian Lorraine, and went on to helm scores of action melodramas for the low-budget Diando Film Company. Gower Gulch producers liked Bertram, who directed with a sure flair for economy and speed if not much distinction, and he became a favorite with also-ran western stars such as Wally Wales and Buddy Roosevelt. Bertram rarely appeared in his own films but could be found in the cast-lists in westerns directed by old friends and colleagues, usually playing men of importance, doctors, or judges. A true action-film veteran, William Bertram died of tuberculosis at Los Angeles' Olive View Sanitarium.
by Hans J. Wollstein
biography
