Lloyd B. Carleton

Active - 1910 - 1927  |   Born - Jan 1, 1871   |   Died - Jan 1, 1933   |   Genres - Western, Action, Historical Film

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Biography by AllMovie

Lloyd B. Carleton was a quadruple-threat figure in film as a director, producer, writer, and actor. Born Carleton B. Little in 1871 (some sources say 1872), he studied at Columbia University in New York before embarking on a career in drama. Onstage, he was in several Broadway productions (including Peter Pan and The Little Minister) starring theatrical leading lady Maude Adams (1872-1953). He turned to movies late in the first decade of the 20th century, initially as an actor, and landed at Biograph, where he established an acquaintanceship with D.W. Griffith in the years before the latter became the dominant creative figure in the film business. Later on, as a producer, Carleton worked for the Lubin Company, Selig Polyscope Company, and Universal Studios. He began directing in 1913, and among his early productions was a version of Michael Strogoff (1914), based on the novel by Jules Verne, starring Jacob Adler in the title role, the only film appearance of the renowned Yiddish theater actor. Carleton also established his own studio at one point, but in the late '20s he abandoned movies in favor of a return to acting on the stage. He died in New York City in 1933 at the age of 62.