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A former newspaper writer, Carroll Fleming wrote the popular rustic play Sis Hopkins for comedienne Rose Melville, who toured with the play for the remainder of her career and retired a wealthy woman. In the early 1910s, Fleming's play The Raiders became the opening production of the New York Hippodrome, a giant theater which occupied an entire block and seated thousands. Producing and directing both circus performances and straight plays at the Hippodrome for several years, Fleming was hired to direct "specials" for the New Rochelle-based Thanhouser company in 1914. Despite much publicity, he remained with the company for less than a year, helming such potboilers as Beating Back (1914), starring former outlaw Al Jennings; A Madonna of the Poor (1914), featuring Thanhouser favorite Muriel Ostriche and based on a vaudeville sketch by Fleming himself; and the still extant The Amateur Detective (1914). He was later associated with the several Pathé companies but seems to have left films around 1920. He should not be confused with silent screen director Caryl S. Fleming (1894-1940).