Arvid E. Gillstrom

Active - 1916 - 1933  |   Born - Aug 13, 1891   |   Died - May 21, 1935   |   Genres - Comedy, War, Romance

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Biography by AllMovie

Disproving the old bromide that Scandinavians were somber and brooding, silent-screen director Arvid E. Gillstrom, from Gothenburg, Sweden, specialized in comedies. One of the first moviemakers to settle in geographical Hollywood, Gillstrom directed comedies for that community's first motion picture company, Nestor. Briefly working for Mack Sennett's Keystone company in nearby Eddendale, Gillstrom later made a name for himself directing King Bee comedies starring Chaplin imitator Billy West, one of whose leading ladies, Ethel Burton, he married. In the 1920s, Gillstrom directed (and sometimes wrote) comedies starring toddler Baby Peggy, and branched into feature films, helming such popular farces as Clancy's Kosher wedding (1927), featuring rotund George Sidney, and Legionnaires in Paris (1927), starring the team of Al Cooke and Kit Guard. In his later years, Gillstrom directed Harry Langdon two-reelers for Educational.