Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Gene Gauntier AI simulator
(@Gene Gauntier_simulator)
Hub AI
Gene Gauntier AI simulator
(@Gene Gauntier_simulator)
Gene Gauntier
Gene Gauntier (born Genevieve Gauntier Liggett, August 26, 1885 – December 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid 1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
Born as Genevieve Gauntier Liggett in Kansas City, Missouri, to James Wesley and Ada J. Gauntier Liggett, she was the middle child of three children. Her older brother was Richard Green Liggett and her sister was Marguerite Gauntier Liggett, who married Swedish billionaire Axel Wenner-Gren. Gauntier attended the Kansas City School of Oratory while in Kansas City. In 1904, she began her stage career. Gauntier made her way to New York City where she began her career in live theater using the stage name "Gene Gauntier," and first appeared in films between acting jobs with stock company tours. She remembered in her 1928 autobiography Blazing the Trail:
“My funds were running low, and in a vague way I thought of the new opening for actors – moving pictures, but, like the rest of the legitimate profession, I looked on them with contempt and felt sure that my prestige would be lowered if I worked in them."
In June 1906, Gauntier was literally thrown into her first screen assignment when she was hired for a daredevil stunt, being filmed as a damsel thrown into a river for Biograph's The Paymaster. It was a one-reeler, where she first met her long-time friend Sidney Olcott and Frank Marion.
Gauntier then returned to stage acting as the lead female role in George Ade's The County Chairman at Kansas City's Grand Opera House.
In 1907, Gauntier became more involved in the fledgling silent film industry, working for Kalem Studios. She became Kalem's star actress, dubbed by the studio as the "Kalem Girl," and also became their most productive screenwriter in collaboration with director Sidney Olcott on numerous film projects.
In 1924, after her departure from the film industry, Gauntier reminisced about her time at Kalem as an intensely fruitful period of creative freedom, when her authorial control and influence extended well beyond acting:
Gauntier's astonishing range of creative decision-making at Kalem reflects the "creative chaos in the early years [of the industry that] favored women's relatively full participation while a new order in the industry mandated against it." By 1912, Gauntier had become disillusioned with the new conditions at Kalem, and left to start her own company, Gene Gauntier Feature Players.
Gene Gauntier
Gene Gauntier (born Genevieve Gauntier Liggett, August 26, 1885 – December 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director, and actress in films from mid 1906 to 1920, she wrote screenplays for 42 films. She performed in 87 films and is credited as the director of The Grandmother (1909).
Born as Genevieve Gauntier Liggett in Kansas City, Missouri, to James Wesley and Ada J. Gauntier Liggett, she was the middle child of three children. Her older brother was Richard Green Liggett and her sister was Marguerite Gauntier Liggett, who married Swedish billionaire Axel Wenner-Gren. Gauntier attended the Kansas City School of Oratory while in Kansas City. In 1904, she began her stage career. Gauntier made her way to New York City where she began her career in live theater using the stage name "Gene Gauntier," and first appeared in films between acting jobs with stock company tours. She remembered in her 1928 autobiography Blazing the Trail:
“My funds were running low, and in a vague way I thought of the new opening for actors – moving pictures, but, like the rest of the legitimate profession, I looked on them with contempt and felt sure that my prestige would be lowered if I worked in them."
In June 1906, Gauntier was literally thrown into her first screen assignment when she was hired for a daredevil stunt, being filmed as a damsel thrown into a river for Biograph's The Paymaster. It was a one-reeler, where she first met her long-time friend Sidney Olcott and Frank Marion.
Gauntier then returned to stage acting as the lead female role in George Ade's The County Chairman at Kansas City's Grand Opera House.
In 1907, Gauntier became more involved in the fledgling silent film industry, working for Kalem Studios. She became Kalem's star actress, dubbed by the studio as the "Kalem Girl," and also became their most productive screenwriter in collaboration with director Sidney Olcott on numerous film projects.
In 1924, after her departure from the film industry, Gauntier reminisced about her time at Kalem as an intensely fruitful period of creative freedom, when her authorial control and influence extended well beyond acting:
Gauntier's astonishing range of creative decision-making at Kalem reflects the "creative chaos in the early years [of the industry that] favored women's relatively full participation while a new order in the industry mandated against it." By 1912, Gauntier had become disillusioned with the new conditions at Kalem, and left to start her own company, Gene Gauntier Feature Players.