Wikipedia

Irving Cummings

Irving Cummings
Irvingcummings-motionpicturemagazine-1914.jpg
Cummings in 1914
Born
Irving Caminsky

October 9, 1888
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 18, 1959 (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
NationalityUnited States
OccupationFilm director, actor
Years active1903–1959
Spouse(s)Ruth Sinclair (m.1917)

Irving Caminsky[1] (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American movie actor and director.

Life and career

Cummings was born in New York City.[1] He was the father of the screenwriter and producer Irving Cummings Jr.

Cummings started his acting career in his late teens on Broadway stage, performing in In the Long Run (1909) and Object -- Matrimony (1916).[2] He appeared with Lillian Russell.

He entered into movies in 1909, acting with the P. A. Powers company in Mount Vernon, New York,[3] and quickly became a popular leading man. Few of the films he made as an actor are easily available, except for Buster Keaton's first feature film, The Saphead (1920), in which Cummings plays a crooked stockbroker and Fred Niblo's film Sex (1920), one of the first films to depict a new phenomenon in 1920s America, the Flapper. Both films are readily available on home video, as well as The Round-Up (1920), a Western drama starring Roscoe Arbuckle (with the famous tagline "Nobody loves a fat man") and featuring Wallace Beery. Around that time, he started to direct action movies and occasional comedies.

In 1934, Cummings directed Grand Canary, and in 1929, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his direction of In Old Arizona.

Cummings was known for the big splashy 1930s Technicolor musicals with popular leading ladies such as Betty Grable, Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, and Shirley Temple (Little Miss Broadway, 1938) he directed at 20th Century Fox.

Death

On April 18, 1959, Cummings died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California, at age 70.[1]

Recognition

Cummings has a star at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.[4] In 1943, as part of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the motion picture industry, Cummings was awarded the Thomas A. Edison Foundation Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in the arts and sciences.

Select filmography

Don Ameche, Alice Faye, and Carmen Miranda in That Night in Rio, 1941.

Actor

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)
  • The Three of Us (1914)
  • The Diamond from the Sky (1915)
  • The World's Great Snare (1916)
  • The Gilded Cage (1916)
  • The Whip (1917)
  • Sister Against Sister (1917)
  • A Royal Romance (1917)
  • Wrath of Love (1917)
  • Rasputin, The Black Monk (1917)
  • An American Widow (1917)
  • The Struggle Everlasting (1918)
  • The Heart of a Girl (1918)
  • The Interloper (1918)
  • Merely Players (1918)
  • The Woman Who Gave (1918)
  • Don't Change Your Husband (1919)
  • Mandarin's Gold (1919)
  • Her Code of Honor (1919)
  • The Scar (1919)
  • Some Bride (1919)
  • Secret Service (1919)
  • Men, Women, and Money (1919)
  • What Every Woman Learns (1919)
  • Auction of Souls (1919)
  • Everywoman (1919)
  • The Thirteenth Commandment (1920)
  • The Tree of Knowledge (1920)
  • Sex (1920)
  • Harriet and the Piper (1920)
  • The Saphead (1920)
  • The Round-Up (1920)
  • Old Dad (1920)
  • Cameron of the Royal Mounted (1921)
  • The Blasphemer (1921)
  • The Man from Hell's River (1922)
  • Flesh and Blood (1922)
  • East Side - West Side (1923)
  • Rupert of Hentzau (1923)
  • As Man Desires (1925)
  • Infatuation (1925)
  • The Johnstown Flood (1926)
  • Dressed to Kill (1928)
  • The Port of Missing Girls (1928)
  • Romance of the Underworld (1928)
  • Not Quite Decent (1929)
  • Behind That Curtain (1929)
  • In Old Arizona (1929)
  • A Devil with Women (1930)
  • On the Level (1930)
  • A Holy Terror (1931)
  • The Night Club Lady (1932)
  • Grand Canary (1934)
  • The White Parade (1934)
  • Curly Top (1935)
  • Girls' Dormitory (1936)
  • Little Miss Broadway (1938)
  • Just Around the Corner (1938)
  • The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
  • Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
  • Everything Happens at Night (1939)
  • Down Argentine Way (1940)
  • That Night in Rio (1941)
  • Belle Starr (1941)
  • Louisiana Purchase (1941)
  • Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
  • My Gal Sal (1942)
  • What a Woman! (1943)
  • Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)
  • The Dolly Sisters (1945)
  • Double Dynamite (1951)

Director

  • Paid Back (1922)
  • The Jilt (1922)
  • Rustling for Cupid (1926)

References

  1. ^ a b c Ellenberger, Allan R. (May 2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7864-0983-9. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  2. ^ "Irving Cummings". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  3. ^ Hopper, Hedda (April 23, 1944). "It Takes an Actor to Direct an Actor". Chicago Tribune. p. 78. Retrieved August 14, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Irving Cummings". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.

External links

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia® - the free encyclopedia created and edited by its online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of Wikipedia® encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information, please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.