John Elliott (actor)

John Elliott
Screen capture of Elliot as Captain Bill Withers in the 1935 film, Midnight Phantom.
Born	(1876-07-05)July 5, 1876 Keosauqua, Iowa, U.S.
Died	December 12, 1956(1956-12-12) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1917–56

John Elliot (July 5, 1876 – December 12, 1956) was an American actor who appeared on Broadway and in over 300 films during his career. He worked sporadically during the silent film era, but with the advent of sound his career took off, where he worked constantly for 25 years, finding a particular niche in "B" westerns. His versatility allowed him to play both "good guys" and "bad guys" with equal aplomb, working right up until his death in 1956.

Elliott was born on July 5, 1876, one day after the United States' Centennial, in Keosauqua, Iowa, to Sarah E. Norris and Jehue S. Elliott. He was the third of four children, and the only boy; his two older sisters were named Elizabeth and Fanny, with his younger sister named Nina. In February 1897, when Elliott was 20, his mother, his sister Fanny came down with typhoid fever. Elliott would be the only one of the three to survive. Two months later, on April 14, Elliot married Cleo Kelly, despite her parents' objections to her marrying an actor.

Elliot began his acting career on stage, where he reached Broadway in 1917, appearing as Robert Goring in the very successful play, Eyes of Youth. The play was produced by A. H. Woods, Lee Shubert, and Jacob J. Shubert, and ran for over a year at the Maxine Elliott Theatre. Elliott's screen debut came in the featured role of Sir Robert Eastbourne in the 1919 silent film When a Man Loves. Less than two dozen of his film appearances were during the silent era. Beginning with the advent of sound, Elliott would begin to make the bulk of his 300 film appearances.

In 1930, he had the featured role of General Robert E. Lee in Only the Brave (1930), starring Gary Cooper. It was a role he would play in several films, such as Carolina (1934), starrin Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore; and Operator 13 (1934), again starring Cooper. His roles would run the gamut, from small nameless roles, as a banker in the 1939 film, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, starring Don Ameche and Loretta Young; to smaller named roles such as Captain Wilkins in The Conquering Horde (1931), starring Richard Arlen and Fay Wray; to featured roles like that of Jess Roarke in 1936's Ridin' On.