Robert G. Vignola
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Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew.
He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period.
Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917).
His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore.
Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual.
He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.
Photos
Movies (121)
The Girl from Scotland Yard
1937 · Director
The Perfect Clue
1935 · Director
The Scarlet Letter
1934 · Director
Broken Dreams
1933 · Director
The Red Sword
1929 · Director
Tropic Madness
1928 · Director
Cabaret
1927 · Director
Fifth Avenue
1926 · Director
Déclassé
1925 · Director
The Way of a Girl
1925 · Director
Married Flirts
1924 · Director
Yolanda
1924 · Director
Adam and Eva
1923 · Director
When Knighthood Was in Flower
1922 · Director
The Young Diana
1922 · Director
Beauty's Worth
1922 · Director
Enchantment
1921 · Director
The Woman God Changed
1921 · Director
Straight Is the Way
1921 · Director
The Passionate Pilgrim
1921 · Director
The World and His Wife
1920 · Director
The 13th Commandment
1920 · Director
More Deadly Than the Male
1919 · Director
The Third Kiss
1919 · Director
The Heart of Youth
1919 · Director
Louisiana
1919 · Director
An Innocent Adventuress
1919 · Director
The Home Town Girl
1919 · Director
Experimental Marriage
1919 · Director
The Winning Girl
1919 · Director
You Never Saw Such a Girl
1919 · Director
Women's Weapons
1918 · Director
The Savage Woman
1918 · Director
The Claw
1918 · Director
Madame Jealousy
1918 · Director
The Knife
1918 · Director
The Hungry Heart
1917 · Director
Double Crossed
1917 · Director
The Love That Lives
1917 · Director
Her Better Self
1917 · Director
The Fortunes of Fifi
1917 · Director
Great Expectations
1917 · Director
Seventeen
1916 · Director
The Reward of Patience
1916 · Director
Under Cover
1916 · Director
The Evil Thereof
1916 · Director
The Moment Before
1916 · Director
Audrey
1916 · Director
The Spider
1916 · Director
The Black Crook
1916 · Director
The Maker of Dreams
1915 · Director
The Crooked Path
1915 · Director
Don Caesar de Bazan
1915 · Director, Scenario Writer
Honor Thy Father
1915 · Chick Fenway - a Thief, Director
The Haunting Fear
1915 · Director
A Sister's Burden
1915 · Director
The Destroyer
1915 · Director
The Siren's Reign
1915 · Director
The Railroad Raiders of '62
1915 · Railroad Engineer (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Night Operator at Buxton
1915 · Director
The Stolen Ruby
1915 · Director
The Scorpion's Sting
1915 · Director
The Hate That Withers
1914 · Director
The Mystery of the Yellow Sunbonnet
1914 · Director
Her Bitter Lesson
1914 · Director
The Man of Iron
1914 · Director
A Midnight Tragedy
1914 · Director
The Menace of Fate
1914 · Director
The False Guardian
1914 · Director
Seed and the Harvest
1914 · Director
Into the Depths
1914 · Director
The Devil's Dansant
1914 · Director
The Hand of Fate
1914 · Director
The Barefoot Boy
1914 · Director, Writer
The Storm at Sea
1914 · Director
The Vampire's Trail
1914 · Director, Writer
Through the Flames
1914 · Director
The Show Girl's Glove
1914 · Director
The Cabaret Dancer
1914 · Director
The Shadow
1914 · Director
Her Husband's Friend
1914 · Director
The Padrone's Plot
1913 · Tony
Primitive Man
1913 · Director
The Vampire
1913 · Scenario Writer, Director
The Bribe
1913 · Director
The Lost Diamond
1913 · Director
A Stolen Identity
1913 · Director
The Hidden Witness
1913 · Director
Shenandoah
1913 · Undetermined Role
A Victim of Heredity
1913 · Director
Man's Greed for Gold
1913 · Director
The Alien
1913 · Paola, Director
The Scimitar of the Prophet
1913 · Hadjji - a Mohammedan Priest, Director
The War Correspondent
1913 · Hal Martin - the Star Reporter, Director
The Message of the Palms
1913 · Uncle Tom - the Colonel's Servant, Director
The Peril of the Dance Hall
1913 · Pablo Florenti - Pepita's Father
Lady Peggy’s Escape
1913 · Preston
The Prosecuting Attorney
1913 · The Criminal
A Desperate Chance
1913 · Joe Mellon - the Brakeman
A Sawmill Hazard
1913 · Geoffrey Stern
The Wives of Jamestown
1913 · Shamus O’Daly
The Shaughraun
1912 · Harvey Duff
Ireland, the Oppressed
1912 · Michael Dee
The Little Gluers
1912 · Darby O'Drive
From the Manger to the Cross
1912 · Judas
A Prisoner of the Harem
1912 · Mahmoud Pasha
Tragedy of the Desert
1912 · The Flirtatious Malmoud Bey
Captured by Bedouins
1912 · Judge Barnett - the Father
An Arabian Tragedy
1912 · Ayub Kashif
The O'Neill
1912
The Colleen Bawn
1911 · Mr. Corrigan
Rory O'More
1911 · Black William, Director
Railroad Raiders of '62
1911 · Engineer
The Fiddler’s Requiem
1911 · Dolores' fiance
A Sawmill Hero
1911
When Lovers Part
1910
The Lad from Old Ireland
1910 · Man in Campaign Office
The Fight for Freedom
1908
Over the Hills to the Poor House
1908
The Black Hand
1906
The Reason Why
· Director
TV shows (0)
No credits available.