Maurice George Costello (February 22, 1877 – October 29, 1950)According to the California Death Index, http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi?surname=Costello&given=Maurice was an American vaudeville and film actor who was a member of Vitagraph, the first motion picture stock company ever formed.

Early life Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). His father Thomas died while repairing a blast furnace at Andrew Carnegie's Union Iron Mill when Maurice was just five months old. He had a strongly Irish upbringing, living with his mother, her Irish brother, and many Irish immigrant boarders.

Career Costello made his film debut in 1908, but was long believed to have debuted in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom (1905), supposedly playing the lead in what is regarded as the first serious film to feature the character of Sherlock Holmes, since it was preceded only by the 30-second comedy film Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900). However, Holmesian scholar Leslie S. Klinger has written that the identification of Costello in the role is flawed. Klinger states that the first identification of Costello with the role was in Michael Pointer's Public Life of Sherlock Holmes published in 1975, but Pointer later realized his error and wrote to Klinger stating

Costello joined Vitagraph, being a member of the first motion picture stock company ever formed, playing opposite Florence Turner. Among some of his best known pictures are A Tale of Two Cities, The Man Who Couldn't Beat God and For the Honor of the Family. Costello was notorious for his refusal to help build sets, insisting that he was "hired as an actor and nothing else", despite the common practice of the time. From this and his role as the creator of the first known school of screen acting, Costello is sometimes credited as "the father of screen acting".

Costello was one of the world's first leading men in early American cinema, but like a lot of other silent screen stars, he found the transition to "talkies" extremely difficult. While his leading man status was largely lost, he continued to appear in movies, often in small roles and bit parts, right up until his death in 1950.

Costello also discovered Moe Howard of the Three Stooges, who, as a teenager, ran errands and got lunches for the actors at the Vitagraph Studios at no charge. This impressed Costello, who brought him in and introduced him to other leading actors of the day. Howard then gained small parts in many of the Vitagraph movies, but most of these were destroyed by fire that swept the studios in 1910.

Personal life Costello was married to actress Mae Costello (née Altschuk). On November 23, 1913, Costello was arrested for beating his wife Mae. On November 25, he admitted that he had beaten his wife while intoxicated. Mae requested that the charges be dropped to disorderly conduct, and Costello was given six months' probation by Magistrate Geisner of the Coney Island Police Court.

Costello died in Los Angeles in 1950, aged 73, of a heart problem.Los Angeles Times

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes1908 Antony and Cleopatra Marc Antony Short1909 The Bride of Lammermoor Edgar Ravenswood Short; lost film1909 Les Misérables Jean Valjean Short1909 A Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander Short1911 A Tale of Two Cities Sydney Carton Short1911 His Sister's Children Harry Burton Short1911 Some Good in All Bill Short1911 Two Wolves and a Lamb Bertie Belknap Short1912 As You Like It Orlando 1912The Adventure of the Italian ModelLambert ChaseEncyclopedia of Early Cinema, ed. Richard Abel (London: Routledge, 2005), 679; and Adam Lauder, “It’s Alive!: Bertram Brooker and Vitalism,” in The Logic of Nature, the Romance of Space: Elements of Canadian Modernist Painting, ed. Cassandra Getty (Windsor, ON; Oshawa, ON: Art Gallery of Windsor; The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2010), 104n93.James King, Betram Brooker. Life and work. Art Canada Institut – Institut de l’Art Canadien, 2018, p. 5.1912The Adventure of a Thumb PrintLambert Chase1912The Mystery of the Seven JewelsLambert Chase1913 A Princess of Bagdad Seyn – the cobbler 1914 Mr. Barnes of New York Mr. Barnes 1915 The Man Who Couldn't Beat God Martin Henchford also co-directed1915 The Crown Prince's Double Prince Oscar / Barry Lawrence 1916 The Crimson Stain Mystery Harold Stanley 1919 The Captain's Captain John Sark 1919 The Cambric Mask John Sark 1919 The Man Who Won Henry Longfield 1919 The Girl-Woman Sanford 1920 Human Collateral Richard Morton 1920 Deadline at Eleven Paul Klocke Lost film1920 The Tower of Jewels Fraser Grimstead 1921 Conceit Barbe la Fleche 1922 Determination Putnam 1923 None So Blind Russell Mortimer 1923 The Glimpses of the Moon Fred Gillow 1923 Man and Wife Caleb Perkins 1923 Fog Bound Deputy Brown 1924 Let Not Man Put Asunder Sir Humphrey 1924 Roulette Ben Corcoran 1924 Week End Husbands John Keane 1924 Virtuous Liars Josiah Wright 1924 Love of Women Mr. Redfield 1924 Heart of Alaska 1924 The Story Without a Name the cripple 1924 The Law and the Lady Cyrus Blake 1925 The Mad Marriage 1926 The Wives of the Prophet William Neil 1926 The Last Alarm fireman's father 1926 The False Alarm 1927 Camille Armand's father 1927 Johnny Get Your Hair Cut Baxter Ryan 1927 Wolves of the Air Bob's Father 1927 The Shamrock and the Rose Father O'Brien 1927 Spider Webs Jeffrey Stanton 1928 See You Later 1928 The Wagon Show Colonel Beldan 1928 Black Feather 1928 Eagle of the Night Incomplete film1934 Search for Beauty Health Acres guest Uncredited1936 Hollywood Boulevard director in commissary 1938 I Am the Law Lindsay staff member Uncredited1938 A Man to Remember town councilor Uncredited1938 Comet Over Broadway actor at dress rehearsal Uncredited1938 There's That Woman Again headwaiter Uncredited1939 Disbarred frightened juror Uncredited1939 It's a Wonderful World guest Uncredited1939 Judge Hardy and Son man in audience Uncredited1939 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Hart Uncredited1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Diggs – newsman Uncredited1939 The Roaring Twenties nightclub patron Uncredited1940 Rovin' Tumbleweeds Ways and Means Committee member Uncredited1940 The Ghost Comes Home townsman at banquet Uncredited1940 Johnny Apollo extra Uncredited1940 Edison, the Man broker Uncredited1940 The Sea Hawk man carrying spear Uncredited1940 All This, and Heaven Too minor role Uncredited1940 foreign correspondent minor role Uncredited1940 A Little Bit of Heaven Uncle Louie 1940 Third Finger, Left Hand man at railroad station Uncredited1940 Tin Pan Alley Uncredited1941 A Man Betrayed Club Inferno patron Uncredited1941 Lady from Louisiana Edwards 1941 Citizen Kane extra Uncredited1941 Here Comes Mr. Jordan ringsider at fight Uncredited1941 H.M. Pulham, Esq. wedding guest Uncredited1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy rodeo spectator with Martin Manning Uncredited1942 Reap the Wild Wind ball guest Uncredited1942 Cairo Cavity Rock townsman Uncredited1942 The Glass Key card player Uncredited1942 Henry Aldrich, Editor fire spectator Uncredited1943 Du Barry Was a Lady passerby Uncredited1943 Sweet Rosie O'Grady minor role Uncredited1944 A Fig Leaf for Eve nightclub patron Uncredited1944 The Doughgirls minor role Uncredited1944 The Climax minor role Uncredited1944 Practically Yours Senate stenographer Uncredited1945 Guest Wife bit part Uncredited, (final film role)

References

External links

Biography at Hollywood Heritage