The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

May, i g 2 o 21 ROD LA ROCQUE THERE is a large round table in a corner of the dining room at the Green Room Club where every noon a group of actors meet. Actors are most courteous persons. They possess a certain polish, due perhaps to the complete sophistication of their lives, and they were taking pains to point out to me, a stranger and guest, this one and that. I was much engrossed in their stories of life in studio and dressing room, so much engrossed that I failed to notice a newcomer, a tall, solidly built young man, with searching dark eyes, black hair, and the shoulders of a young giant. "Meet Rod La Rocque . " one of my new acquaintances said. "That is what I came here for," I explained. When the luncheon was finished, I remarked to Mr. La Rocque that I should have apologized to him for not having recognized him at once. "You are obviously the leading man type," I added. "The directors didn't use to think so," he replied. "You see, I began my career quite differently from the average leading man. Most of the present actors who are playing leads must look forward to a time when they will become too old to play opposite a young woman star. They will play what we call 'heavy' roles, or comedy parts. But I had to play 'heavies' and character parts before I began to play leads. "The difficulty was that although I had the figure and the ability to play the hero in this picture or that my face persisted in looking too young. I was too well developed for a juvenile part, so they put me to acting the roles of old men, villains, and so forth." Rod La Rocque is probably the most experienced young actor in the movies today, as a result of this reversal of the usual condition of "breaking in." The day I met him was his first in New York following a trip west where he had played opposite Constance Binney in "Little Miss By-theDay." He was resting for a few days before beginning an engagement opposite Corinne Griffith, in whose latest Vitagraph production, now being made, he will appear. La Rocque, despite his youth, has probably played opposite more female stars than any but the most widely known male stars of the screen. The screen has already shown him in pictures with Olive Tell, Mabel Normand, Madge Kennedy, Mae Marsh, Ethel Clayton, June Elvidge, and Virginia Hammond. At the present time he has three pictures awaiting release, "The Kaiser Bridge," with Gail Kane; "Greater Than Love," with Mollie King; and "Easy to Get," with Marguerite Clark. How did it happen that La Rocque has won this enviable place in screendom? He himself will modestly remark that he don't quite know, that he supposes he was merely fitted for that sort of a career. But you only have to glance at Mr. La Rocque site more stars leading man in him to understand that he embodies all the characteristics which are necessary to the male star. He is good-looking, yet goodlooking without the trace of weakness that sometimes marks handsome men. He is physically a giant, and he has learned the business of acting from hard experience. "I was seven years old when I first went on the stage," he related. "Fortunately for me, I started in the most difficult of all theatrical ventures, the stock company. In those days, Willard Mack and Maude Leone were playing leads in a stock company in the country and needed a child for 'Salomy Jane'. They selected me, and their encouraging advice did much to influence my parents in deciding that I was fitted for a stage career. "I was always an overgrown lad, much too tall for my age. I might have been a leading man in my 'teens if it hadn't been for my face. But my face inevitably betrayed my age, when I appeared without make-up, so I played everything from comedy to 'heavy' roles, without ever getting a chance to play a straight part. "I was in vaudeville for a time, and eventually became a member of the Garrick Players, a Chicago company. But for that engagement, I might still be playing on the stage, for I never played in New York, and thus never had the temptation of going into the movies. "In Chicago the Essanay company was working in the old studios, and the lure of the screen was too great to be resisted. Again I thought that I might get a chance to play a straight role, but the Essanay directors decided that I could act well enough but was not old enough to play anything but character roles. So character actor I became. In one picture I played three roles, Lincoln, Grant and Lee. They were always choosing me for old men's parts, and I scarcely ever appeared without a make-up which disguised me completely.* "I suppose that if a man sticks to anything long enough, his opportunity will arrive. It was through an unfortunate illness to Bryant Washburn that my chance came. Washburn was scheduled to play the lead in a General Film Company production when he fell ill. My face must have matured for I was selected to substitute for him. Since that time, I have been playing the hero and have almost forgotten that I was once too young to play anything but character parts." Another reason why La Rocque has become popular both with screen fans and directors is that he takes the business of being a leading man seriously. He has already won a reputation in theatrical circles as a tasteful and stylish dresser, not over-fastidious, mind you, but careful enough of dress to serve as a model for those who are uncertain just what they should wear. There is nothing of the Beau has played oppothan any other motion pictures.