Picture Show (Nov 1919-Apr 1920)

The ricturc Show, April 10th, 1920. THE EXPRESSIONS OF CAMERON CARR. Picture Show.") CAMERON CARR THE BROADWEST VILLAIN, WHO IS " NOT SO BLACK AS HE IS PAINTED." IN every drama, whether in real film or stage life, 1 Fate has decreed there shall be a villain. But just as there are varying degrees of heroism, so villains are not always as " black as they are painted," especially in film land. And although Cameron Carr has done everything bad that a bad man can do for the screen he is a very likeable person out of the studio. • The outstanding feature of his character is his wonderful sense of humour ; but when one suggests to him that he might have been a comedian he says, Who ever saw a funny man with a face like mine ? " CAMERON CARR. He is English by birth and was born at Kingston-onThames, and educated in London. Carr's first public appearance was on the stage, and he played in many big theatrical successes both in London and the Provinces. The Ninth Villain. TURNING his attention to films he found that whenever he was cast for a leading part it invariably meant he was the villain of the piece. But after appearing in productions manufactured by nearly every British Company. Mr. Walter West selected him for a small part of a detective in the Broadwest racing film, " A Turf Conspiracy." Much to Carr's distress Mr. West selected him for a villain in his next production, " The Woman Wins," and such a good bad man did he make that he is now playing his. ninth villain for Broadwest pictures. " Why I became a villain, I really don't know," said Mr. Carr when I questioned him on his choice of such a type. " But really I am not to blame. You must blame Mr. West. I was cast for villain in my first two photo-plays, and it was after I had played in these pictures that I knew my number was up. I even had visions that, registered opposite my name in the Broadwest cast book, was the following : ' Villain — of the worst type, can play any sort of villain, warranted to scare the leading actress to death, and make her cry real tears.' " It made me afraid of myself to see the horrible things I had done, and imagining that I really scared poor Miss Hopson, I would take her chocolates and flowers just to show her that I was not so black as I appeared." Bad Man Parts. CARR is an all round good actor, who knows his work from A to Z, and it is not sur. prising that when selected for the part of the Sympathetic Padre in "A Soul's Crucifixing," his creation of Guilda Lois' staunch friend was quite as big a success as his bad man parts. " I have committed so many murders, thefts, and crimes for the films," Carr says, " that I am sure the present-day criminals' records fade into oblivion when compared with mine. But — and it's a very emphatic but — I have also undergone the punishments which would inevitably result were they real crimes." Proof of this is given in " In the Gloaming," for in this film Carr is convicted and sentenced to penal servitude. Ask the Broadwest villain if he likes the idea of prison clothes and a pick and shovel, and he will tell you that if any man who contemplated crime was given a taste of prison life Carr is sure he would become a peaceful citizen immediately and keep as far away from crime as possible. A Talented Pianist. OTHER Broadwest films in which Cameron Carr plays leading parts are " Under Suspicion," when he appears as a Russian anarchist moving in court circles ; "A Daughter of Eve," in which he is the bad man; "The Cheat Coup," in which he plays the part of a bookmaker of the worst possible type; and he has just completed the part of Harry Stone, the unscrupulous racehorse owner in "A Head Certainty," a thrilling racing story which also features Gregory Scott and Poppy Wyndhain. This double-dyed villain of the movies is a talented pianist, and is devoted to golf and sculling, and off the screen he is one of the kindest-hearted men one could wish to mcc-l.sn although it has been said, "Once bad is to l» presumed always bad," Carr is an actor who can handle a hero part just as successfully as that of a bad 'tin.