Fred Thomson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the actor and former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, see Fred Thompson.
Fred Thomson

(1927 or 1928)
Born Frederick Clifton Thomson
February 26, 1890(1890-02-26)
Pasadena, California
Died December 25, 1928 (aged 38)
Los Angeles, California

Frederick Clifton Thomson (February 26, 1890–December 25, 1928) was an American silent film cowboy. He was a natural actor who rivaled Tom Mix in popularity before dying at age 38 of tetanus.

Contents

[edit] Birth and athletic achievement

Born in Pasadena, California to Williell and Clara Thomson, he was the third of four sons. After graduating college, Fred competed in the National Amateur Athletic Union’s Field and Track Championship Meet in the summer of 1910. He won the event with 7009 points and the title of All-Around Champion.[1]

He attended Princeton Theological Seminary from 1910 to 1913 and won the All-Around Champion title in 1911 and 1913. He married his college sweetheart, Gail Jepson and was ordained by the Presbytery of Los Angeles in September 1913. Three years later, Gail Jepson died of tuberculosis.

During World War I, Thomson served in the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment (known as the Mary Pickford Regiment[2]) in Arcadia, California as U.S. Army Chaplain. While playing football, he broke his leg. Mary Pickford visited the patients in the hospital ward with her friend Frances Marion. It was love at first sight and within 10 days Fred and Frances agreed to marry after the war was over.[3]

The 143rd were sent to France in August 1918, but did not see any action before the armistice on November 11, 1918.

[edit] Movie career

Fred and Marion were married on November 2, 1919 at the Memorial Baptist Church in New York City. Initially interested in directing, he ended up acting in one of Frances' films Just Around the Corner (1921). The movie was a success. Next, he had a co-starring role in another Pickford movie, The Love Light (1921), which was also directed and written by Frances. In 1923, Fred starred in his own action serial The Eagle's Talons in which he performed his own stunts.

Fred was the No. 2 box office star for 1926 and 1927.[4]

[edit] Death

In early December 1928, he stepped on a nail while working in his stables. Contracting tetanus, which the doctors initially misdiagnosed, he died in Los Angeles on Christmas Day in 1928.

Fred and Silver King in Silver Comes Through (1927).
Fred and Silver King in Silver Comes Through (1927).

[edit] Silver King

Silver King was a white Palomino horse seventeen hands high. Al Rogell who directed Thomson's first seven Western films, told about Silver King:

"He did all of the work...everything in the early pictures—the mouth work, the jumps, the chases, the falls, quick stops—and could untie knots, lift bars, etc. He could wink one eye, nod his head yes or no, push a person with his head. Fred trained him to do certain things and expected him to perform them."[5]

After Thomson's death, Silver King appeared in a series of three-reel Westerns from Imperial Studios, starring Wally Wales.[6]

[edit] Filmography

Only two of Fred Thomson's movies have survived to the present day, The Love Light (VHS & DVD), starring Mary Pickford and Thundering Hoofs (VHS). (Silent movies were printed on nitrate film stock which was extremely flammable.)

In Thundering Hoofs, Fred performs a dangerous jump from a moving stagecoach to one of the horses pulling the coach. He fell and suffered a compound fracture of his right thigh. Yakima Canutt completed the stunt. Production of the movie was delayed for weeks while Fred recovered from his injury.

  • Just Around the Corner (1921)
  • The Love Light (1921)
  • Penrod (1922)
  • Oath-Bound (1922)
  • The Eagle's Talons (1923)
  • A Chapter in Her Life (1923)
  • The Mask of Lopez (1924)
  • North of Nevada (1924)
  • Galloping Gallagher (1924)
  • The Silent Stranger (1924)
  • The Dangerous Coward (1924)
  • The Fighting Sap (1924)
  • Thundering Hoofs (1924)
  • That Devil Quemado (1925)
  • The Bandit's Baby (1925)
  • The Wild Bull's Lair (1925)
  • Ridin' the Wind (1925)
  • All Around Frying Pan (1925)
  • The Tough Guy (1926)
  • Hands Across the Border (1926)
  • The Two-Gun Man (1926)
  • Lone Hand Saunders (1926)
  • A Regular Scout (1926)
  • Don Mike (1927)
  • Silver Comes Through (1927)
  • Arizona Nights (1927)
  • Jesse James (1927)
  • Pioneer Scout (1928)
  • The Sunset Legion (1928)
  • Kit Carson (1928)

[edit] References

  1. ^ More Than A Cowboy: The Life and Times of Fred Thomson and Silver King (1988), Edgar M Wyatt, Wyatt Classics, page 23.
  2. ^ ibid, page 38.
  3. ^ ibid, page 39.
  4. ^ IMDB
  5. ^ More Than A Cowboy: The Life and Times of Fred Thomson and Silver King (1988), Edgar M Wyatt, Wyatt Classics, page 52.
  6. ^ ibid, page 110.

[edit] Further reading

  • More Than A Cowboy: The Life and Times of Fred Thomson and Silver King (1988), Edgar M Wyatt, Wyatt Classics.

[edit] External links