Lew Cody
Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films such as Don't Change Your Husband.[1]
Lew Cody | |
---|---|
![]() Cody, c. 1915 | |
Born | Louis Joseph Côté February 22, 1884 Waterville, Maine, U.S. |
Died | May 31, 1934 50) | (aged
Resting place | St. Peter's Cemetery |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | McGill University |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1907–1934 |
Spouses |
(m. 1913; div. 1914) |
Early life and career
Cody was born on February 22, 1884 (some sources say 1885)[2] to Louis Joseph Côté and Elizabeth Sarah Côté (née Herbert). His father was French Canadian, with his ancestral lineage dating back to France and Germany, and his mother was a native of Maine. Cody and his younger brothers and sisters were born in Waterville, Maine.[3][4][5][6] After Elizabeth's death, Louis remarried to Marie Lena Rose Toussaint, and they had a daughter named Cecile Côté.
The family moved to Berlin, New Hampshire, where Cody's father owned a drug store. In his youth, Cody worked at his father's drug store as a soda jerk. He later enrolled at McGill University in Montreal where he intended to study medicine but abandoned the idea of setting up in practice and joined a theatre stock company in North Carolina.[4]
He made his debut on the stage in New York in Pierre of the Plains.[5] Cody moved to Los Angeles and began a minor film career at The Balboa Film Studios with Thomas Ince. [4] Cody had at least 99 film credits from 1914 to 1934.
Personal life
Cody was married three times. His first two marriages were to actress Dorothy Dalton. They first married in 1910 and divorced in 1911. They remarried in 1913 and were divorced a second time in 1914.[7] Playing the debonnaire leading man, Cody enjoyed the later single life of "a man's man", which added to his acting persona. In what may have been started as a mutual lark, Cody married Mabel Normand in 1926.[8] Having pre-med schooling, Cody understood that Mabel had acute tuberculosis and they lived separately and attended all he possibly could to Mabel's comfort. They remained married until Normand's death from tuberculosis in February 1930.[8][9]
Death
After Mabel's passing, he successfully transitioned into talking pictures and to even better roles. On May 31, 1934, Cody died of a sudden heart attack in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[3] He is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery, Lewiston, Maine, in the family plot.[6][10]
Partial filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1914 | Harp of Tara | Short | |
1915 | The Mating | 'Bullet Dick' Ames | Credited as Lewis J. Cody |
1917 | A Branded Soul | John Rannie | |
1918 | Mickey | Reggie Drake | Credited as Lewis Cody; co-starring Mabel Normand |
1918 | For Husbands Only | Rolin Van D'Arcy | |
1918 | Treasure of the Sea | Jim Hardwick | |
1919 | Don't Change Your Husband | Schuyler Van Sutphen | co-starring Gloria Swanson; directed by Cecil B. DeMille |
1919 | Are You Legally Married? | John Stark | |
1919 | Our Better Selves | Willard Standish | |
1919 | The Life Line | Philip Royston | co-starring Wallace Beery |
1919 | The Beloved Cheater | Bruce Sands | |
1919 | As the Sun Went Down | Faro Bill | |
1920 | The Butterfly Man | Sedgewick Blynn | |
1922 | The Secrets of Paris | King Rudolph | |
1922 | Dangerous Pastime | Barry Adams | |
1923 | Rupert of Hentzau | Rupert of Hentzau | Sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda |
1923 | Jacqueline | Raoul Radon | |
1923 | Souls for Sale | Owen Scudder | |
1924 | Defying the Law | Pietro Savori | |
1924 | Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model | Walter Peck | |
1924 | Three Women | Edmund Lamont | |
1925 | Man and Maid | Sir Nicholas Thormonde | |
1925 | The Sporting Venus | Prince Carlos | starring Blanche Sweet and Ronald Colman |
1925 | A Slave of Fashion | Nicholas Wentworth | co-starring Norma Shearer |
1925 | The Tower of Lies | Victor Seastrom | co-starring Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer[11] |
1925 | Exchange of Wives | John Rathburn | |
1925 | His Secretary | David Colman | co-starring Norma Shearer |
1926 | Monte Carlo | Tony Townsend | |
1926 | The Gay Deceiver | Toto/Antoine di Tillois | Lost film |
1927 | The Demi-Bride | Philippe Levaux | Lost film |
1929 | A Single Man | Robin Worthington | |
1930 | What a Widow! | Victor | co-starring Gloria Swanson |
1931 | Three Girls Lost | William (Jack) Marriott | starring John Wayne and Loretta Young |
1931 | Beyond Victory | Lew Cavanaugh | co-starring ZaSu Pitts |
1931 | Stout Hearts and Willing Hands | The Villain | Short |
1931 | A Woman of Experience | Captain Otto von Lichstein | |
1931 | The Common Law | Dick Carmedon | co-starring Constance Bennett and Hedda Hopper |
1931 | Meet the Wife | Philip Lord | co-starring Laura La Plante |
1931 | Sporting Blood | Tip Scanlon | co-starring Clark Gable |
1931 | X Marks the Spot | George Howe | |
1932 | The Crusader | Jimmie Dale | |
1932 | The Unwritten Law | Roger Morgan | |
1932 | A Parisian Romance | Baron | co-starring Gilbert Roland |
1933 | By Appointment Only | Dr. Michael Travers | |
1933 | File 113 | Gaston Le Coq | |
1933 | Sitting Pretty | Jules Clark | co-starring Ginger Rogers and Thelma Todd |
1934 | Private Scandal | Benjamin J. Somers | co-starring ZaSu Pitts |
1934 | Thank Your Stars | Axel Hanratty |
References
- St. Johns, Adela Rogers (March 1919). "The Confessions of a Male Vampire". Photoplay. New York: Photoplay Publishing Co. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
- (Chicago), Photoplay (1924). "Stars of the Photoplay".
- Vazzana, Eugene Michael (2001). Silent Film Necrology. McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub. p. 96. ISBN 0-7864-1059-0.
- Beale, George H. (June 1, 1934). "Lew Cody, Noted Star, Found Dead". San Jose News. p. 7. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- "Lew Cody Dies In His Sleep After Many Years Of Work On Stage and In Pictures". The Evening Independent. June 1, 1934. p. 3-A. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- Connor, Sam E. (July 16, 1934). "Lew Cody: Behind the Scenes With Late Hollywood Actor". Lewiston Evening Journal. p. A-12. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
I love Maine, perhaps because I was born in Waterville, but I don't think that's it." (Quote by Lew Cody)
- Houseman, Victoria (1991). Made in Heaven: The Marriages and Children of Hollywood Stars. Bonus Books. p. 72. ISBN 0-929387-24-4.
- "Lew Cody Dead In Film Capital". Spokane Daily Chronicle. June 1, 1934. p. 1. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- Warwick White, Wendy (2007). Ford Sterling: The Life and Films. McFarland. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7864-8220-7.
- Wilson, Scott; Mank, Gregory W. (forward) (2016). "Cody, Lew #2486". Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0786479924. OCLC 948561021.
- Blake, Michael F. (1998). "The Films of Lon Chaney". Vestal Press Inc. Page 151. ISBN 1-879511-26-6.
External links
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