Max Linder
Biography
Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy.
He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career.
Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics.
He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.
Acting (86 movies)
At the Show
1907
Max Wishes He Hadn't
1914
Jalousie
1912
Seven Years Bad Luck
1921
Champion de boxe
1911
Max Speaks English
1914
Max in a Taxi
1917
Max Takes Tonics
1911
Max Wants a Divorce
1917
The Little Vixen
1909
Max and His Mother-in-Law
1911
Max the Heartbreaker
1917
Max and His Dog Dick
1912
The Three Must-Get-Theres
1922
The False Max Linder
1914
A Farmhouse Romance
1912
Max's Hat
1913
Max Takes a Picture
1913
Max Wants to Grow
1912
Max Juggles for Love
1912
Max's First Job
1910
Max Gets Stuck Up
1910
Max Plays the Part
1914
The Dentures
1909
Max and the Lady Doctor
1914
Love's Surprises
1909
Max and the Donkey
1912
Max and the Statue
1912
An Agitated Night
1912
Max Sets the Fashion
1912
Harlequin's Story
1907
His First Cigar
1908
Max Sets the Style
1914
Max in Monaco
1915
Max Takes a Bath
1911
Max Learns to Skate
1907
Be My Wife
1921
Au secours !
1924
Max and Jane Want to Do Theater
1911
Max: Jockey for Love
1913
The Barometer of Fidelity
1909
Max Embarrassed
1910
Max Is Convalescent
1911
Long-Lasting Love
1912
Cordial Agreement
1912
The Water-Funker
1912
Max's Vacation
1914
Max as a Chiropodist
1914
The Wedding Trunk
1912
C'est Papa qui a pris la purge
1907
Max and the Purse
1917
Max Linder Does All the Sports
1913
Troubles of a Grass Widower
1908
Chance and Love
1915
Le Petit Café
1919
King of the Circus
1924
The Adventures of Tartarin the Younger
1910
Max Toreador
1913
Attempted Suicide
1906
In Love with the Bearded Woman
1909
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
1931
The Forced Marriage
1914
Max in the Convent
1914
Max and the Jealous Husband
1914
Max Skiing
1910
I Want a Baby
1910
Hairdresser of Love
1915
Max Plays at Drama
1914
Life and Deaths of Max Linder
2026
Max Takes Back His Freedom
1912
Max devrait porter des bretelles
1917
A Conquest
1909
Beginning of the Serpentine Dance
1908
Laugh with Max Linder
1963
Phial of Poison
1907
Max as a Musician
1913
The Man in the Silk Hat
1983
Birth of the Tramp
2013
Max Comes Across
1917
Max Linder Visits Charlie Chaplin
1917
Le billet doux
1913
Max Linder's Appointment
1913
Easter Parade
1948
All in Good Fun
1955
Max Linder Collection 1917-1922
2014
The Way of the World
1947
Directing (73 movies)
Champion de boxe
1911
Seven Years Bad Luck
1921
The Three Must-Get-Theres
1922
The Gentleman Thief
1909
Max Juggles for Love
1912
Max Speaks English
1914
Max in a Taxi
1917
Max Takes Tonics
1911
Max Wants a Divorce
1917
Max and His Mother-in-Law
1911
Max the Heartbreaker
1917
Max and His Dog Dick
1912
A Farmhouse Romance
1912
Max's Hat
1913
Max Wants to Grow
1912
Max: Boxer By Love
1912
Max's First Job
1910
Be My Wife
1921
Max and the Donkey
1912
Max and the Statue
1912
An Agitated Night
1912
The Romance of Max
1912
Max Sets the Fashion
1912
Max Gets Stuck Up
1910
Max and the Lady Doctor
1914
Max Sets the Style
1914
Max in Monaco
1915
Max and Jane Want to Do Theater
1911
Max Embarrassed
1910
Max Linder's Appointment
1913
Max Is Convalescent
1911
Long-Lasting Love
1912
Cordial Agreement
1912
The Water-Funker
1912
Max's Vacation
1914
Max as a Chiropodist
1914
Max and the Purse
1917
Max Linder Does All the Sports
1913
The Wedding Trunk
1912
Troubles of a Grass Widower
1908
Chance and Love
1915
The Adventures of Tartarin the Younger
1910
Jalousie
1912
Max, Tango Teacher
1912
Max Toreador
1913
Max Hates Cats
1913
Max Takes Back His Freedom
1912
Max, médecin malgré lui
1917
The Forced Marriage
1914
An Unexpected Marriage
1913
Max and the Jealous Husband
1914
I Want a Baby
1910
Hairdresser of Love
1915
Max Fears the Dogs
1912
Love's Surprises
1909
Max devrait porter des bretelles
1917
Max se marie
1911
Le serment d'un prince
1910
Max: Jockey for Love
1913
Max Wishes He Hadn't
1914
Max a un duel
1911
Max est distrait
1910
Max émule de Tartarin
1912
Max as a Musician
1913
Max amoureux de la teinturière
1912
Un pari original
1912
Le duel de Max
1913
Max Comes Across
1917
Le billet doux
1913
Max asthmatique
1914
Max's Latest Hobby
1914
Attempted Suicide
1906
Comment Max fait le tour du monde
1911