
Robert G. Vignola
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew.
He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period.
Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917).
His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore.
Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual.
He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.
Acting (23 movies)

Over the Hills to the Poor House
1908

Shenandoah
1913

The Show Girl's Glove
1914

The War Correspondent
1913

The Vampire
1913

An Arabian Tragedy
1912

The Little Gluers
1912

The Prosecuting Attorney
1913

The Message of the Palms
1913

Ireland, the Oppressed
1912

The Scimitar of the Prophet
1913

The Alien
1913

The Railroad Raiders of '62
1915

The Black Hand
1906

Railroad Raiders of '62
1911

From the Manger to the Cross
1912

The Lad from Old Ireland
1910

The Colleen Bawn
1911

Rory O'More
1911

When Lovers Part
1910

Captured by Bedouins
1912

Tragedy of the Desert
1912

The Wives of Jamestown
1913
Directing (82 movies)

Primitive Man
1913
Her Husband's Friend
1914
The Shadow
1914

The Show Girl's Glove
1914

The Cabaret Dancer
1914
Through the Flames
1914
The Storm at Sea
1914
The Hand of Fate
1914

The Devil's Dansant
1914

The War Correspondent
1913

The Fortunes of Fifi
1917

The Knife
1918

The Barefoot Boy
1914
Seed and the Harvest
1914
The False Guardian
1914
Into the Depths
1914
The Menace of Fate
1914
A Midnight Tragedy
1914

The Evil Thereof
1916

The Man of Iron
1914
The Mystery of the Yellow Sunbonnet
1914
Her Bitter Lesson
1914
The Hate That Withers
1914
Honor Thy Father
1915
A Sister's Burden
1915

The Destroyer
1915

The Haunting Fear
1915

The Crooked Path
1915

The Scorpion's Sting
1915
The Stolen Ruby
1915

The Siren's Reign
1915

The Maker of Dreams
1915

Don Caesar de Bazan
1915

The Scimitar of the Prophet
1913

The Message of the Palms
1913

Man's Greed for Gold
1913

The Vampire's Trail
1914

The Alien
1913
A Victim of Heredity
1913

The Lost Diamond
1913
The Hidden Witness
1913

A Stolen Identity
1913
The Bribe
1913

The Night Operator at Buxton
1915

The Scarlet Letter
1934

When Knighthood Was in Flower
1922

The World and His Wife
1920

The Perfect Clue
1935

Beauty's Worth
1922

Great Expectations
1917

Rory O'More
1911

Broken Dreams
1933

Cabaret
1927

The 13th Commandment
1920
The Winning Girl
1919

Enchantment
1921

Déclassé
1925

Her Better Self
1917

Adam and Eva
1923

The Claw
1918

The Way of a Girl
1925

The Vampire
1913

The Girl from Scotland Yard
1937

Under Cover
1916

The Young Diana
1922

Experimental Marriage
1919

Tropic Madness
1928

The Love That Lives
1917

The Black Crook
1916

The Woman God Changed
1921

Straight Is the Way
1921

Yolanda
1924

The Passionate Pilgrim
1921

Married Flirts
1924

The Moment Before
1916

Fifth Avenue
1926

Seventeen
1916

Women's Weapons
1918

The Spider
1916

The Savage Woman
1918

More Deadly Than the Male
1919

The Third Kiss
1919
| Title | Year | Job | 
|---|---|---|
| The Vampire's Trail | 1914 | Writer | 
| The Barefoot Boy | 1914 | Writer |