Volume III: Biographies

SWICKARD, Joseph R. *

Actor (1911-1912?)

Josef Swickard in a 1920 studio portrait after the Thanhouser years. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (P-365)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Joseph (or Josef) R. Swickard was an actor with Thanhouser at one time.

Biographical Notes: Born in Coblenz, Germany on June 26, 1866, Joseph R. Swickard spent many years in dramatic stock on the stage, including extensive tours. His screen career included work with Thanhouser and Majestic, and, beginning in 1912, a long stint with Keystone, where he played character parts in A Village Vampire and other films. The April 12, 1917 edition of the Motion Picture News Studio Directory carried this item under his biographical entry: "With Thanhouser and Majestic for nine months; since 1912 with Keystone in comedy parts." This would seem to imply a connection with Thanhouser circa 1911-1912.

In early 1917 he was with Keystone in Los Angeles. Among his screen appearances were His Wild Oats (Keystone for Triangle, 1916), A Social Cub (Keystone for Triangle, 1916), Love Will Conquer (Keystone for Triangle, 1916), She Loved a Sailor (Keystone for Triangle, 1916), The Lair of the Wolf (Butterfly for Universal, September 1917), A Tale of Two Cities (Fox, 1917) His Mother's Boy (Paramount, December 1917), The White Man's Law (Paramount, 1918), Treasure of the Sea (Metro, 1918), The Last of His People (Select, 1919), A Trick of Fate (B.B. Features for Exhibitors Mutual, 1919), A Woman of Pleasure (Hampton for Pathé, 1919), and Moon Madness (Haworth for Robertson-Cole, 1920).

Joseph R. Swickard played in many other films in later years, in the 1920s and 1930s, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and retired because of illness in 1938. He died on February 29, 1940 in a sanitarium in Hollywood, California. His brother Charles (1861-1929) was a film actor and director. In 1924 Joseph R. Swickard married Margaret McDonald, whose 23-year-old son, Campbell, murdered her in Hollywood years later in June 1939. At the time she was known by her maiden name, Margaret Campbell, and was divorced from Swickard.

Note: His given name was often spelled as "Josef" in publicity and in his autographs.

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