Volume III: Biographies

VROOM, Fred *

Actor, stage manager, studio employee

(1910-1913)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Fred Vroom was an actor and studio manager for Thanhouser in 1912 and 1913, having joined the studio as an employee in 1910.

Biographical Notes: Frederick William Vroom was born in Clement, Nova Scotia, Canada on November 11, 1857. At the beginning of his career he went on the stage, where he remained for many years. In 1885 he was with Barrett and Booth in Shakespearean dramas. In 1890 he left the stage and went to Alaska to engage in mining. He remained there for a long period, and came to the Eastern United States by 1910, the year he joined Thanhouser as a studio employee. By 1912, possibly earlier, he was an actor in small parts in the studio's films.

On December 15, 1912 Vroom left New Rochelle with certain other members of the stock company and went to California, where he became stage manager of Thanhouser's West Coast studio at 651 Fairview Avenue, Los Angeles. When the Thanhouser players returned to the East on April 30, 1913, he stayed behind in the same facility, where he and Lucius J. Henderson organized productions for Mutual.

During 1913-1914 Fred Vroom was with Majestic, playing in various films, including the March 24, 1914 release of They Who Dig Pits. Later he was with several other companies and played in many films. the Moving Picture World, July 28, 1917, reported that he had just joined David Horsley, to direct five-reel pictures. Later films in which he was seen included The Jungle Child (Kay-Bee for Triangle, 1918), The Gown of Destiny (Triangle, 1918), Where the West Begins (American for Pathé, 1919), One of the Finest (Goldwyn, 1919), 813 (Robertson-Cole, 1920), The Prince of Avenue A (Universal, 1920), A Tokio Siren (Universal, 1920), The Misfit Wife (Metro, 1920), and other pictures through the 1930s. Fred Vroom died of a heart attack on June 24, 1942 in Hollywood.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1912: The Forest Rose (11-29-1912)

1913: The Woman Who Did Not Care (4-1-1913)

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