Elliott Dexter

Biography

Elliott Dexter (born Adelbert Elliott Dexter in Galveston, Texas, 1870; died in Amityville, New York, 1941) was an American actor who worked on the stage and in films, chiefly during the silent era. He began in vaudeville and did not turn to motion pictures until he was about forty-five, making him a late arrival to the screen.

His film debut came at an unusually advanced age for the period, and he soon became a familiar supporting presence in productions of the mid-1910s and the 1920s. He appeared in a large number of features during that decade, often in dramas and society comedies, and his name recurs throughout the silent output of the American studios. He left acting in 1925, with Stella Maris as his final film, in which he appeared alongside Mary Philbin.

His personal life included a brief marriage in 1915 to silent film actress Marie Doro, which ended in divorce without children, and a later marriage to socialite Nina C. Untermyer. He died in 1941 and was buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Today he is remembered as one of the many stage performers who moved into silent pictures, and his work survives mainly in films from that period.

Key films

• A Romance of the Redwoods (1917), a Cecil B. DeMille-era drama in which Dexter played a supporting role.
• The Whispering Chorus (1918), a silent melodrama featuring Dexter in the cast.
• Don't Change Your Husband (1919), one of his most frequently cited silent roles.
• The Affairs of Anatol (1921), a society comedy that reflects his work in sophisticated drama.
• Adam's Rib (1923), a marital comedy with Dexter among the leads.
• Stella Maris (1925), his final film as an actor.