William Haines

Biography

Charles William Haines (Staunton, Virginia, 1900 - Santa Monica, California, 1973) was an American actor of the silent and early sound era, and one of the most popular stars in Hollywood in the late 1920s. After leaving acting in 1935, he built a successful career as an interior designer.

Born into a comfortable family, he left home at fourteen. After winning a talent contest he signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922 and moved to Hollywood. Following supporting parts, MGM began giving him leading roles. Brown of Harvard (1926) fixed his screen image as a wisecracking, arrogant young man who is humbled by the end, a formula he returned to for years. Between 1928 and 1932 he was among the country's biggest box-office draws.

He made the move to sound without serious trouble, but in 1933 he was arrested in a YMCA with a sailor. He refused the sham marriage that Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, proposed as a cover, and chose to stay with his partner, Jimmie Shields, for the rest of his life. The studio ended his contract, and his last films, made in 1934, were for smaller companies.

With Shields he ran an interior design and antiques business whose clients included friends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan. In 1936 the two men were attacked by a group of neighbours, and the couple chose not to press charges. He also turned down a small role in Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Haines died of lung cancer in 1973. He is remembered today as one of the box-office stars of his era, and for the star he holds on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Key films

• Brown of Harvard (1926): the role that fixed his image as an arrogant young man, opposite Jack Pickford and Mary Brian.
• Little Annie Rooney (1925): his first major box-office hit, opposite Mary Pickford.
• Show People (1928): a Hollywood comedy with Marion Davies, one of his biggest successes.
• Navy Blues (1929): his first all-talking film.