William V. Mong

Biography

William V. Mong (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1875 – Studio City, California, 1940) was an American actor who also wrote and directed films, mostly short ones. His film career ran from about 1910 to 1939, with close to two hundred titles as a performer.

Before moving into film he worked in vaudeville and on the stage, with plays in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. He made his screen debut in 1910 with A Connecticut Yankee. Between 1911 and 1918 he directed films, and from 1911 to 1922 he worked as a screenwriter, largely on short-form projects. As an actor he appeared in many films of the 1910s and 1920s, and later in larger productions such as The Sign of the Cross and Cleopatra, released in 1932 and 1934.

He fell ill in 1938 and stopped acting. He died in 1940 and was buried in Glendale, California.

Key films

• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921): a role as Merlin in one of his most recognisable silent-era appearances.
• The Sign of the Cross (1932): a supporting part in Cecil B. DeMille's epic.
• Treasure Island (1934): a role in the adaptation of Stevenson's novel.
• The Last Days of Pompeii (1935): an appearance in the sound-era spectacle.
• The Last of the Mohicans (1936): a part in one of the versions of Cooper's novel.