G. M. Anderson
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Although the name of his popular Western hero was at first spelled 'Broncho' Billy, it was later changed to 'Bronco'.
Anderson called movies, "the maximum amount of entertainment for the minimum amount of price."
Biography
A film pioneer and one of the first recognizable film stars. Anderson appeared in Edwin S. Porter's ground-breaking 1903 thirteen-minute short, "The Great Train Robbery." He later co-founded Essanay, where he starred in, wrote and directed over 375 Westerns in the enormously popular "Broncho Billy" series. After selling his interest in the company and taking an unsuccessful stab at producing for and investing in the legitimate theater, Anderson attempted a comeback only to find he had been supplanted in popularity by new cowboy actor William S. Hart.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Life Events
1902
Joined Edison Studio on 23rd Street in NYC
1902
First starring role in director Edwin S. Porter's "The Messenger Boy's Mistake" (earning 50 cents an hour)
1903
Appeared as the bandit as well as the breakman who tries to fight him off and the passenger that the bandit shot in the historic thirteen-minute film, "The Great Train Robbery" (often called the first film with a plot)
1904
Moved on to a $25-a-week salary as a director, actor and factorum with the Vitagraph Company; claimed to have made the first two-reeler
1906
Joined Selig Polyscope Company as director, writer and actor of shorts (date approximate)
1907
Moved company to Niles Canyon near San Francisco for its Wild West scenery and shoot "The Bandit Makes Good", the first western in which Anderson played "Bronco Billy"
1922
Directed last film, "Ashes"
1926
Retired from film industry
1965
Made cameo appearance in "The Bounty Killer"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Although the name of his popular Western hero was at first spelled 'Broncho' Billy, it was later changed to 'Bronco'.
Anderson called movies, "the maximum amount of entertainment for the minimum amount of price."
Anderson did not know how to ride a horse or shoot a pistol until after his film debut.
