Leander De Cordova

(b. Kingston, Jamaica, 05/12/1877 – d. Los Angeles, 19/09/1969). American actor and director. According to The Moving Picture World of 15 April 1916, prior to becoming involved in the film industry, Leander De Cordova had directed and managed stock companies in a dozen cities and The Film Daily of 24 April 1921 confirmed that previously he had been an actor “on the speaking stage”, his appearance including a role in a 1916 dramatisation of Ben-Hur at the Manhattan Opera House. In 1920 African Film Productions recruited him to direct the film version of H. Rider Haggard’s novel “Swallow: a tale of the Great Trek”, a production for which Joan Morgan and Hayford Hobbs were brought out from England. Prior to that he had been assistant director on a number of now forgotten films and had directed three himself, while after Swallow (1922) he had another encounter with Haggard when he directed one of the many versions of She (1925), this one starring Betty Blythe. This experience ended in a court case in which De Cordova sued producer George B. Samuelson. He made his last film as director in 1931 and afterwards returned to acting, frequently uncredited, but most notably in the serial Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939). Interestingly, The Film Daily of 10 October 1922 makes a reference to “six features” based on novels by Rider Haggard he made for AFP, though clearly that claim is a fallacy. Though “Swallow” was the only feature he directed in South Africa, in an article written for The Film Daily of 9 May 1921, De Cordova describes his experiences of filming in Basutoland and Thelma Gutsche makes mention of a documentary entitled “Peep into Basutoland” that was released by AFP a year or two later.

Sources

The Moving Picture World, 15 April 1916

The Film Daily, 24 April 1921

The Film Daily. 9 May 1921

The Film Daily, 16 January 1922

S.A. Pictorial, 22 July 1922

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0208113/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

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