Max Linder
Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · Life and Deaths of Max Linder as Self (archive footage)
- 2013 · Birth of the Tramp as Self (archive footage)
- 1978 · Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma as Self (archive footage)
- 1947 · It Had to Be You as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
- 1931 · The Theft of the Mona Lisa as (archive footage)
- 1924 · Au Secours! as Max
- 1924 · King of the Circus as Max Graf von Pompadour
- 1924 · The World of Yesteryear – Max Linder as Self
- 1922 · The Three Must-Get-Theres as Dart-In-Again
- 1921 · Be My Wife as Max, the Fiancé
- 1921 · Seven Years Bad Luck as Max
- 1919 · Le Petit Café as
- 1917 · Max Wants a Divorce as Max
- 1917 · Max Linder Visits Charlie Chaplin as Self
- 1915 · Hairdresser of Love as
- 1915 · Max in Monaco as
- 1914 · The False Max Linder as Max
- 1914 · Max asthmatique as Max
- 1914 · Max Plays at Drama as
- 1914 · Max Plays the Part as
- 1914 · Max as a Chiropodist as Max
- 1914 · Max and the Jealous Husband as Max
- 1914 · Max Sets the Style as Max
- 1914 · Max's Vacation as Max
- 1913 · Max's Hat as Max
- 1913 · Max Hates Cats as
- 1913 · Max Linder's Appointment as
- 1913 · Max Takes a Picture as
- 1912 · Max and the Statue as Max
- 1912 · Max Wants to Grow as Max
- 1912 · The Water-Funker as Max
- 1912 · Max: Boxer By Love as
- 1912 · The Romance of Max as Max
- 1912 · Long-Lasting Love as Max
- 1912 · Max émule de Tartarin as Max
- 1912 · Max, Tango Teacher as
- 1912 · A Farmhouse Romance as Max
- 1912 · Max Juggles for Love as
- 1912 · Max and His Dog Dick as Max
- 1912 · Max Takes Back His Freedom as Max (uncredited)
- 1911 · Max Takes Tonics as Max
- 1911 · Max and Jane Want to Do Theater as Max
- 1911 · Max Is Convalescent as Max
- 1911 · Max and His Mother-in-Law as Max
- 1911 · Max se marie as Max
- 1911 · Max Takes a Bath as Max
- 1911 · Champion de boxe as Max
- 1910 · Max's First Job as Max
- 1910 · Max Skiing as Max
- 1910 · The Effects of Pills as Max
- 1909 · The Dentures as
- 1909 · Love's Surprises as
- 1909 · In Love with the Bearded Woman as
- 1909 · Romeo Turns Bandit as
- 1909 · The Gentleman Thief as Arsène Lupin
- 1908 · Troubles of a Grass Widower as
- 1908 · In a Difficult Position as Dieutegarde
- 1908 · His First Cigar as
- 1907 · Harlequin's Story as Polichinelle / Ponchinella / Harlequin
- 1907 · Max Learns to Skate as Max
- 1907 · C'est Papa qui a pris la purge as Lover in the street
- Future · Pitou, bonne d'enfants as
- 2013 · Tout sur mon père Max Linder as Self (archive footage)
- 1983 · The Man in the Silk Hat as Self (archive footage)
- 1963 · Laugh with Max Linder as Self (archive footage)
- 1917 · Max, médecin malgré lui as Max
- 1917 · Max the Heartbreaker as
- 1917 · Max in a Taxi as Himself
- 1917 · Max Comes Across as Max
- 1917 · Max and the Purse as
- 1917 · Max devrait porter des bretelles as Max
- 1915 · Chance and Love as Max
- 1914 · Max in the Convent as
- 1914 · The Forced Marriage as
- 1914 · Max and the Lady Doctor as Max
- 1914 · Max Wishes He Hadn't as
- 1914 · Max Speaks English as Max
- 1914 · Max's Latest Hobby as
- 1913 · Max as a Musician as Max
- 1913 · An Unexpected Marriage as
- 1913 · Le billet doux as Max
- 1913 · Max Toreador as
- 1913 · Le duel de Max as Max
- 1913 · Max Linder Does All the Sports as Max
- 1913 · Max: Jockey for Love as Max
- 1912 · Jalousie as
- 1912 · Cordial Agreement as
- 1912 · The Wedding Trunk as Max
- 1912 · Max and the Donkey as Max
- 1912 · Un pari original as Max
- 1912 · An Agitated Night as
- 1912 · Max Fears the Dogs as Max
- 1912 · Max amoureux de la teinturière as Max
- 1912 · Max Sets the Fashion as Max
- 1911 · Max a un duel as Max
- 1911 · Une ruse de mari as
- 1911 · Comment Max fait le tour du monde as
- 1910 · Max Gets Stuck Up as Max
- 1910 · Max manque un riche mariage as Max
- 1910 · Max Embarrassed as Max
- 1910 · Trop aimée as Max
- 1910 · Max est distrait as Max
- 1910 · A Short-Sighted Duellist as Max
- 1910 · Max Makes a Touch as
- 1910 · I Want a Baby as
- 1910 · The Adventures of Tartarin the Younger as Tartarin
- 1910 · Le serment d'un prince as Jacques de Lacerda
- 1909 · The Barometer of Fidelity as
- 1909 · La Petite Rosse as
- 1909 · A Conquest as
- 1908 · Noisy Neighbors as
- 1908 · Beginning of the Serpentine Dance as The ballet master
- 1907 · Phial of Poison as
- 1907 · Joined Lips as
- 1907 · For a Necklace as
- 1907 · The Husband's Trick as
- 1907 · Au music-hall (At the Music Hall) as
- 1907 · Chaussure trop étroite as Max
- 1906 · Attempted Suicide as
- 1906 · Dogs used as smugglers as
- 1906 · Les étudiants de Paris as
- 1906 · Julot va dans le monde as Julot
- 1906 · La puce gênante as
- 1905 · First Night Out as
- Future · A Nervous Twitch Is Catching (Un Tic Nerveux Contagieux) as
- 1905 · La rencontre imprévue as