Cullen Landis

Cullen Landis July 9 1896 August 26 1975 was an American motion picture actor and director whose career began in the early ears of the silent film era James Cullen Landis was the middle of three siblings two sons and a daughter raised by Lulan and Margaret née Cullen Landis in Nashville Tennessee where his father supported his family as a stock broker As a boy James was a train enthusiast and dreamed to be an railroad engineer Though the ambition eventually faded his interest in railroads did not and some years later he helped design for himself a model train set powered by steam He began working in the fledgling film industry at age 18 around the time his older sister Margaret Landis appeared in her first film In 1928 Cullen Landis starred in the first all talking motion picture Lights of New York He once confided in a friend that talkies were perfect for musicals and that he was no song and dance man He left Hollywood for Detroit in 1930 to produce and direct industrial films for automobile companies Landis began as a movie director only turning to acting after his lead player broke a leg and it was discovered that the actors costumes fit him He went on to become one of the more popular lead actors of the silent era appearing in some one hundred films over 14 years During World War II he served as a captain with US Army Signal Corps producing training films in the South Pacific By wars end he was twice decorated and promoted to major In the post war years he made documentaries for the US State Department that took him to the far corners of the world James Cullen Landis died on August 28 1975 aged 79 at a nursing home in Bloomfield Michigan three months after the death of his wife Jane From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia