He was the man you loved to hiss This towering 6 4 highly imposing character star with cold hollow beady eyes and a huge protruding snout would go on to become one of the silent screens finest arch villains Born Ernest Thayson TorrenceThompson on June 26 1878 in Edinburgh Scotland he was unlikely enough an exceptional pianist and operatic baritone A graduate of the Stuttgart Conservatory Edinburgh Academy before earning a scholarship at Londons Royal Academy of Music he toured with the DOyly Carte Opera Company in such productions as The Emerald Isle 1901 and The Talk of the Town 1905 before serious vocal problems set in Both Ernest and his actor brother David Torrence came to America directly from Scotland prior to WWI Focusing instead on a purely acting career both brothers developed into seasoned players on the New York stage Ernest made his Broadway bow with Modest Suzanne in 1912 and a standout role in The Night Boat in 1920 brought him to the attention of Hollywood filmmakers He earned superb marks playing the despicable adversary Luke Hatburn in Tolable David 1921 opposite Richard Barthelmess and immediately settled into films for the rest of his career Adept at both comedy and drama Ernest avoided what could have been a damaging stereotype with his sympathetic portrayal of a grizzled old codger in the classic western The Covered Wagon 1923 He further bolstered his celebrity with plum lipsmacking roles alongside Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 as Clopin king of the beggars and Betty Bronson in Peter Pan 1924 as the dastardly Captain Hook In an offbeat bit of casting he paired up with Clara Bow in Mantrap 1926 as a gentle bearlike backwoodsman in search of a wife and participated in other silent classics such as The King of Kings 1927 as Peter and Steamboat Bill Jr 1928 as Buster Keatons steamboat captain Dad Despite his celluloid villainy Ernest was known as a courtly and cultivated gentleman in private He made the transition into talking films intact and was able to play a marvelous nemesis Dr Moriarty to Clive Brooks Sherlock Holmes 1932 before his untimely death Ernest died following his filming as a smuggler in I Cover the Waterfront 1933 starring Claudette Colbert in New York on May 151933 at the relatively young age of 54 It seems that while en route to Europe by ship Torrence suffered an acute attack of gall stones and was rushed back to a New York hospital He died of complications following surgery Looking and usually playing much older than he was Hollywood lost a marvelously talented and robust character player who had dozens of films ahead of him
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