MAX LINDER (personality)

Max Linder was born in France in 1883. Max Linder was the first great French silent comedian (he wore a trademark top hat and gloves and carried a cane), and he absolutely pre-dated Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and all of the great American silent comedians owe Linder a huge debt (although he was modestly quoted as saying about Chaplin "He calls me his teacher, but I have been the happy one, to take lessons from his school." He began making movies in 1905, and he began directing his own movies in 1911, and was the first actor to be billed as the director as well. By 1912 he was earning one million francs a year and was internationally famous. In all he is thought to have made over 500 films, but less than 100 survive, and even the titles are lost on many of the others. Although Linder was a huge star and just 5'2", he nobly enlisted in World War I, and tragedy struck when he was the victim of mustard gas, which damaged his lungs. He suffered massive health problems as a result, and his films suffered. Chaplin, who idolized him, hired him at United Artists, and the films Linder made there are considered classics, but at the time they did not do well. In 1923, the 40 year old Linder married 23 year old Jean Peters. They had a child, Maud Linder. In 1925, Max Linder and his wife made a suicide pact and killed themselves. Bizarrely, their daughter, who was one at the time, and who was raised by her grandparents, did not know anything about her parents until she was much older, at which point she wrote a book and made two documentaries about her parents. What a fascinating man, and what a tragic life! It is a shame he is nearly forgotten today, except by film buffs.