Warner Baxter (Warner Baxter)

Warner Baxter

Actor. He is best remembered for his role of the Cisco Kid in the early talking movie “In Old Arizona,” (1929) which won him an Oscar for Best Actor that same year. It was his only Oscar. He reprised the role twice, for the films “The Cisco Kid” (1931) and “The Return of the Cisco Kid” (1939). Born Warner Leroy Baxter in Columbus, Ohio, his family moved to San Francisco, California when he was nine following the death of his father. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, his family lived in a tent for several weeks. In 1910, he entered vaudeville, and soon moved on to the stage, and in 1914, began acting in silent movies, with an uncredited bit part in “Her Own Money” (1914). Solid, handsome, with dark flashing eyes and a pencil mustache, he appeared in many leading roles during the silent film era. He went on to star with Myrna Loy in “Penthouse” (1933), and to what many consider his best role, Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth following the Lincoln assassination, in “The Prisoner of Shark Island” (1936). That same year, he also did the action adventure film, “The Robin Hood of El Dorado” (1936), and other adventure films such as “White Hunter” (1937) and “Slave Ship” (1937). By 1936, Baxter was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, earning a record $284,000, but by 1943, his drop in popularity had slipped him into a string of B-movie roles. He had suffered a nervous breakdown that same year, and to ease his routine, he began a series of ten movie roles as Dr. Robert Ordway, in the “Crime Doctor” series of movies, starting with “The Crime Doctor” (1943) and ending with “Crime Doctor’s Diary” (1949). His new contract required him to make only two movies a year, which proved a better schedule for him. His last film was “State Penitentiary” (1950). Suffering from arthritis pain, Baxter had a lobotomy to ease the pain, but died shortly afterwards from pneumonia in Beverly Hills, California. He was married twice, first to Viola Caldwell, then to Winifred Bryson. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson)  Family links:  Parents:  Edwin F. Baxter (1867 – 1889)  Jane Barrett Baxter (1869 – 1962)  Spouse:  Winifred Brison Manger (1892 – 1987)* *Calculated relationship

Born

  • March, 29, 1889
  • USA

Died

  • May, 05, 1951
  • USA

Cemetery

  • Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
  • California
  • USA

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