Warner Baxter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Warner Baxter
Warner Baxter publicity photo
Born	Warner Leroy Baxter (1889-03-29)March 29, 1889 Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Died	May 7, 1951(1951-05-07) (aged 62) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1914–1950
Spouse(s)	Viola Caldwell ​ ​ (m. 1911; div. 1913)​ Winifred Bryson ​ (m. 1918)​

Warner Leroy Baxter (born March 29, 1889 – died May 7, 1951) was an American actor. He starred in movies from the 1910s to the 1940s.

Baxter is famous for playing the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film In Old Arizona. For this role, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. He often played charming bandit characters in Western movies. He also took on many other types of roles during his career.

He started in silent films, appearing in movies like The Great Gatsby (1926). When movies started having sound, he starred in 42nd Street (1933) and Kidnapped (1938). In the 1940s, he was well known for playing Dr. Robert Ordway in a series of 10 Crime Doctor films.

Warner Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in movies.

Early Life and Moving Around

Warner Baxter was born on March 29, 1889, in Columbus, Ohio. His father passed away when Warner was very young, less than five months old. Warner and his mother then lived with her brother in Columbus.

Later, they moved to New York City. There, Warner became interested in acting. He took part in school plays and went to see many shows. In 1898, they moved to San Francisco. He finished high school there.

When the big 1906 San Francisco earthquake happened, Warner and his mother had to live in Golden Gate Park for eight days. After that, they stayed with friends in Alameda, California for three months. In 1908, they moved back to Columbus. Before becoming a full-time actor, Warner worked selling farm tools and performed in a vaudeville act for a short time. Vaudeville was a type of live show with different acts like singing, dancing, and comedy.

Film Career Highlights

Warner Baxter with June Lang and Fredric March in The Road to Glory (1936)

Warner Baxter started his movie career in 1914, often appearing as an extra. An extra is someone in the background of a movie scene.

In 1921, he got his first main role in the film Sheltered Daughters. That same year, he acted in several other movies like First Love.

During the 1920s, Baxter starred in 48 movies. Some of his most famous silent films include The Great Gatsby (1926) and West of Zanzibar (1928).

His most famous role was as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1929). This was one of the first Western movies with sound. For this role, he won the second-ever Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in other popular films like 42nd Street (1933) and Kidnapped (1938).

By 1936, Warner Baxter was one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. However, by 1943, he started appearing in "B movies," which were usually less expensive films. He became well known for playing Dr. Robert Ordway in the "Crime Doctor" film series for Columbia Pictures. Overall, Baxter acted in over 100 films between 1914 and 1950.

Challenges and Later Career

Around the mid-1930s, Baxter faced some personal and career challenges. He felt a lot of pressure from being a top star. He often worked almost every day of the year, which was very tiring. He sometimes felt uncomfortable acting with much younger actresses as he got older.

He openly talked about wanting to retire with his wife, Winifred Bryson. He said that chasing bigger and better roles made him very stressed. He once described a time when he felt so overwhelmed that he would start walking one way and then find himself going in the opposite direction. He took time off to rest and recover at his beach house.

Baxter later found that he enjoyed working on film series, like the "Crime Doctor" movies. He said, "It's wonderful. I make two of them a year. That takes about eight weeks of my time. The rest of the year I relax. I travel. I enjoy life."

Actress Myrna Loy, who worked with Baxter four times, said he was a "good actor and a charming man." She remembered how hot it was filming Renegades, so hot that they had to pack the cameras in ice to keep them from overheating.

Baxter once wrote an article saying his favorite role was the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona. He loved helping to create the character and was happy to win an Oscar for it. He said the film was challenging because they had to hide microphones in trees and behind rocks since it was an early "talkie" (a movie with sound).

For many years, a stunt man named Frank McGrath (actor) worked as Baxter's stand-in and stunt double. They looked so much alike that people thought they were brothers! They became close friends. McGrath even saved Baxter's life on a hunting trip when Baxter broke his leg and McGrath carried him out of the wilderness.

Personal Life and Interests

Warner Baxter married Viola Caldwell in 1911, but they divorced in 1913. In 1918, he married actress Winifred Bryson, and they stayed married until his death.

He lived in a beach house in Malibu, California, for many years and also had a cabin in the San Jacinto Mountains. He was very involved in his community in Malibu. He was even named Honorary Mayor of Malibu from 1946 to 1949. He also owned a large ranch near Palm Springs, which was sometimes used for filming Western movies.

During World War II, he helped with the Malibu Rationing Board and entertained troops at Army camps.

Baxter was good friends with fellow actors William Powell and Ronald Colman. He and Tim McCoy were godfathers to Ronald Colman's daughter. They often spent time together playing tennis or poker.

Besides acting, Warner Baxter was also an inventor! In 1935, he helped create a special searchlight for revolvers that helped people see targets better at night. He also developed a radio device that allowed emergency vehicles to change traffic signals from two blocks away, helping them get through intersections safely. He paid for this device to be installed at an intersection in Beverly Hills in 1940.

Later Years and Passing

Warner Baxter suffered from arthritis for several years, which caused him a lot of pain. In 1951, he had a special surgery to try and ease the pain.

He passed away on May 7, 1951, at the age of 62, due to pneumonia. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. His headstone has his signature and a message written by his wife.

His funeral was a private service attended by close friends, including Ronald Colman, William Powell, and Tim McCoy.

Before he passed, he had been ill for some time. His manager reported that he had been suffering from a "chronic illness" that made eating difficult.

In his will, he left all his property to his wife, Winifred Bryson Baxter. She later remarried in 1953.

Recognition

In 1960, Warner Baxter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to movies. You can find his star at 6284 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Images for kids

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  Warner Baxter publicity photo