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- Director
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Roland West was born in Cleveland, OH, and became an actor in the theater and on the vaudeville stage. He got his start in the film industry in New York City around 1915, forming several production companies to shoot films there. He later worked as general manager of production for producer Joseph M. Schenck, and directed several comedies and dramas.
He gained a reputation for moody, atmospheric horror films in The Monster (1925), The Bat (1926) and The Bat Whispers (1930). his last film as director was Corsair (1931), after which he retired and went into business with actresses Jewel Carmen (his ex-wife) and Thelma Todd (his girlfriend at the time) in a restaurant/bar on the Santa Monica (CA) beach called Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe. The popular establishment also gained a reputation as a hangout for a variety of shady underworld characters, and there were rumors of Todd and West being pressured by mob figures to use the place as a front to enable them to get their wealthy Hollywood friends drunk and in compromising positions so they could be blackmailed. In 1935 Todd was found slumped over the steering wheel of her car, with the engine still running, in the adjacent apartment building's garage, the victim of "accidental carbon monoxide poisoning", although many in her circle believed she was murdered by gangsters because she wouldn't let them use her restaurant for their activities. Others believed she was killed by West himself, who was known to have a violent temper and to have fought with Todd on numerous occasions. Her murder is still listed as unsolved.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Composer, songwriter ("When I Take My Sugar to Tea", "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me") and priest, educated at the Wyoming Conservatory and St. Bonaventure College (BA, MA) and a musical degree from the Benedictine Fathers. He also studied with Ergildo Martinelli. He was the pastor of St. John's Church in Cliffside, New Jersey, and chaplain of the New Jersey State Police for 24 years, and the New Jersey State Guard. Joining ASCAP in 1925, his chief musical collaborators included Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal. His other popular-song compositions include "The Golden Dawn", "Lillies of Lorraine", "The Far Green Hills of Home", "Little Black Dog", "I Shall Return", "Lord's Prayer", "Our Father", "Ave Maria", and "Miracle of the Bells".- E.L. Fernandez was born on 14 September 1879 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Woman (1918), Eye for Eye (1918) and Love's Redemption (1921). He died on 31 March 1952 in Los Angeles, California, USA.