Biographie

By 1910, he had become interested in pursuing a career in theater and began working as a stage manager for the renowned entertainer, composer, playwright and director George M. Cohan. During this period, he met and became friends with a stage actor named D.W. Griffith. His first films were made with Griffith by Biograph Company in New Jersey. When Griffith went to seek his fortune in Hollywood in 1912, Crisp accompanied him.

He worked as an assistant to D.W. Griffith for several years in Hollywood, which fostered a passion in him to become a director in his own right. He directed over 70 films, his final directorial effort being The Runaway Bride (1930) starring Mary Astor. Reportedly, Crisp gave up directing partly because it had become extremely wearisome as he was so often called upon--and sometimes forced--to do favors for studio chiefs by agreeing to employ their relatives in his films.

During the Boer War (1899-1902), Crisp crossed paths with a young Winston Churchill in the early days of his of political career. With the First World War (1914-1918), Crisp returned to England to serve in the army intelligence section. By the Second World War (1939-1945), Crisp served with the United States Army Reserves, rising to the rank of Colonel.

His final screen role was as Grandpa Spencer opposite Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara in La montagne des neuf Spencer (1963). This film, adapted from the novel by Earl Hamner Jr., was the basis for the popular television series La famille des collines (1972).

He was educated at the University of Oxford.