George Duane Baker (April 22, 1868 â€" June 2, 1933) was an American
motion picture director whose career began near the dawn of the silent
film era.He was born at Champaign, Illinois on April 22, 1868. He was
the second son and third child of Arminta and Charles E. Baker. Three
or four years later a baby girl would close the gender gap before
Baker’s father, an accountant and financial advisor, chose to
relocate his family to the rural town of Beatrice, Nebraska sometime
in the early 1880s. Upon his high school graduation, Charles Baker
offered his son two options, a traditional college education or art
classes in Paris. George Baker declined both offers and chose instead
to attend the Dramatic Conservatory of Chicago, where he may have
first met Walker Whiteside, another student of Prof. Kayzer's from
around that time.He debuted with the young Shakespearian actor Walker
Whiteside in Hamlet as Laertes and would later tour with companies
headed by Nance O'Neil, McKee Rankin, David Higgins, Russ Wytal Brady
and others. Baker spent a number of seasons in vaudeville with Sadie
Martinot, Marie Dupont and Eva Taylor. He later worked as a producer,
actor and playwright in partnership with James W. Castle on theatrical
productions of Graustark, based on the book by George Barr McCutcheon
and The Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Goose Girl. Baker would some
years later adapt both stories for film. Baker also penned the plays
His Brother’s Birthright and As the Sun Went Down.Sometime around
1908 Baker joined Vitagraph Studios and began directing comedies
starring John Bunny and Flora Finch and later went on direct such
films as The Dust of Egypt, Tarantula, A Night Out and A Price for
Folly. After three and a half years with Vitagraph, Baker joined Metro
Studios where he soon rose to the position of Director General of
Metro’s West Coast productions.
motion picture director whose career began near the dawn of the silent
film era.He was born at Champaign, Illinois on April 22, 1868. He was
the second son and third child of Arminta and Charles E. Baker. Three
or four years later a baby girl would close the gender gap before
Baker’s father, an accountant and financial advisor, chose to
relocate his family to the rural town of Beatrice, Nebraska sometime
in the early 1880s. Upon his high school graduation, Charles Baker
offered his son two options, a traditional college education or art
classes in Paris. George Baker declined both offers and chose instead
to attend the Dramatic Conservatory of Chicago, where he may have
first met Walker Whiteside, another student of Prof. Kayzer's from
around that time.He debuted with the young Shakespearian actor Walker
Whiteside in Hamlet as Laertes and would later tour with companies
headed by Nance O'Neil, McKee Rankin, David Higgins, Russ Wytal Brady
and others. Baker spent a number of seasons in vaudeville with Sadie
Martinot, Marie Dupont and Eva Taylor. He later worked as a producer,
actor and playwright in partnership with James W. Castle on theatrical
productions of Graustark, based on the book by George Barr McCutcheon
and The Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Goose Girl. Baker would some
years later adapt both stories for film. Baker also penned the plays
His Brother’s Birthright and As the Sun Went Down.Sometime around
1908 Baker joined Vitagraph Studios and began directing comedies
starring John Bunny and Flora Finch and later went on direct such
films as The Dust of Egypt, Tarantula, A Night Out and A Price for
Folly. After three and a half years with Vitagraph, Baker joined Metro
Studios where he soon rose to the position of Director General of
Metro’s West Coast productions.
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