Ben Bard — A Villain from Vaudeville (1927) 🇺🇸

Ben Bard is one of those popular chaps who add much to the jollity of Hollywood.

He has had a good many years on the vaudeville stage, and consequently knows a lot of those useful little tricks that help to entertain large gatherings.

He isn’t so well known yet in pictures as he probably will be. On the stage Bard was a comedian, but on the screen he seems fated to be a villain. He played with Pauline Starke in “The Dangers of a Great City,” in which he contributed considerably to the “dangers,” and he has appeared in Sandy, “Love Makes ‘Em Wild,” and other films. He is under contract to Fox [William Fox].

Bard’s entrance into the movies followed a vaudeville tour that brought him to Los Angeles. He had met various people connected with the Fox studio, so when he landed in the movie town, he looked them up, and made it known that he would rather like to have a fling in films. His stage experience stood him in good stead. He was given a test, was classified as a “heavy,” and has been used as such ever since.

—

Collection: Picture Play Magazine, August 1927