# Elmer Booth > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elmer_Booth > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elmer_Booth.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Booth > Source revision: 1321498855 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American actor (1882–1915)}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2017}}{{Infobox person | name = Elmer Booth | image = EBThief6.jpg | caption = Booth as Jack Doogan in the
1913 play ''Stop Thief!'' | birth_name = {{nowrap|William Elmer Booth}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1882|12|9}} | birth_place = [Los Angeles, California](/source/Los_Angeles%2C_California), U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1915|6|16|1882|12|9}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Stage and film actor | years_active = 1901–1915 | spouse = {{marriage|Irene Outtrim|1908}} | relatives = [Margaret Booth](/source/Margaret_Booth) (sister) | children = 1 }} '''William Elmer Booth''' (December 9, 1882 – June 16, 1915) was an American stage and film actor. He was born in [Los Angeles, California](/source/Los_Angeles%2C_California) and was the elder brother of [Margaret Booth](/source/Margaret_Booth), a renowned film editor for Hollywood productions for nearly 70 years.{{cite book|last=Brownlow|first=Kevin|title=The Parade's Gone By|date=1968|publisher=Ballantine Books|page=342}} ==Career== Elmer began acting in touring stock companies as a teenager and achieved great success in the [stock company](/source/Repertory_theatre) at the Central Theater in San Francisco from 1903 to 1906. Between 1910 and 1915 he starred in 40 movies; one of those was [D. W. Griffith's](/source/D._W._Griffith) ''[The Musketeers of Pig Alley](/source/The_Musketeers_of_Pig_Alley)'' (1912), cited by many film experts as the first [gangster movie](/source/Gangster_film).{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Playing "The Snapper Kid", a Manhattan street tough engaged in a turf war on the [Lower East Side](/source/Lower_East_Side), Booth interpreted the gangster as a cocky, entertaining antihero, far different from the standard teeth-gnashing movie bad guys of his time.{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}} ==Death== In the early hours of June 16, 1915, Booth died in an accident in California while riding in a car driven by [Tod Browning](/source/Tod_Browning), an actor and new director with [Reliance-Majestic Studios](/source/Reliance-Majestic_Studios) in Hollywood."Investigating Ride to Death", ''Los Angeles Times'', Pictorial City Sheet II, June 17, 1915, p. 1. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) Historical Newspapers Actor [George Siegmann](/source/George_Siegmann) was also a passenger in Browning's car. The day after the accident, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that the three men were returning to downtown Los Angeles from a [roadhouse](/source/Roadhouse_(facility)) when Browning's car crashed into a train of the [Salt Lake Railroad](/source/Los_Angeles_and_Salt_Lake_Railroad):{{blockquote|Elmer Booth was killed instantly. The motor car in which he was speeding towards Los Angeles with his two companions rammed the rear part of a [flat car](/source/Flatcar) loaded with steel rails at Santa Fe avenue and Salt Lake tracks early yesterday morning. The conductor of the train, Harry Jones, approaching, had waved his lantern as a danger signal, and then had come to the crash that sent Elmer Booth, who was just realizing his dramatic ambitions, headforemost into the rails.}}Browning and Siegmann survived, although they both suffered serious injuries.[https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor25newy#page/74/mode/2up "Elmer Booth Killed"], ''[Moving Picture World](/source/Moving_Picture_World)'', July 3, 1915, p.75. [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive), San Francisco, California. Retrieved November 18, 2019. Later reports blamed the accident on heavy fog; nevertheless, Elmer's sister Margaret never forgave Browning for the loss of her brother.{{cite book|title=The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror|author=Ska, David J.|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780571199969/page/35 35]|publisher=Macmillan|date=2001|isbn=978-0571199969|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780571199969/page/35}} [D. W. Griffith](/source/D._W._Griffith), who had planned to cast Booth in an important role in ''[Intolerance](/source/Intolerance_(film))'', delivered the actor's graveside eulogy.{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}} ==Personal life== Booth married actress Irene Outtrim in 1908. That same year, their son was born, but the son died of pneumonia in March 1910.{{cite news |title=Parents Permitted to Have Child Only Day Before Death Comes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34637151/tragic-death-of-the-child-of-irene/ |access-date=April 7, 2021 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=March 23, 1910 |page=20|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} ==Selected filmography== * ''[A Beast at Bay](/source/A_Beast_at_Bay)'' (1912) * ''[An Unseen Enemy](/source/An_Unseen_Enemy)'' (1912) * ''[The Musketeers of Pig Alley](/source/The_Musketeers_of_Pig_Alley)'' (1912) * ''[Gold and Glitter](/source/Gold_and_Glitter)'' (1912) * ''[The Adopted Brother](/source/The_Adopted_Brother)'' (1913) * ''[Mrs. Black is Back](/source/Mrs._Black_is_Back)'' (1914) * ''[Gasoline Gus](/source/Gasoline_Gus)'' (1915) * ''[A Chase by Moonlight](/source/A_Chase_by_Moonlight)'' (1915) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{IMDb name|0095695}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Elmer}} Category:1882 births Category:1915 deaths Category:American male film actors Category:Male actors from Los Angeles Category:Road incident deaths in California Category:20th-century American male actors Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Elmer Booth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Booth) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Booth?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.