{{Short description|American actor (1873–1920)}} {{More citations needed|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry Solter | image = Harry Solter 1908.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Henry Lewis Solter | birth_date = {{birth date|1873|11|19|mf=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1920|03|02|1873|11|19|mf=y}} | death_place = | other_names = Harry Salter<br>H. L. Solter<br>Harry L. Solter | occupation = Actor, director | years_active = 1908–1917 | spouse = {{marriage|Florence Lawrence|1908}} }}
'''Henry Lewis Solter'''{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}} (November 19, 1873 – March 2, 1920) was an American silent film actor and director.
==Career== thumb|upright=1.2|Cast of ''When Knights Were Bold'' (1908), from left: Linda Arvidson, D. W. Griffith, unknown player, and Solter thumb|upright=1.2|Poster for ''Love's Strategem'' (1909), directed by Solter Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film ''Romeo and Juliet'' for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30 of that year. In 1909, Solter began working for Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Co. of America (IMP) as an actor but also as a director. Over the next nine years, he directed 148 silent films.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}
In 1912, Solter and his wife established the Victor Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In 1913, they sold out to Laemmle whose amalgamation of several studios created the colossal Universal Film Manufacturing Co. Solter continued to direct for the new company until 1918 when health problems emerged. With this new prosperity, Florence was able to realize a "lifelong dream", buying a {{convert|50|acre|ha|adj=on}} estate in River Vale, New Jersey.<ref name="WFPP-Harry-Solter">[https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-florence-lawrence/ Florence Lawrence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922121611/https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-florence-lawrence/ |date=2015-09-22 }}, Women Film Pioneers Project. Accessed September 23, 2015. "Florence Lawrence intended her last Victor photoplay to be her second two-reel film, The Lady Leone (1912), and after its completion, she and Solter retired to their home in River Vale, New Jersey."</ref><ref>[http://www.pascackhistoricalsociety.org/educators-corner/qa PHS Answer Girl & Curator] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204164050/http://www.pascackhistoricalsociety.org/educators-corner/qa |date=2015-02-04 }}, Pascack Historical Society. Accessed September 23, 2015. "Florence Lawrence was America’s first movie star according to movie historians. She lived at 565 Rivervale Road in River Vale from 1913 through 1916."</ref>
==Death== Solter died of a stroke on March 2, 1920, at the age of 46. He is interred in the Baltimore Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}
== Selected filmography == {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%" |- style="text-align:center;" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan=9|1908 |''Romeo and Juliet'' | | |- |''When Knights Were Bold'' |Nobleman | |- |''Balked at the Altar'' | | |- |''Romance of a Jewess'' |Customer/Rubinstein | |- |''The Taming of the Shrew'' |Katharina's Father |Writer |- |''After Many Years'' |Tom Foster | |- |''Money Mad'' |First Villain | |- |''A Calamitous Elopement'' |Frank | |- | ''The Kentuckian'' | | |- |rowspan=4|1909 |''At the Altar'' |On Street | |- |''Jones and the Lady Book Agent'' |Office employee | |- |''A Drunkard's Reformation'' |In the Play | |- |''The Renunciation'' |Sam Walters | |- |rowspan=3|1910 |''The Rocky Road'' | | |- |''All the World's a Stage'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''Two Men'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |rowspan=3|1911 |''The Two Paths'' | | |- |''Duke De Ribbon Counter'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''During Cherry Time'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |rowspan=3|1912 |''Not Like Other Girls'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''Betty's Nightmare'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''The Redemption of Riverton'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |rowspan=3|1913 |''Unto the Third Generation'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''The Spender'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''His Wife's Child'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |rowspan=3|1914 |''The Romance of a Photograph'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''The Pawns of Destiny'' |{{center|–}} |Director, writer |- |''A Mysterious Mystery'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |1916 |''Blind Man's Bluff'' |{{center|–}} |Director, scenario |- |rowspan=2|1917 |''Face on the Screen'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |''The Spotted Lily'' |{{center|–}} |Director<br>Credited as Harry L. Solter |- |1918 |''The Wife He Bought'' |{{center|–}} |Director |- |1921 |''The Sage Hen'' |{{center|–}} |Writer |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0813603}} * {{Find a Grave|6733}}
{{Harry Solter}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solter, Harry}} Category:1873 births Category:1920 deaths Category:20th-century American male actors Category:American male film actors Category:American male silent film actors Category:Film directors from Maryland Category:Male actors from Baltimore Category:People from River Vale, New Jersey Category:Film directors from New Jersey Category:Male actors from Bergen County, New Jersey
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