{{short description|American actor}} {{about||the former professional baseball player|Vince Coleman (baseball)|the Canadian train dispatcher|Vince Coleman (train dispatcher)}} {{Infobox person | name = Vincent Coleman | image = Vincent Coleman - Apr May 1920 MP.jpg | image_size = 210px | caption = ''Motion Picture Magazine'', 1920 | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|2|16|mf=y}} | birth_place = Louisiana, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1971|10|26|1900|2|16|mf=y}} | death_place = Los Angeles U.S. | other_names = Willie B. Coleman | years_active = 1912–1923 }}
'''Vincent Coleman''' (February 16, 1900 – October 26, 1971) was an American stage and film actor of the silent film era of the late 1910s and early 1920s.
==Biography== Born in Louisiana, Coleman began his acting career while still a young boy; touring the United States with the Cecil Spooner stock theater company. Occasionally credited in the early years of his career as '''Willie B. Coleman''', he made the transition to film in the 1912 Frank Montgomery drama short ''The Junior Officer'' at age twelve opposite film actors Hobart Bosworth and Camille Astor before returning to Broadway at the age of sixteen to appear in the 1917 play ''Difference in Gods''.<ref name="Internet Broadway Database">[http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=35841 Internet Broadway Database]</ref> Coleman then returned to filmmaking to play a variety of juvenile roles for such film studios as Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, First National and Paramount opposite such actors as Corinne Griffith, Mae Murray, Constance Talmadge and Constance Binney.<ref>[http://silentladies.com/BColeman.html Silent Ladies & Gents: ''Photoplay: Who's Who on the Screen'' (1920)]</ref>
At the beginning of the 1920s, Hollywood film producers took notice of the handsome, fair, young actor and saw in Coleman a possible "All American" matinee idol to counter the "Latin lover" types such as Ramón Novarro, Antonio Moreno and Rudolf Valentino that were becoming increasingly popular among the nation's theater-goers. In 1919 however, Coleman's further foray into moving pictures was a less than glamorous role in the anti-syphilis propaganda film ''Scarlet Trail'', which was inspired by the World War I era for-men-only medical pamphlet ''Don't Take a Chance''. Coleman was eventually groomed by the studios to become a leading man and had starring roles in the 1921 George Fawcett directed remake of the 1914 Mary Pickford comedy film ''Such A Little Queen'' and ''The Magic Cup'', released the same year before returning to Broadway in July 1921 to star in the Sam H. Harris produced play ''Nice People'' opposite renowned stage actress Tallulah Bankhead.<ref name="Internet Broadway Database"/>
In 1923 Coleman appeared in the independently produced "epic" film ''Salome'' as Herod, opposite actress Diana Allen. The film proved to be a colossal financial disappointment however and Coleman's film career never recovered and the young actor became disillusioned with film. Coleman made only two more motion pictures (both released in 1923); ''Has The World Gone Mad!'' with Hedda Hopper and Elinor Fair and the comedy ''The Purple Highway'' starring Monte Blue, Madge Kennedy and Pedro de Cordoba.
After retiring from films at the age of twenty-two, Coleman concentrated further on his stage career.
Coleman died in Los Angeles, California in 1971 at the age of seventy-one.
==Complete filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1912|| ''The Junior Officer'' || || Short |- |1918|| ''The Scarlet Trail'' || Bob Grafton || |- |1918|| ''The Prodigal Wife'' || Victor Middleton || |- |1919|| ''The Law of Nature'' || Guy Bolton || |- |1919|| ''Should a Husband Forgive?'' || Joh Carroll Jr. || |- |1920|| ''Partners of the Night'' || Gerald || |- |1920|| ''Good References'' || William Marshall || |- |1920|| ''For the Freedom of Ireland'' || Robert Emmett Corrigan || |- |1921|| ''Princess Jones'' || Arthur Forbes || |- |1921|| ''The Magic Cup'' || Bob Norton || |- |1921|| ''Such a Little Queen'' || Stephen of Hetland || |- |1922|| ''Fascination'' || Ralph Kellogg (an American) || |- |1922|| ''Divorce Coupons'' || Buddy || |- |1922|| ''A Game of Graft'' || || short film |- |1923|| ''Salomé'' || Herod || |- |1923|| ''Has the World Gone Mad?'' || The Adams Son || |- |1923|| ''The Purple Highway'' || Dudley Quail || (final film role) |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0171251}} * {{IBDB name}} * [http://silentladies.com/BColeman.html Vincent Coleman at Silent Ladies & Gents] * Vincent Coleman at [http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=1&TBL=PN&Type=CA&ID=151334 AFI Catalog, Silent Films]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Vincent}} Category:1900 births Category:1970 deaths Category:American male stage actors Category:American male silent film actors Category:Male actors from Louisiana Category:20th-century American male actors