Max Linder
Acting
Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.
Known for
Acting128
movieLife and Deaths of Max Linder
2026
Self (archive footage)
movieCharlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty
2020
archive footage
Tout sur mon père Max Linder
2013
Self (archive footage)
movieBirth of the Tramp
2013
Self (archive footage)
movieThe Man in the Silk Hat
1983
Self (archive footage)
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
1978
Self (archive footage)
movieLaugh with Max Linder
1963
Self (archive footage)
movieAll in Good Fun
1955
Archive Footage
movieEaster Parade
1948
Audience Member (uncredited)
movieThe Way of the World
1947
(Archive Footage)
movieThe Theft of the Mona Lisa
1931
(archive footage)
movieKing of the Circus
1924
Max Graf von Pompadour
movieThe Three Must-Get-Theres
1922
Dart-In-Again
movieBe My Wife
1921
Max, the Fiancé
movieMax in a Taxi
1917
Himself
movieMax Takes Back His Freedom
1912
Max (uncredited)
Le serment d'un prince
1910
Jacques de Lacerda
The Gentleman Thief
1909
Arsène Lupin
movieBeginning of the Serpentine Dance
1908
The ballet master
movieHarlequin's Story
1907
Polichinelle / Ponchinella / Harlequin
movieC'est Papa qui a pris la purge
1906
Man on park bench
Directing72
movieBe My Wife
1921
Director
movieSeven Years Bad Luck
1921
Director
movieMax the Heartbreaker
1917
Director
movieMax in a Taxi
1917
Director
movieMax Wants a Divorce
1917
Director
movieMax Comes Across
1917
Director
movieMax and the Purse
1917
Director
movieChance and Love
1915
Director
movieHairdresser of Love
1915
Director
movieMax in Monaco
1915
Director
movieThe Forced Marriage
1914
Director
movieMax and the Lady Doctor
1914
Director
movieMax as a Chiropodist
1914
Director
movieMax Wishes He Hadn't
1914
Director
movieMax Speaks English
1914
Director
movieMax's Vacation
1914
Director
movieMax as a Musician
1913
Director
movieMax's Hat
1913
Director
movieLe billet doux
1913
Director
movieMax Toreador
1913
Director
movieMax: Jockey for Love
1913
Director
movieMax and the Statue
1912
Director
movieMax Wants to Grow
1912
Director
movieThe Water-Funker
1912
Director
movieJalousie
1912
Director
movieLong-Lasting Love
1912
Director
movieCordial Agreement
1912
Director
movieA Farmhouse Romance
1912
Director
movieThe Wedding Trunk
1912
Director
movieMax and the Donkey
1912
Director
movieAn Agitated Night
1912
Director
movieMax Juggles for Love
1912
Director
movieMax and His Dog Dick
1912
Director
movieMax Sets the Fashion
1912
Director
movieMax Takes Tonics
1911
Director
movieMax Is Convalescent
1911
Director
movieChampion de boxe
1911
Director
movieMax Gets Stuck Up
1910
Director
movieMax Embarrassed
1910
Director
movieMax's First Job
1910
Director
The Puzzle
1910
Director
movieI Want a Baby
1910
Director
movieLove's Surprises
1909
Director
Writing38
movieMaxim's Porter
1927
Writer
movieAu secours !
1924
Writer
movieBe My Wife
1921
Writer
movieLe Petit Café
1919
Writer
movieChance and Love
1915
Writer
movieMax's Vacation
1914
Writer
movieMax's Hat
1913
Writer
movieLe billet doux
1913
Scenario Writer
movieMax Toreador
1913
Writer
movieJalousie
1912
Writer
movieMax Takes a Bath
1911
Scenario Writer
movieI Want a Baby
1910
Writer
Production2
movieBe My Wife
1921
Producer
movieSeven Years Bad Luck
1921
Producer