William Effingham Lawrence, Thespian

William Effingham Lawrence

William Effingham Lawrence ( August 22, 1896 – November 28, 1947)  was the son of  James Armitage Lawrence and Ida Taber, the nephew of William Van Duzer Lawrence (the founder of Sarah Lawrence College), and the grandson of the wife of the 3rd cousin 5 times removed of my wife.

He also went by the names W. E. Lawrence, Babe Lawrence, L. W. Lawrence, W. A. Lawrence, W. E. ‘Babe’ Lawrence. You will note the absence of Effingham. He also gave up “Babe” Lawrence after 1924, because “”Babe” Lawrence (no relation) had committed a spectacular murder and was in the headlines.

W. E. appeared in 120 films, mostly silent, the most famous of which is W. G. Griffith’s Intolerance, in which he played Henry of Navarre.

1. Dead Reckoning(1947) as Stewart .
2. Cigarette Girl(1947) as Doorman .
3. The Man Who Dared(1946) as Jury foreman .
4. Tonight and Every Night(1945) as Waiter .
5. The Fighting Guardsman(1945) as Innkeeper .
6. The Black Parachute(1944) as Doctor .
7. West of Carson City(1940) as Card man .
8. Within the Law(1939) as District Attorney .
9. It’s a Wonderful World(1939) as Guest .
10. Broadway Serenade(1939) as Burke .
11. Frontier Town(1938) as Clem Brooks .
12. The Rage of Paris(1938) as Steward/Doorman .
13. Black Aces(1937) as Boyd Loomis .
14. I’ll Love You Always(1935) as Furniture salesman .
15. Unknown Woman(1935) as Harmon .
16. She Couldn’t Take It(1935) as Photographer .
17. The Whole Town’s Talking(1935) as Customer .
18. Fighting Youth(1935) as Detective .
19. Lady by Choice(1934) as .
20. Broadway Bill(1934) as .
21. Blind Date(1934) as Patron .
22. Coming Out Party(1934) as .
23. I’ll Fix It(1934) as .
24. Best of Enemies(1933) as August .
25. Hell Bound(1931) as Ham .
26. The Costello Case(1930) as Babe .
27. Hard Boiled(1926) as Gordon Andrews .
28. A Man Four-Square(1926) as Jim Clanton .
29. The Whispered Name(1924) as Robert Gordon .
30. The Reckless Age(1924) as John Paddock .
31. The Law Forbids(1924) as Monte Hanley .
32. Cameo Kirby(1923) as Tom Randall .
33. The Thrill Chaser(1923) as Prince Ahmed .
34. Blinky(1923) as Lieutenant Rawkins .
35. A Front Page Story(1922) as Don Coates .
36. They Like ‘Em Rough(1922) as Richard Wells, Jr. .
37. Forget-Me-Not(1922) as .
38. Blood and Sand(1922) as Fuentes .
39. The Love Gambler(1922) as Tom Gould .
40. Fightin’ Mad(1921) as Francisco Lazaro .
41. The Kiss(1921) as Audre Baldarama .
42. Morals(1921) as Sebastian Pasquale .
43. Habit(1921) as John Marshall .
44. Ducks and Drakes(1921) as Tom Hazzard .
45. The Snob(1921) as Capt. Bill Putnam .
46. Get Your Man(1921) as Arthur Whitman .
47. Body and Soul(1920) as Howard Kent .
48. Bride 13(1920)
49. Caleb Piper’s Girl(1919) as Tracy Carter .
50. The Girl-Woman(1919) as Bob .
51. Common Clay(1919) as Hugh Fullerton .
52. Mile-A-Minute Kendall(1918) as Philip Lund .
53. The Narrow Path(1918) as Dick Strong .
54. A Japanese Nightingale(1918) as John Bigelow .
55. The Slacker(1917) as .
56. The Little Princess(1917) as Ali-Baba .
57. The Spirit of ’76(1917) as Captain Boyd .
58. Flirting with Fate(1916) as Harry Hansum .
59. Daphne and the Pirate(1916) as .
60. The Old Folks at Home(1916) as Stanley .
61. The Flying Torpedo(1916) as William Haverman .
62. The Children in the House(1916) as Fred Brown .
63. Intolerance(1916) as Henry of Navarre .
64. Up from the Depths(1915) as Lestrade .
65. Bred in the Bone(1915) as Her leading man .
66. The Outlaw’s Revenge(1915)
67. The Battle of the Sexes(1914)

He starred with Douglas Fairbanks in Flirting with Fate (1916).

Lawrence and Fairbanks

and was billed in many others:\

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He seemed to play mostly himself: upper crust, old family WASP.

He does not seem to have married. He died in 1947.

 

P.S. I have noted the discrepancy in the birth date. As an actor, in various documents he seems to have made himself a little younger than he actually was.

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