Fred Niblo
Fred Niblo (born Frederick Liedtke; January 6, 1874 – November 11, 1948) was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.
Also recorded as Frederick Liedtke · Federico Nobile
Fred Niblo

Bain News Sevice · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.39080. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attache · Public domain
- Name
- Fred Niblo
- Birth Name
- Frederick Liedtke
- Born
- 6 January 1874
- Birthplace
- York, Nebraska, United States
- Died
- 11 November 1948
- Place of death
- New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
- Occupation
- Film director, actor
- Nationality
- United States.
- Honours
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Fred Niblo (born Frederick Liedtke; January 6, 1874 – November 11, 1948) was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.
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Note VALÉORINE
Fred Niblo (1874–1948) was an American actor, director and film actor, among other activities. Born in York, the actor died in New Orleans.
Languages used include English. Works by Fred Niblo are held at Museum of Modern Art. The actor received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q153527 · wikipedia · Fred Niblo
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Fred Niblo • Birth Name — Frederick Liedtke • Born — 6 January 1874 • Birthplace — York, Nebraska, United States • Died — 11 November 1948 • Place of death — New Orleans, Louisiana, United States • Occupation — Film director, actor • Years Active — 1916–1932 • Burial Place — Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California, United States • Children — 4, including Fred Niblo Jr. • Family — George M. Cohan (brother-in-law)
Biography
Biography
He was born Frederick Liedtke (several sources give "Frederico Nobile", apparently erroneously) in York, Nebraska to a French mother and a father who had served as a captain in the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. Using the stage name Fred Niblo, Liedtke began his show business career performing in vaudeville and in live theater. After more than 20 years doing live performing as a monologist, during which he traveled extensively around the globe, he worked in Australia from 1912 through 1915, where he turned to the burgeoning motion picture industry and made his first two films. On June 2, 1901, Niblo married Broadway actress Josephine Cohan, the older sister of George M. Cohan. He managed the Four Cohans in their two big successes: The Governor's Son and Running for Office. From 1904 to 1905, Fred resumed his stage career, appearing as Walter Lee Leonard in The Rogers Brothers in Paris and then returned to vaudeville. Josephine died in 1916, the year he began acting and directing motion pictures. While in Australia, he met actress Enid Bennett, whom he later married. As a Hollywood director, he is most remembered for several notable films, beginning with his 1920 work The Mark of Zorro which starred Douglas Fairbanks. The following year he teamed with Fairbanks in The Three Musketeers and then directed Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand. In 1924, Niblo directed the film Thy Name Is Woman. In 1925, Niblo was the principal director of the epic Ben-Hur, one of the more expensive films of the day but became the third highest-grossing silent film in cinema history. Niblo followed this success with two major 1926 works: The Temptress starring Greta Garbo in her second film in America and Norma Talmadge in Camille. Niblo directed some of the great stars of the era, including Joan Crawford, Lillian Gish, and Ronald Colman. In 1930, he directed his first sound film with two of the bigger names in show business: John Gilbert and Renée Adorée in a film titled Redemption. Niblo and Bennett commissioned architect Wallace Neff to design their house on Angelo Drive, which they named Misty Mountain. It was completed in 1926 and sold by Niblo to Jules C. Stein in 1940 after a decline in his fortunes. Actress Marion Shilling, who worked with Niblo on Young Donovan's Kid, said, "One of the reasons for his success as a director, certainly, was that he had been an actor himself. He could empathize, see and feel a scene from an actor's viewpoint. He never talked down to us. He was a lovely human being." Niblo retired in 1933 after more than 40 years in show business. The last 16 years were used to make more than 40 films, most of which were feature-length projects. He was an important personality in the early years of Hollywood and was one of the original founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In recognition of his role in the development of the film industry, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7014 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960. His Ben-Hur film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Niblo died in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery near his wife, Enid Bennett, with whom he had three children, in Glendale, California. His son with Josephine Cohan, Fred Niblo, Jr. (1903–1973), was an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter.
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Title — Role • 1916 — Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford — J. Rufus Wallingford • 1916 — Officer 666 — Travers Gladwin • 1918 — The Marriage Ring • 1918 — When Do We Eat? • 1918 — Fuss and Feathers • 1919 — Happy Though Married • 1919 — Partners Three • 1919 — The Law of Men • 1919 — The Haunted Bedroom • 1919 — The Virtuous Thief • 1919 — Stepping Out • 1919 — What Every Woman Learns • 1919 — Dangerous Hours • 1920 — The Woman in the Suitcase • 1920 — Sex • 1920 — The False Road • 1920 — Hairpins • 1920 — Her Husband's Friend • 1920 — The Mark of Zorro • 1920 — Silk Hosiery • 1921 — Mother o' Mine • 1921 — Greater Than Love • 1921 — The Three Musketeers • 1922 — The Woman He Married • 1922 — Rose o' the Sea • 1922 — Blood and Sand • 1923 — The Famous Mrs. Fair • 1923 — Strangers of the Night • 1924 — Thy Name Is Woman • 1924 — The Red Lily • 1925 — Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ • 1926 — The Temptress • 1927 — Camille • 1927 — The Devil Dancer • 1927 — The Enemy • 1928 — Two Lovers • 1928 — The Mysterious Lady • 1928 — Dream of Love • 1930 — Redemption • 1930 — Way Out West • 1931 — Young Donovan's Kid • 1931 — The Big Gamble • 1932 — Two White Arms aka Wives Beware • 1932 — Diamond Cut Diamond aka Blame the Woman
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Frederick Liedtke and Federico Nobile. His recorded language was English. He married Enid Bennett. One child is recorded: Fred Niblo Jr.
Identity
Identity
Fred Niblo is recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded with the occupation stage actor. Recorded as film producer, actor, screenwriter and director.

Actor Fred Niblo and wife
Bain News Sevice · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.39080. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attache

The Motion Picture Director - January 1926 cover featuring director Fred Niblo
After Clarence Sinclair Bull · The Motion Picture Director (Jan 1926)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
Fred Niblo died on 11 November 1948.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
York.
Birth place
New Orleans.
Death place
Literature
Literature
Literature
A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925), Latente Revista de Historia y Estética audiovisual, 2025
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Adrian Room. Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. McFarland. 348. 1 July 2010. 978-0-7864-5763-2.
- 2.Briscoe, Johnson. The actors' birthday book. An authoritative insight into the lives of the men and women of the stage born between January first and December thirty-first. Moffat, Yard and Company. 2ed. 17. 1908.
- 3.THE SCREEN; Spanish Fascination. The New York Times. March 4, 1924.
- 4.Mark David. Rupert Murdoch Sells BevHills Estate to Son James. Variety. 20 March 2015.
- 5.Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC: 1998. p. 207.
- 6.Cassell Illustrated. 501 Movie Directors. 15. 2007. 9781844035731.
- 7.Fred Niblo Hollywood Walk of Fame. www.walkoffame.com.
- 8.Fred Niblo. Los Angeles Times.
- 9.Fred Niblo. Silentsaregolden.com.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q153527: Fred NibloWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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