J. Gordon Edwards
James Gordon Edwards (June 24, 1867 – December 31, 1925) was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and writer who began his career as a stage actor and stage director.
Also recorded as John Gordon Edwards · John Gordon McEdward · James Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards

Photoplay (April 1918) · Public domain
- Name
- J.
- Birth Name
- James Gordon Edwards
- Born
- 24 June 1867
- Birthplace
- Montreal, Province of Canada
- Died
- 31 December 1925
- Place of death
- New York City, U.S.
- Occupation
- Film director, film producer, screenwriter
- Full name
- James Gordon Edwards.
- Nationality
- Canada.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2709694
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — J. Gordon Edwards • Birth Name — James Gordon Edwards • Born — 24 June 1867 • Birthplace — Montreal, Province of Canada • Died — 31 December 1925 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Film director, film producer, screenwriter • Years Active — 1914–1924 • Relatives — Blake Edwards (step-grandson) • Illustration — The tomb of J. Gordon Edwards
Biography
Biography
James Gordon Edwards was born in Montreal in 1867 to parents of Scotch-French ancestry. He made his directorial debut with the 1914 film St. Elmo. Edwards went on directing all of the Fox Film Corporation's mega-budget spectacles, including all of actress Theda Bara's productions between 1916 and 1919. Later, he became the production supervisor at Fox, and continued to direct until he died in 1925. One of his biggest projects was The Queen of Sheba (1921), a lost silent film which contained a huge chariot race, four years before Ben-Hur (1925). Essentially all of his films (other than a few low quality prints) for Fox Studios were lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire, which claimed 75% of all Fox films made before 1930. He was the stepgrandfather of director Blake Edwards. He was married to actress Angela McCaull, daughter of opera impresario John A. McCaull. Edwards died of pneumonia at age 58 in New York City. His widow later commissioned a mausoleum in his honor at Kensico Cemetery, where both of their ashes reside.
Production supervisor
Production supervisor
• A Daughter of the Gods (1916) – lost
Director
Director
• St. Elmo (1914) – lost • Life's Shop Window (1914) – lost • A Woman's Resurrection (1915) – lost • Anna Karenina (1915) – lost • Should a Mother Tell (1915) – lost • The Song of Hate (1915) – lost • The Blindness of Devotion (1915) – lost • The Unfaithful Wife (1915) – lost • The Galley Slave (1915) – lost • Under Two Flags (1916) – lost • Her Double Life (1916) – lost • A Wife's Sacrifice (1916) – lost • The Vixen (1916) – lost • The Green-Eyed Monster (1916) – lost • Romeo and Juliet (1916) – lost • The Spider and the Fly (1916) – lost • The Tiger Woman (1917) – lost • Tangled Lives (1917) – lost • Her Greatest Love (1917) – lost • The Rose of Blood (1917) – lost • Madame Du Barry (1917) – lost • Heart and Soul (1917) – lost • The Darling of Paris (1917) – lost • Cleopatra (1917) – lost • Camille (1917) – lost • When a Woman Sins (1918) – lost • Under the Yoke (1918) – lost • The Soul of Buddha (1918) – lost • The She Devil (1918) – lost • Salome (1918) – lost • The Forbidden Path (1918) – lost • A Woman There Was (1919) – lost • Wolves of the Night (1919) – lost • Wings of the Morning (1919) – lost • When Men Desire (1919) – lost • The Siren's Song (1919) – lost • The Lone Star Ranger (1919) – lost • The Light (1919) – lost • The Last of the Duanes (1919) – lost • The Orphan (1920) – lost • Heart Strings (1920) – lost • If I Were King (1920) • Drag Harlan (1920) • The Adventurer (1920) – lost • The Joyous Trouble-Makers (1920) – lost • The Scuttlers (1920) – lost • The Queen of Sheba (1921) – lost • His Greatest Sacrifice (1921) • Nero (1922) – lost • The Silent Command (1923) • The Net – lost • It Is the Law (1924) – lost
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.
Montreal.
Birth place
New York City.
Death place
Writer
• The Queen of Sheba (1921) – lost • A Wife's Sacrifice (1916) – lost • The Blindness of Devotion (1915) – lost

Film director J. Gordon Edwards (seated) with camera operator John W. Boyle, on the set of Cleopatra (1917)
Photoplay (April 1918)

Film director J. Gordon Edwards
Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (1917)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article J. Gordon Edwards (director), revision 1356960378 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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.Selig, A. L. The Master Mind of the Movies. Canadian Home Journal. 15. 8. 8–. December 1918.
- 2.Gmür, Leonhard. Rex Ingram: Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen. epubli GmbH. 187. 2013. 9783844246018.
- 3.J. Gordon Edwards Dies. The Chapel Hill Weekly. 2. 22 January 1926.
- 4.J. Gordon Edwards. Variety. 46. January 6, 1926.
- 5.Keister, Doug. Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries and Their Residents. Gibbs Smith. 91. 2011. 978-1-4236-2102-7.
- 6.Wenzell, Nicolette. 1919 movie 'The Lone Star Ranger' shot in Palm Springs. The Desert Sun. Gannett. April 3, 2016.
References
Citations
References
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authority record
General reference
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 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- J. G. BallardAuthor
- J. G. Cobo BordaAuthor
- J. G. FarrellAuthor
- J. Gordon CooglerAuthor
- J. Griffyth FairfaxAuthor
- J. Gwyn GriffithsAuthor
- J. H. HaslamAuthor
- J. H. LeopoldAuthor
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