Robert Thornby
Robert Thornby (March 27, 1888 – March 6, 1953) was an American director and actor of the silent era. He directed 75 films between 1913 and 1927. He also appeared in 48 films between 1911 and 1930.
Also recorded as Robert T. Thornby
Robert Thornby

Exhibitors Herald (Jan. - Mar. 1920) on the Internet Archive · Public domain
- Name
- Robert Thornby
- Born
- 27 March 1888
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, US
- Died
- 6 March 1953
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, US
- Occupation
- Film director
- Nationality
- United States.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
Robert Thornby (March 27, 1888 – March 6, 1953) was an American director and actor of the silent era. He directed 75 films between 1913 and 1927. He also appeared in 48 films between 1911 and 1930.
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Note VALÉORINE
Robert Thornby (1888–1953) was an American actor, film actor and film director, among other activities. Born in New York City, the actor died in Los Angeles. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q3436409 · wikipedia · Robert Thornby
In this article
Biography
Biography
He was born in New York, New York, and died in Los Angeles, California. His ability to work with and direct both children and animals led him, while with Keystone Comedies studio, also known as the "Keystone Kiddies", to direct four of the Little Billy films starring child actor Paul Jacobs in 1914. He left Keystone to become a member of the Sterling Film Company which specialized in comedies and served as director. He worked with president Fred J. Balshofer and secretary-treasurer Henry Lehrman, before the company dissolved in 1915. He also worked for Peerless Studio and later went on to direct films under Paramount in the late 1910s and early 1920s. He worked as an assistant to Maurice Tourneur on the film Lorna Doone in 1922.

Robert Thornby
Film Daily 1920, scanned by archive.org
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Robert Thornby • Born — 27 March 1888 • Birthplace — New York, New York, US • Died — 6 March 1953 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, US • Years Active — 1911–1930 • Occupation — Film director
Filmography
Filmography
• Illustration — The Crucial Test (1916)
Directed Features
Directed Features
• A Wasted Sacrifice (1912) * • Bianca (1913) • A Broken Melody (1913) • Hicksville Fortune Hunters (1913) (sometimes referred to as The Fortune Hunters of Hicksville) • Her Faith in the Flag (1913) • Little Kaintuck (1913) • Our Children (1913) • The Outlaw (1913) • A Pair of Prodigals (1913) * • The Passing of Joe Mary (1913) * • Salvation Sal (1913) • The Race (1913) * • Sandy and Shorty Work Together (1913) * • Sandy and Shorty at the Circus (1913) • Sandy Gets Shorty a Job (1913) * • Sandy and Shorty Start Something (1914) • Sleuths Unawares (1913) • Tangled Threads (1913) * • When Friendship Ceases (1913) * • When Ghost Meets Ghost (1913) • His Lordship, Billy Smoke (1913) • Back to Eden 1913) • Daddy's Soldier Boy (1913) • Little Billy films (1914) • Little Billy's Triumph • Little Billy's Strategy • Little Billy's City Cousin • The Race • A Backyard theatre (1914) One source states that this film was not directed by Thornby. • The Battle (1914) • Kids (1914) • Kid Love (1914) • The Old Soak's Secret (1914) • Quantrell's Son (1914) * • The Return of Jack Bellew (1914) * • Sonny and Shorty Start Something (1914) * • A False Move (1914) • Tommy's Tramp (1914) • Broken Chains (1916) (formerly titled The New South) • The Crucial Test (1916) (formerly titled The Eternal Sacrifice) • The Woman's Power (1916) • The Almighty Dollar (1916) • On Dangerous Ground (1916) • Her Maternal Right (1916) • The Fair Barbarian (1917) • Forbidden Paths (1917) • The Hostage (1917) • A Kiss for Susie (1917) • Little Miss Optimist (1917) • Molly Entangled (1917) • A Little Sister of Everybody (1918) • Lawless Love (1918) • Her Inspiration (1918) • The Fallen Angel (1918) • Carolyn of the Corners (1919) • Rose O' The River (1919) • When My Ship Comes In (1919) • The Prince and Betty (1920) • Fighting Cressy (1920) • Are You Legally Married? (1919) • The Deadlier Sex (1920) • Simple Souls (1920) • The Girl in the Web (1920) • Felix O'Day (1920) • Half A Chance (1920) • Blood Brothers of the Pines (1921) • The Magnificent Brute (1921) • That Girl Montana (1921) • The Fox (1921) • The Blazing Trail (1921) • The Trap (1922); formerly titled The Heart of a Wolf and The Mask • The Sagebrush Trail (1922) • Stormswept (1923) • The Drivin' Fool (1923) • West of Broadway (1926) • Run Tin Can (1926) • Whoa, Emma! (1926) • The Speeding Venus (1926) • Young Hollywood (1927)
Acting Credits
Acting Credits
• Beyond the Law (1911) • The Black Chasm (1911) • The Half-Breed's Daughter (1911) • The Indian Flute (1911) • The Voiceless Message (1911) • Una of the Sierras (1912) • The Better Man (1912) • The Craven (1912) • A Girl of the Golden West (1912) • The Greater Love (1912) • Natoosa (1912) • The Price of Big Bob's Silence (1912) • Sunset, or, Her Only Romance (1912) • A Wasted Sacrifice (1912) * • When California Was Young (1912) • Tangled Threads (1913) * • What God Hath Joined Together (1913) • When Friendship Ceases (1913) * • After the Honeymoon (1913) • The Angel of the Desert (1913) • A Corner in Crooks (1913) • A Pair of Prodigals (1913) * • The Passing of Joe Mary (1913) * • The Power That Rules (1913) • The Race (1913) * • Sandy and Shorty Work Together (1913) * • Sandy Gets Shorty a Job (1913) * • When the Desert Was Kind (1913) • The Whispered Word (1913) • The Winning Hand (1913) • The Wrong Pair (1913) • Quantrells's Son (1914) * • The Return of Jack Bellew (1914) * • Sonny and Shorty Start Something (1914) * • The Great Universal Mystery (1914) • Today (1930)
Author and script writing credits
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.
New York City.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Photography (director of photography)
• The Kick Back (1922)
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Robert Thornby”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3436409: Robert Thornby
Unverified · Wikidata
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.Robert Thornby. BFI.
- 2.Klepper, Robert K. Silent films, 1877-1996: a critical guide to 646 movies. McFarland. 218:245. 1999.
- 3.Lahue, Kalton C. Mack Sennett's Keystone: the man, the myth, and the comedies. A.S. Barnes. 65:294. 1971.
- 4.Browning, Irving. Crumbled Movie Empire. American Cinematographer. American Society of Cinematographers. 26. 8. 263. 1945.
- 5.Copyright Office, Library of Congress. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939. Library of Congress. 1951.
- 6.Miller, Blair. American silent film comedies: an illustrated encyclopedia of persons, studios, and terminology. McFarland & Co. 115:227. 1995.
- 7.Walker, Brent. Mack Sennett's fun factory: a history and filmography of his studio and his Keystone and Mack Sennett comedies, with biographies of players and personnel. McFarland & Company. 291:581. 2010.
- 8.Braff, Richard. The Universal silents: a filmography of the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company, 1912-1929. McFarland. 48:509. 1999. 0786402873.
- 9.Altomara, Rita Ecke. Hollywood on the Palisades: a filmography of silent features made in Fort Lee, New Jersey, 1903-1927. Garland Pub. 1983.
- 10.Langman, Larry. Hollywood's image of the South: a century of southern films. Greenwood Press. 57. 2001.
- 11.Robert Thornby. AFI Catalog.
- 12.Copyright Office, Library of Congress. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939. Library of Congress. 1951.
- 13.Palmer, Frederick. Photoplay Plot Encyclopedia. Palmer Photoplay Corp. Department of Education. 74:99. 1920.
- 14.Jensen, Paul M. Boris Karloff and his films. A.S. Barnes. 176. 1974.
- 15.Lowrey, Carolyn. The First One Hundred Noted Men and Women of the Screen. Moffat, Yard and Company. 178. 1920.
- 16.Koszarski, Richard. 60 Filmographies the Men with the Movie Cameras. Film Comment. 8. 2. 49. 1972.
- 17.Digest of Pictures of the Week. Exhibitors Herald. 11. 6. 85:86. 1920.
- 18.Pick-ups for Your House Program. The Motion Picture Journal of Joy. 35. 3. 24:28. 1921.
- 19.Russell, Marion. What "The Billboard" Says About "The Fox". The Moving Picture Weekly. 14. 23. 17. 1919.
- 20.Chaney Jewel for Early Release. The Moving Pictures Weekly. 15. 10. 33. 1922.
- 21."The Trap", New Chaney Picture, to Open at the Central Theatre. The Moving Picture Weekly. 15. 12. 19. 1922.
- 22.Braff, Richard E. The Braff silent short film working papers: over 25,000 films, 1903-1929, alphabetized and indexed. McFarland & Co. 8. 2002. 0786410310.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
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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