Max Linder
(12/16/1883 - 10/31/1925)

Born Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle in Saint-Loubès, Gironde, France to a Jewish wine growing family, he grew up with a passion for the theater and as a young man joined a theater troupe touring the country.

While working in Paris on the theater stage and in music halls, Leuvielle became fascinated with motion pictures and in 1905 took a job with Pathé Frères that saw him become a comedic actor, director, screenwriter, as well as a producer under the stage name, Max Linder.

Linder created what was probably the first identifiable motion-picture character who appeared in successive situation comedies. Linder made more than one hundred short films portraying "Max," a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. By 1911, he was directing his own films as well as writing the script and the universality of silent films brought Linder fame and fortune throughout Europe, making him the highest paid entertainer of the day. World War I brought a temporary end to his career in film. Physically unfit for combat duty, he worked as a dispatch driver during the war until he was seriously wounded.

In 1916, Linder received and accepted an offer from Essanay Studios of Chicago, Illinois to work in the United States. Unfortunately, his first few American made "Max" films didn't connect with the U.S. audiences and the studio cancelled production of the remaining films in his contract. Linder returned to France in 1917 but two years later made another attempt at filmmaking in Hollywood. Once more, his American productions were box office failures and a discouraged Max Linder went back to his homeland.

After having made several hundred short films, he all but gave up on the business, appearing in only two more films during 1923 and 1924 including "Au Secours!" (Help!) for director Abel Gance.

Available Films

Max Linder Comedies (1905-1913)

The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) / Seven Years Bad Luck (1921)