Lawrence Gray Movies

Film star Norma Shearer and director Monta Bell made a half-dozen films together. Bell gave Shearer some of her best acting opportunities during the silent era, even when he cast her in lightweight material such as this romance. Mary, a cigarette girl (Shearer), meets Joe Miller (Lawrence Gray) during a holdup. She takes a lead pipe from him, knocks him on the head, and then proceeds to reform him. The two of them plan to get married until one day she mistakenly believes he has failed her. They have an argument and split up, even though she has managed to scrape up enough money to buy a thousand-dollar bond for their new life together. That night, her gold-digging sister, Maizie (Gwen Lee), comes home from a party with a bond just like hers, given as a party favor. Mary begins to feel that it's pointless to lead an upstanding life, so she buys some flashy clothes and goes to a wild party where she proceeds to get very drunk. It's Maizie who has to pull her formerly sedate sister away from the revelry. On the drive home, Mary grabs the steering wheel away from Maizie and there is an accident. Mary is unhurt, but Maizie is killed. Back home, Joe, who has returned to his old associates, shows up and berates Mary for being just like her sister. Then Mary reveals that her sister has died. The couple both realize the error of their ways and decide to make a fresh start. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Betty Bronson, who found overnight success when she played the title character in Peter Pan, has the ingenue lead in this curiously named domestic drama. Mr. and Mrs. Hazlitt (Adolphe Menjou and Florence Vidor) have never learned the give and take of a marriage relationship and have decided to divorce for reasons of incompatibility. Their daughter, Lita (Bronson), is away at boarding school, and she's devastated by the news. She read that estranged parents can be brought back together if their child is in danger, and she decides to use this to her advantage. When she is accused of writing a romantic letter to a movie star that her roommate actually penned, she writes a suicide note and runs away from the school. While her parents are in a panic over her whereabouts, she is sleeping in the easy chair of Dr. Dacer (Lawrence Grey), the handsome young physician at the girls' school. Dacer is not even aware that she's there until the morning, when he finds her. By that time, the Hazlitts have reconciled, and Dacer proposes to Lita. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although this isn't one of her top pictures, Gloria Swanson was near the peak of her career when she made it. She's excellent in a dual role, and is directed by one of her favorite collaborators, Allan Dwan. Nadine Gathway, a turn-of-the-century belle (Swanson), dumps her priggish husband and runs away to Europe. Her daughter, Joyce (also Swanson), is left behind and grows up into a lively young girl. When Gathway dies, he leaves her his fortune -- providing she never gets herself into a scandal. She finds trouble in Palm Beach when she falls in love with the married Larry Fay (Anthony Jowitt). Fay sincerely loves her and asks his wife Constance (Dorothy Cumming) for a divorce. Constance refuses and arranges to sue Joyce for alienation of affections. Nadine -- who has left her own scandalous past behind and become the Countess de Tauro -- hears of her daughter's troubles and returns to America. She puts Constance in a compromising position to keep her from instigating the lawsuit, and then takes all the blame on herself. Fay and Joyce wind up together, while Nadine's husband, the Count (Alec Francis), understands his wife's motivations and proves his love for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Silent screen leading man Lawrence Gray stars in this low-budget thriller produced by legendary penny-pincher Sam Katzman. After selling his cargo of silk to merchant Nick Conrad (Bryant Washburn), Captain Matthews (John Elliott) is brutally robbed by a gang of thieves under Conrad's control. Fortunately, intrepid newspaper reporter Jerry Mason (Gray) manages to get hold of the money, which he hides in a sausage at the deli belonging to his friend Freddy (Fuzzy Knight). Just as the thieves descend on the deli, the sausage is purchased by police officer O'Brien (Fred Kelsey), and is thus out of their reach. Having decided to set sail on the Lottie Carson as soon as possible, Matthews and his daughter Lorraine (Sheila Mannors aka Sheila Bromley) are persuaded by Jerry to stash the money in Freddy's safe. But Conrad and his gang, who quickly descend on the defenseless couple, intercept a letter to Jerry from Matthews. Happily, Jerry and Freddy manage to arrive just in time at the Lottie Carson to save father and daughter from Conrad, who is summarily thrown overboard to his death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a woman runs a boardinghouse for washed up thespians. She puts them on their best behavior when her daughter comes for a surprise visit. It seems her daughter had no idea what her mother did for a living. When an aspiring writer asks for the daughter's hand, conflict ensues. Musical numbers include: "Love Is the Thing," "I Was Taken by Storm," "Let's Be Frivolous," and "Martinique." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This sentimental comedy begins when four middle-aged actors jointly adopt an orphaned baby girl, raising her in a backstage milieu. The girl grows up to become Doris Poole (Betty Bronson), and it is hoped by her foster daddies that she will become an actress herself. When Doris falls in love with wealthy Ted Potter (Lawrence Gray), her four surrogate parents stage an elaborate charade to convince Ted's snobbish mother Anastasia (Louise Dresser) that Doris is of good breeding. The girl wants no part of the hoax and confesses all to Ted's mom, whereupon Ted is bundled off to Europe "for his own good." But the four adoptive fathers arrange another little "drama" to get Doris on board Ted's ship. Ziegfeld Follies headliner Raymond Hitchcock steals the show (no small task in this ham-infested effort) as a phony butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A play by Nina Wilcox Putnam was the source for the empire-building drama Golden Harvest. Chester Morris stars as ambitious grain trader Chris Martin, who through fair and foul means corners the wheat market and becomes a millionaire. Outgrowing his humble farm beginnings, Chris makes a bid for respectability by marrying Chicago socialite Cynthia Flint (Genevieve Tobin). Meanwhile, Chris's ex-sweetheart Ellen (Julie Haydon) marries his down-to-earth brother Walt (Richard Arlen), who has chosen to remain on the family farm. Inevitably, the two brothers find themselves on opposite sides when Chris's greed overtakes his common sense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the musical comedy of the same name, Kid Boots was the first of two silent vehicles for irrepressible Ziegfeld Follies star Eddie "Banjo Eyes" Cantor. Old "Banjo Eyes" stars as a tailor's assistant named Kid Boots, who tries to save his pal Tom Sterling (Lawrence Gray) from the clutches of gold-digger Polly Pendleton (Billie Dove). Since Tom is a pro golfer, this requires Kid Boots to hire himself out as a caddy, leading to a series of slapstick complications. With the help of Tom's true-blue sweetheart Jane Martin (Clara Bow), our hero incapacitates Tom's golf-tournament rival George (Malcolm Waite) and exposes Polly for the predator that she is. Legend has it that Eddie Cantor had a brief affair with Clara Bow while working on Kid Boots, but this has been refuted by most of Bow's biographers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by George Abbott and John V.A. Weaver, Love 'Em and Leave 'Em stars Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks as sisters in competition over the affections of Lawrence Gray. One sister covers for the other when a large amount of money is stolen, but her selflessness is rewarded when "bad" sis steals Gray away. Things eventually get straightened out, no thanks to would-be seducer Osgood Perkins, who, as the title tells us, "spent three years curing himself of halitosis, only to find out that he was unpopular anyway." The two leading ladies are far more interesting than the vapid hero, who spends half his time looking cow-eyed or comporting about in a silly party costume. Louise Brooks would later recall that director Frank Tuttle didn't inform her that the film was a comedy; he wanted her to play the material straight, which turned to be most effective. Love 'Em and Leave 'Em was remade as a talkie starring Clara Bow and Jean Arthur, 1929's The Saturday Night Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still in his "sophisticated cad" period, William Powell essays the title role in Man of the World. Powell plays a smooth extortionist who preys upon wayfaring Americans in Paris. He woos lonely wives and wives-to-be, then threatens them with blackmail unless they sustain his lifestyle. One of his potential victims is Carole Lombard, with whom Powell (much against his better judgment) falls in love. Powell's vituperative mistress (Wynne Gibson) won't let her lover off the hook, and heads for the police. To avoid arrest, Powell reluctantly sends Lombard back to her fiancee--and then presumably picks up his racket where he left off. In real life, William Powell and Carole Lombard became husband and wife shortly after filming Man of the World. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marriage by Contract was produced and directed by John M. Stahl for his own Tiffany-Stahl Studio. Although only a part-talkie, the film represented the sound debut of Patsy Ruth Miller, here cast as Margaret, one of the longest-suffering heroines in screen history. Having entered into a contract to marry a young man named Don (Lawrence Grey), Margaret storms out of the honeymoon suite when Don shows up drunk and disheveled, bragging about his various sexual conquests. Despite this appalling experience, Margaret goes through three more contracted marriages, each union leaving her a bit worse off than the previous one. On the verge of committing suicide, an aged and infirm Margaret suddenly wakes up to find herself young and beautiful again. Realizing that she's been just been having a horrible dream, our heroine hastily dons her wedding gown and rushes off to find faithful Don still waiting at the chapel. Marriage by Contract represents an acting tour de force for Patsy Ruth Miller, who in 1928 was better known for her light comedy roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide