Wesley Ruggles

The younger brother of Hollywood character player Charles Ruggles, Wesley Ruggles spent most of his early years in San Francisco. He attended university there, began a lengthy apprenticeship in stock and musical comedy and then joined Keystone in Hollywood as an actor in 1914 working alongside Syd Chaplin. Moving on to Essanay a year later, he worked briefly alongside Charles Chaplin. In 1917, he graduated to directing after being signed by Vitagraph. During the closing stages of the First World War, he served as a camera operator with the Army Signal Corps. After that it was back to the studios. Unfortunately, he found himself encumbered by routine scripts and such inane assignments as The Leopard Woman (1920). For the next few years his workload included several forgettable Ethel Clayton melodramas and a series of short comedies made at FBO, starring Alberta Vaughn. Following a spell at Universal (1927-29), Wesley had his most productive period at RKO (1931-32) and Paramount (1932-39