Quick Facts
Biography
Tully Marshall (April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.
Early years
Marshall was born William Phillips in Nevada City, California. He attended private schools and Santa Clara College, from which he graduated with an engineering degree.
Stage
Marshall began acting on the stage at 19, appearing in Saratoga at the Winter Garden in San Francisco on March 8, 1883. He played a wide variety of roles on Broadway from 1887. His Broadway credits include The Clever Ones (1914).
For several years, Marshall played with a variety of stock theater troupes, including both acting and being stage manager for E. H. Sothern's company.
In 1909, appearing in Clyde Fitch's drama The City, he was the first actor to say "Goddamn" on Broadway.
Film
In 1914, Marshall arrived in Hollywood. His screen debut was in Paid in Full (1914). By the time D. W. Griffith cast him as the High Priest of Bel in Intolerance (1916), he had already appeared in a number of silent films.
His career continued to thrive during the sound era and he remained busy for the remaining three decades of his life. He played a vast array of drunken trail scouts, lovable grandpas, unforgiving fathers, sinister attorneys and lecherous aristocrats.
Personal life
Marshall was married to screenwriter and playwright Marion Fairfax.
Death
Marshall died on March 10, 1943, age 78, after a heart attack at his home in Encino, California. His grave is located in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Partial filmography
- Paid in Full (1914)
- Oliver Twist (1916)
- Everybody's Doing It (1916)
- The Fatal Glass of Beer (1916)
- Intolerance (1916)
- The Devil's Needle (1916)
- A Modern Musketeer (1917) as James Brown
- A Romance of the Redwoods (1917)
- The Devil-Stone (1917)
- Joan the Woman (1917)
- The Squaw Man (1918)
- Old Wives for New (1918)
- We Can't Have Everything (1918)
- The Whispering Chorus (1918)
- The Life Line (1919)
- The Grim Game (1919)
- Maggie Pepper (1919)
- Double Speed (1920)
- Sick Abed (1920)
- The Dancin' Fool (1920)
- Hail the Woman (1921)
- Deserted at the Altar (1922)
- Good Men and True (1922)
- The Village Blacksmith (1922)
- Penrod (1922)
- The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
- Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923)
- His Last Race (1923)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
- The Dangerous Maid (1923)
- The Stranger (1924)
- He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
- The Ridin' Kid from Powder River (1924)
- The Merry Widow (1925)
- Clothes Make the Pirate (1925) as Scute
- Jim, the Conqueror (1926) as Dave Mahler
- Old Loves and New (1926)
- The Cat and the Canary (1927)
- Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928)
- Queen Kelly (1929)
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
- Skin Deep (1929)
- She Couldn't Say No (1930)
- Tom Sawyer (1930)
- The Big Trail (1930) as Zeke
- Common Clay (1930)
- The Cabin in the Cotton (1931)
- The Unholy Garden (1931)
- The Hurricane Express, 12-part serial (1932) as Howard Edwards
- Grand Hotel (1932) as Gerstenkorn
- The Hollywood Handicap, short (1932)
- Red Dust (1932) as "Mac" McQuarg, overseer
- Scarface (1932) as Managing Editor
- Two-Fisted Law (1932) as Sheriff Malcolm
- The Beast of the City (1932)
- Arséne Lupin (1932)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
- Arsene Lupin Returns (1936)
- Souls at Sea (1937)
- California Straight Ahead! (1937) as Harrison
- That Navy Spirit (1937)
- A Yank at Oxford (1938)
- Invisible Stripes (1939)
- Go West (1940)
- Sergeant York (1941) as Uncle Lige (uncredited)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- This Gun for Hire (1942)
Stage plays
- Because She Loved Him So (1899)
- Sky Farm (1902)
- Hearts Aflame (1902)
- The Best of Friends (1903)
- An African Millionaire (1904)
- Just Out of College (1905)
- The Stolen Story (1906)
- The Builders (1907)
- Paid in Full (1908)
- The City (1910)
- The Talker (1912)
- The Girl and the Pennant (1913)
- The House of Bondage (1914)
- The Clever Ones (1915)
- The Trap (1915)