Acting
Community Rating
7.9
TMDB estimate
Born
July 9, 1896
Died
August 26, 1975 (age 79)
Born in
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Cullen Landis (July 9, 1896 – August 26, 1975) was an American motion picture actor and director whose career began in the early ears of the silent film era. James Cullen Landis was the middle of three siblings (two sons and a daughter) raised by Lulan and Margaret (née Cullen) Landis in Nashville, Tennessee, where his father supported his family as a stock broker. As a boy, James was a train enthusiast and dreamed to be an railroad engineer. Though the ambition eventually faded, his interest in railroads did not, and some years later he helped design for himself a model train set powered by steam. He began working in the fledgling film industry at age 18 around the time his older sister, Margaret Landis, appeared in her first film. In 1928 Cullen Landis starred in the first ‘all talking’ motion picture, Lights of New York. He once confided in a friend that talkies were perfect for musicals and that he was no "song and dance man". He left Hollywood for Detroit in 1930 to produce and direct industrial films for automobile companies. Landis began as a movie director, only turning to acting after his lead player broke a leg and it was discovered that the actor’s costumes fit him. He went on to become one of the more popular lead actors of the silent era, appearing in some one hundred films over 14 years. During World War II, he served as a captain with US Army Signal Corps producing training films in the South Pacific. By war’s end he was twice decorated and promoted to major. In the post war years he made documentaries for the US State Department that took him to the far corners of the world. James Cullen Landis died on August 28, 1975, aged 79, at a nursing home in Bloomfield, Michigan, three months after the death of his wife, Jane. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Voice That Thrilled the World
as Self (segment 'Lights of New York') (archive footage)
1943

Auto-Lite on Parade
as Director
1940
Refreshment Through the Years
as Director
1939
Convict's Code
as Kenneth Avery
1930

The Little Wild Girl
as Jules Barbier
1928

Lights of New York
as Eddie Morgan
1928
Out with the Tide
as John Templeton
1928
A Midnight Adventure
as Fred Nicholson
1928

The Devil's Skipper
as John Dubray
1928

The Broken Mask
as Pertio
1928

On to Reno
as Bud
1928
Two to One
as George Minafer
1927

Broadway After Midnight
as Jimmy Crestmore
1927

Finnegan's Ball
as Flannigan Jr.
1927

We're All Gamblers
as Georgie McCarver
1927

Life in Hollywood No. 5
1927

The Fighting Failure
as Denny O'Brien
1926
The Smoke Eaters
as Ed
1926
Sweet Rosie O'Grady
as Victor McQuade
1926
Frenzied Flames
as Danny Grovan
1926