Al Ernest Garcia
Allan Ernest Garcia was an American actor and casting director, best known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin.
Life and career
Al Ernest Garcia appeared in over 120 films between 1911 and 1938, mostly in supporting roles. He frequently played in silent film westerns with stars including Leo Carrillo and Warner Baxter. Garcia also directed a short film named The Purple Scar in 1917, but it stayed his only work as a director. Born in California to Mexican parents, Garcia played in some Mexican films and also portrayed Mexicans in American films. With the advent of sound film, his roles were somewhat smaller, but he worked as an actor until his death.
Garcia is best remembered for his work with Charlie Chaplin. He acted with Chaplin in six films between 1921 and 1936. Chaplin cast him mostly in clinical or villainous supporting roles. Garcia portrayed the brutal circus director in The Circus, the snobbish butler of the millionaire in City Lights, and the factory owner in Modern Times. He was also a casting director for Chaplin on The Circus, City Lights, and Modern Times. He worked for better pay and improved working conditions for supporting actors and bit players in films, and was co-founder of the Motion Picture Extras and Supporting Players Association, founded in 1933.
On 4 September 1938, Garcia died of a heart attack, in Santa Monica, California, aged 51.
Filmography
1910s
The Code of Honor The Still Alarm .... William Manley The Herders .... PedroTold in the Sierras .... John Strong - the Prospector Slick's Romance .... Yuba Frank Their Only Son .... Guy Medford The Regeneration of Apache Kid .... The Apache Kid How Algy Captured a Wild Man .... Teddy Windleigh Shipwrecked .... Pierre Binbeau Old Billy .... Fire Commissioner HewittAn Evil Power .... Antonio Giuseppe The Cowboy's Adopted Child .... Dan Mason The Secret Wedding .... Leon Braun Merely a Millionaire .... Harry NicholsThe Bandit's Mask .... Pedro Ramirez The Test .... Dalton Disillusioned .... Henry George The Danites .... Carter - a Danite Bounder .... Pete Lopez The 'Epidemic' in Paradise Gulch .... Jack KnightThe Ones Who Suffer .... The Prison Warden The End of the Romance .... Jack LeeThe Hand of Fate ... Fritz A Humble Hero .... 2nd Claim Jumper The Lost Hat .... The Hotel Clerk A Reconstructed Rebel .... Dick WinstonThe Vow of Ysobel .... JoseA Messenger to Kearney .... Palo Vasquez The Little Indian Martyr .... Chiquito's FatherThe Indelible Stain .... Juan The Substitute Model .... The Pirate's Daughter .... Vargas - the First MateThe Great Drought .... DominguezAn Assisted Elopement .... Brown - Tom's Chum Monte Cristo .... Fernand Her Educator .... Jim O'Keefe Saved by Fire .... J. Harden StoneThe Girl of the Mountains .... Jim - a Mountain Man Our Lady of the Pearls .... Vincente A Black Hand Elopement The Artist and the Brute .... Hortez - the Animal Trainer Yankee Doodle Dixie .... Parson Sneed The Spanish Parrot Girl .... Jose RanerosMargarita and the Mission Funds .... Ramon, an OutlawWith Love's Eyes .... Dunwood, An ArtistThe Tie of the Blood .... Mathews, A Half-BreedThe Burglar Who Robbed Death .... Mr. HarrisonLieutenant Jones .... Capt. StanleighThe Stolen Melody .... Richard Davidge Woman: Past and Present .... Father TimeThe Fighting Lieutenant .... Don ArguelloA Western Romance .... Victor KelloggThe Reformation of Dad .... Al B. Stone - the Circus Manager The Mansion of Misery .... Prince LorenzoIn the Midst of the Jungle .... An Actor's Romance .... Rant - the Hungry ActorThe Big Horn Massacre .... Lt. Blake Stevens The Valley of the Moon .... Bart Kate Waters of the Secret Service .... Bronson Rose of the Rancho .... Henchman Young Romance .... Spagnoli After Five .... The Country Boy .... Jimmy MichaelsonThe Unafraid .... JosephUnder Two Flags .... Rockingham Gangsters of the Hills .... Deering - of the Secret Service Her Atonement .... John De ForrestThe Law at Silver Camp .... Paul Long - a Railway SurveyorClouds in Sunshine Valley .... Jim Carr The Greater Power .... Al Gordon The Single Code .... Rodman Wray The Purple Scar .... Sunlight's Last Raid .... Pedro Restitution .... Lucifer and Satan Baree, Son of Kazan .... 'Bush' McTaggart A Gentleman's Agreement .... Manager of Mine The Lamb and the Lion .... Red Baxter Six Feet Four .... Ben BroderickThe Trail of the Octopus .... Wang The Counterfeit Trail .... Two Spot Joe
1920s
The Golden Trail .... Jean the Half-Breed Skyfire .... Pierre Piquet Reputation .... Leading man The Idle Class .... Cop in Park / Guest Pay Day .... Drinking Companion and PolicemanThe Three Buckaroos .... 'Card' RitchieThe Power God .... Weston Dore The Gold Rush .... Prospector The Circus .... The Circus Proprietor and Ring Master Morgan's Last Raid .... Morgan
1930s
City Lights .... James, The Eccentric Millionaire's ButlerGran jornada, La .... FlackThe Cisco Kid .... Orderly The Deceiver .... PayneModels and Wives South of Santa Fe .... Captain Felipe Mendezez Gonzales Rodrigues The Gay Desperado .... Bandit Marido y mujer .... Dr. BurgessOne Way Passage .... Honolulu Cigar Store Proprietor The California Trail .... Sergeant Florez Under the Tonto Rim .... Mexican Police Chief Modern Times .... President of the Electro Steel Corp. The Gay Desperado .... Police CaptainThe Last Train from Madrid .... Third Hotel Clerk I'll Take Romance .... Allan Garcia Blossoms on Broadway .... Opera Patron Blockade .... Minor Role In Old Mexico .... Don Carlos Gonzales