Robert G. Vignola was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many motion pictures produced by Kalem Company and later moved to directing, becoming one of the silent screen's most prolific directors. He directed a handful of films in the early years of sound films, but his career essentially ended in the silent era.
Vignola, c. 1920
Vignola, early 1910s
Vignola's album of photos from his home. Included in the album is a photo of him with the writing: "To Joe and May. With a few glimpses of my home. Best wishes always. From your brother Bob Oct 19, 1927"
Vignola in The Stranger (1910)
The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to Vitagraph Studios in 1917.
Poster for the American drama film Our New Minister (1913) with Joseph Conyers, Tom Moore, and Alice Joyce.
The winter studios of the Kalem Company showing outbuildings on the grounds of the Roseland Hotel on the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Florida. The cannons were used in Kalem's Civil War-themed productions like The Drummer Girl of Vicksburg and The Confederate Ironclad.
The Kalem troupe in Ireland, 1911