Slim Summerville

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1892, rustic-looking George "Slim" Summerville possessed one of those malleable mugs that made you laugh even before he opened his mouth. Young Slim ran away from home as a youth and lived a rather wanderlust life until a chance meeting with 'Mack Sennett' (qv) through his comedian friend 'Edgar Kennedy' (qv) changed everything.Slim broke into silent films at age nineteen as one of Sennett's pie-hurling Keystone Kops and became part of the stock company of players. Making an unbilled appearance in Keystone's first feature film _Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)_ (qv), Summerville's gangly build and naive innocence, not to mention his potato-like nose, mournful mug, and slim, curling upper lip, helped set him apart -- so much so that Summerville eventually branched out into his own short vehicles.Much more comfortable in rumpled clothes and overalls than a suit and tie, he later learned the ropes of directing and in the 1920s helmed a string of short films for both Fox and Universal studios. He refocused on acting come the advent of sound and made a rather easy transition, standing out in a number of commercial films, both comedic and dramatic, including the mammoth war epic _All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)_ (qv), the landmark musical film _King of Jazz (1930)_ (qv), Hecht-MacArthur's classic _The Front Page (1931)_ (qv), the 'Shirley Temple' (qv) vehicles _Captain January (1936)_ (qv) and _Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)_ (qv), and 'John Ford' (qv)'s _Tobacco Road (1941)_ (qv). In addition, Slim scored in a series of short comedies opposite 'Zasu Pitts' (qv), and a slew of supports in 'Hoot Gibson' (qv) westerns.Usually playing much older than he was, the sleepy-eyed, slow-drawling Summerville played his last role in _The Hoodlum Saint (1946)_ (qv), before dying of a stroke on January 5, 1946, at the not-so-old age of 53. He left a strong enough legacy, however, to be remembered as one of the screen's more reliable comedians. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and son Elliot.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net