Edmund Breese | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Breese by Elmer Chickering | |
| Born | June 18, 1871 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 6 April 1936 (aged 64) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Stage, film actor |
| Years active | 1892-1936 (stage) 1914-1935 (film) |
| Spouses |
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Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage[1] and film actor of the silent era.
Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby.[2]
The Opera House in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was the site of Breese's stage debut in the summer of 1895. He portrayed Adonis Evergreen in My Awful Dad.[2]
Long on the stage with a varied Broadway career before entering films, Breese appeared with James O'Neill in The Count of Monte Cristo (1893), The Lion and the Mouse (1906) with Richard Bennett, The Third Degree (1909) with Helen Ware, The Master Mind (1913) with Elliott Dexter, the popular World War I era play Why Marry? (1917) with Estelle Winwood & Nat C. Goodwin and So This Is London (1922) with Donald Gallaher.[3] He also acted in a stock company at the Castle Square Theatre in Boston.[2]
Breese's film career began in 1914 with the Edison Studios.[4] He appeared in more than 120 films between 1914 and 1935.He is best remembered as the advice-giving German businessman at the beginning of the war film All Quiet on the Western Front
His final role was on stage in Night of January 16th from September 1935 to April 1936. Just before the play ended its run, Breese developed peritonitis, from which he died on April 6, 1936[5] at the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled.[2] Funeral services were at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City on April 8, 1936, after which his body was cremated.[6]
Breese's first wife was Genevieve Landry. At the time of his death, he was married to Harriet Beach.[2]
