KING OF THE MOVIES: FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN (paperback)

Francis X. Bushman had a life like no other.   Most people remember him today as the villain, Messala, in the first full-length version of Ben-Hur (1925), but he had been in hundreds of silent movies before.    He was the screen's first great romantic idol in more than 300 silent films made at Essanay in Chicago, Illinois. He went from being a bodybuilder and an artist's model to a Broadway and stock company actor. He was a husband (four times), a father (six times), and a dog breeder. He signed with Metro Pictures, the forerunner of MGM, and embarked on a lucrative career as one of Hollywood’s A-list stars in an era characterized by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Lon Chaney, but then his affair with actress Beverly Bayne became known by the public, and his carrier toppled. He was allegedly blacklisted by Louis B. Mayer at MGM.   He transitioned to talkies, but an equally prominent career in sound films eluded him. He found work dur