Lester H. Cuneo (October 25, 1888 – November 1, 1925) was an American stage and silent film actor. He began acting in live theatre while still in his teens.
Early years
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cuneo attended Culver Military Academy and was a law student at Northwestern University when he turned to acting.
Career
Cuneo’s stage career included work with stock theater companies in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Winnepeg.
Cuneo began a film career in 1912 with the Chicago-based Selig Polyscope Company then joined Essanay Studios in 1914. Working in early Hollywood, his popularity increased after he switched from comedic roles to the increasingly popular western film genre. However, his career was temporarily interrupted when he served with the United States Army during World War I. He served in France in 1917-1919 with the 33rd Division from Illinois.
At war’s end, Lester Cuneo returned to film and in the early 1920s set up his own production company making primarily western films.
Personal life
He married actress Francelia Billington in 1920 and had two children.[citation needed] The two made fourteen films together before their divorce in October 1925.
Death
Despondent over the breakdown of his marriage and the downhill slide of his film career, Lester Cuneo took his own life with a gunshot to the head in 1925. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. His year of death is printed on his gravemarker as 1926 which contradicts 1925, the year usually given.[citation needed]
Filmography
Sons of the North Woods (1912)
According to Law (1912)
The Double Cross (1912)
The Peculiar Nature of the White Man’s Burden (1912)
An Unexpected Fortune (1912)
The Boob (1912)
A Cowboy’s Mother (1912)
The Whiskey Runners (1912)
An Equine Hero (1912) – Pete (half-breed)
Circumstantial Evidence (1912) – Hort Ingles
The Fighting Instinct (1912)
The Brand Blotter (1912)
The Cattle Rustlers (1912)
Why Jim Reformed (1912)
A Motorcycle Adventure (1912)
The Opium Smugglers (1912)
So-Jun-Wah and the Tribal Law (1912)
Jim’s Vindication (1912)
The Dynamiters (1912) – Joe Thompson
Between Love and the Law (1912)
Roped In (1912) – The Cowboy
The Ranger and His Horse (1912) – Pete Rogers
Buck’s Romance (1912) – Squaw’s Father
A Rough Rider With Nitroglycerine (1912)
The Gunfighter’s Son (1913)
The Cowboy Editor (1913)
Bud’s Heiress (1913)
A Canine Matchmaker; or, Leave It to a Dog (1913)
How It Happened (1913)
Bill’s Birthday Present (1913)
The Range Law (1913)
The Bank’s Messenger (1913)
The Deputy’s Sweetheart (1913)
Juggling With Fate (1913) – Wallace
The Sheriff of Yavapai County (1913) – The Frisco Kid (Apache Frank’s partner)
The Life Timer (1913) – Tom
The Mail Order Suit (1913) – Steve
His Father’s Deputy (1913) – Sam Marvin (a crook)
Religion and Gun Practice (1913) – Finely Overmeyer
The Law and the Outlaw (1913) – Monty Ray
An Embarrassed Bridegroom (1913)
The Jealousy of Miguel and Isabella (1913)
The Only Chance (1913) – Train Dispatcher
Taming a Tenderfoot (1913) – Willie B. Clever (the tenderfoot)
The Marshal’s Capture (1913) – The marshal’s wife’s brother
Sallie’s Sure Shot (1913) – Coyote Jim
Made A Coward (1913) – Tom Jones
The Señorita’s Repentance (1913)
The Stolen Moccasins (1913) – Harden
The Galloping Romeo (1913)
How Betty Made Good (1913) – Jim
The Rejected Lover’s Luck (1913) Ben
The Capture of Bad Brown (1913)
The Cattle Thief’s Escape (1913) – Charley Pointer
The Silver Grindstone (1913) – Harry Custer
Dishwash Dick’s Counterfeit (1913) – Dick Mason
Two Sacks of Potatoes (1913)
The Schoolmarm’s Shooting Match (1913) – Brown
The Sheriff and the Rustler (1913) – The Sheriff
The Child of the Prairies (1913) – Ed Dillon
The Escape of Jim Dolan (1913) – Ed Jones
Cupid in the Cow Camp (1913) – Arizona Bob
The Rustler’s Reformation (1913)
Physical Culture on the Quarter Circle V Bar (1913) – Pete
Buster’s Little Game (1913) – Robins
Mother Love Vs Gold (1913) – Jim Sykes
By Unseen Hand (1914) – Warrington
A Friend In Need (1914) – Girl’s Father
The Little Sister (1914) – First Badman
A Mix-Up on the Plains (1914)
A Romance of the Forest Reserve (1914)
Marrying Gretchen (1914)
Marian, the Holy Terror (1914)
Algie’s Sister (1914)
Under Royal Patronage (1914) – Baron Spitzhausen
The Plum Tree (1914) – Norris Griggs
A Splendid Dishonor (1914) – Dr. Appledance
The Moving Picture Cowboy (1914) – Director
The Fable of the Author and the Dear Public and the Plate of Mush (1914)
The Other Man (1914)
In the Glare of the Lights (1914) – Joe Brandigan
The Private Officer (1914) – Capt. Osborne
His Dearest Foes (1914)
The Prince Party (1914) – James Atteridge
The Place, the Time and the Man (1914)
Every Inch A King (1914) – King Livian
The Loose Change of Chance (1914)
The Way of the Woman (1914)
The Shanty at Trembling Hill (1914)
The Gallantry of Jimmy Rodgers (1915) – Ralph Morrison
The Lieutenant Governor (1915) – Dennis McGrath
The Ambition of the Baron (1915)
Thirteen Down (1915) – Baron Schoman
The Accounting (1915) – Sargall
The Amateur Prodigal (1915)
The Surprise of My Life (1915)
The Strength of the Weak (1915)
The Other Woman’s Picture (1915)
A Night In Kentucky (1915)
Graustark (1915) – Prince Gabriel
The Mystery of the Silent Death (1915)
The Conspiracy at the Chateau (1915)
On the Dawn Road (1915) – Granger
The Slim Princess (1915) – The Only Koldo
The Second in Command (1915) – Lt. Sir Walter Mannering
The Silent Voice (1915) – Bobbie Delorme
Pennington’s Choice (1915) – Jean
A Corner in Cotton (1916) – Willis Jackson
The Come-Back (1916) – Mac Heberton
The Masked Rider (1916) – Squid Archer
The River of Romance (1916) – Reginald Williams
A Virginia Romance (1916)
Mister 44 (1916) – Eagle Eye
Big Tremaine (1916) – Redmond Malvern
Pidgin Island (1916) – Donald Smead
The Promise (1917) – Buck Moncrossen
The Hidden Children (1917) – Lt. Boyd
The Haunted Pajamas (1917) – Judge Billings
The Hidden Spring (1917) – Bill Wheeler
Under Handicap (1917) – Brayley
Paradise Garden (1917) – Jack Ballard
Desert Love (1920) – The Whelp
The Terror (1920) – ‘Con’ Norton
Food For Scandal (1920) – Jack Horner
Lone Hand Wilson (1920) – Lone Hand Wilson
Are All Men Alike? (1920) – Raoul Uhlan
The Ranger and the Law (1921) – Dick Dawson
Blue Blazes (1922) – Jerry Connors
The Masked Avenger (1922) – Austin Patterson
Silver Spurs (1922)
Trapped in the Air (1922)
In the Days of Buffalo Bill (1922)
Blazing Arrows (1922) – Sky Fire
The Devil’s Ghost (1922)
The Vengeance of Pierre (1923)
The Zero Hour (1923)
The Eagle’s Feather (1923) – Jeff Carey
Fighting Jim Grant (1923) – Jim Grant
Western Grit (1924) – Walt Powers
Ridin’ Fool (1924)
The Lone Hand Texan (1924)
Hearts of the West (1925)
Two Fisted Thompson (1925)
Western Promise (1925)
Range Vultures (1925)
External Links
Actor Lester Cuneo – Wikipedia
