Quick Facts
Biography
Paul Scardon (6 May 1874 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – 17 January 1954 in Fontana, California) was an actor, a producer, and a director on both Australian and New York stages.
When he was 15, Scardon debuted on stage as a contortionist in vaudeville. He progressed from that to pantomime and then joined a troupe headed by J. C. Williamson, touring New Zealand and Australia for five years. In 1905, he joined a company headed by Nance O'Neil, and that group's tour brought him to the United States.
Scardon's Broadway credits include Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh (1911), Becky Sharp (1911), The Green Cockatoo (1910), Hannele (1910), The Debtors (1909), Agnes(1908), Our American Cousin (1908), and Brigadier Gerard (1906).
Scardon went to Hollywood in 1910. In motion pictures, he worked for Majestic Pictures, Reliance-Majestic Studios and Vitagraph Studios. He directed Blanche Sweet in Unwilling Husband, Bessie Barriscale in some of her most successful productions, and most of the melodramas which starred his wife, actress Betty Blythe. Retiring when sound films came in, Scardon returned to films as an actor in the 1940s, playing bit roles until he retired from the film industry in 1948.
Personal life and death
At the time of his death, Scardon was married to actress Betty Blythe. On January 18, 1954, Scardon died of a heart attack in Fontana, California, at age 79.
