Cullen Landis

Handsome Cullen Landis (1896-1975) was an American silent film star who was the hero of romantic melodramas, action films, and serials. He also worked as a director.


American Arcade postcard. Photo: Witzel, L.A.


Spanish minicard (collector card) in the Series Intimidades cinematograficas, series I, card 20 of 20. Caption: A rain of pearls! On the set of the silent Hollywood film Empire Builders, produced by Goldwyn. The leading actor, Cullen Landis, and director E. Mason Hopper closely inspect a huge collection of original pearls, worth millions of dollars (according to the card).


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 359.

Silent romantic melodramas, action films, and serials

James Cullen Landis was born in 1896 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He was the son of Lulan Landis, a stockbroker, and Margaret née Cullen Landis, and the brother of future actress Margaret Landis.

As a boy, train enthusiast Cullen aspired to become a railway engineer. Cullen began working in the fledgling film industry at the age of 18, around the time his older sister, Margaret Landis, made her film debut.

Landis started as a film director. He turned to acting after his lead player broke a leg, and it was discovered that the actor’s costumes fit him. He co-starred with Harry Carey in John Ford's Western The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1919).

He became the hero of many silent romantic melodramas, action films, and serials. Landis is well remembered as 'Davy Crockett' in Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo (Robert North Bradbury, 1926), and Jimmy Crestmore in Broadway After Midnight (Fred Windemere, 1927).

His other films included Easy Money (Albert S. Rogell, 1925), Perils of the Coast Guard (Oscar Apfel, 1926), and The Dixie Flyer (Charles J. Hunt, 1926). Landis appeared in a hundred films over 14 years.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 77.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 77a.

No song and dance man

In 1928, Cullen Landis starred in the first ‘all talking’ motion picture, Lights of New York (Bryan Foy, 1928) with Helene Costello and Mary Carr. He told a friend that talkies were perfect for musicals and that he was no "song and dance man".

In 1930, he left Hollywood for Detroit to produce and direct industrial films for automobile companies. He joined the directorial staff of the Jam Handy Picture Service, where he would finish his professional career.

During World War II, he made training films for the military as a captain with the US Army Signal Corps in the South Pacific. By the war’s end, he was twice decorated and promoted to major.

After the war, Cullen Landis made documentaries in the Far East for the U.S. State Department.

Cullen Landis died in 1975 at a nursing home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA. He was 79. He was married to Mignon Le Brun (1918-1927; divorced) and to Jane Grenier (1931-1975). He had two children with LeBrun.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 77b.


French postcard with Spanish dedication.

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie - Now defunct), Find A Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb.