Edward Coxen

Albert Edward Coxen (8 August 1880, London, England - 21 November 1954, Hollywood, California) was an English-born American silent film actor.

Early life

Albert Edward Coxen was born at 18 Darwin Street, Southwark, London, England on 8th August 1880, the first child of Joseph Coxen of Wandsworth, London and Sarah Jane Coxen née Parfitt of Bedminster, Bristol. At the time of Albert Edward's birth his parents ran the Carpenter Arms public house, at St. Marylebone, London.

In 1880 Joseph Coxen's brother John and wife Ellen left England and settled in San Francisco. Joseph and Sarah Coxen with young Bertie, as Albert was called on the ship's manifest, followed them in 1882. The Coxen brothers soon established Coxen Bros., a Wood & Photo Engravers business, in the city and the families lived together at 1612 Jones Street. By 1890 Albert Edward, aged 10, and his parent were living in independent accommodation at 1925, Filbert Street in San Francisco.

However despite the fact that they had settled well in the States, the Coxen family returned to London in 1896 so that Sarah could look after her dying sister Catherine Strawson née Parfitt. Young Albert Edward was intent on completing his education and returned to the U.S.A third class on the America line vessel SS St. Louis from Southampton arriving in New York the day before his seventeenth birthday, 7th August 1897. In his pocket young Coxen had $125 dollars to get him back to his uncle John's home in California. In 1900, aged 20, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Career

On his return to San Francisco Coxen continued his education at the University of California, Berkeley College campus and after graduating in the early 1900s he embarked upon a commercial career working for his father and uncle John at Coxen Bros. However this did not appeal to him and set about attempting to make his fortune firstly by prospecting for gold and then by moving into work in civil engineering. Finally, he entered the profession he yearned for most, acting, and spoke his first lines as a professional actor on the stage of the Majestic Theatre, San Francisco at the age of 26 early in 1906. The devastating San Francisco earthquake and fires of April 18th 1906 followed soon after his debut, so he moved to a theater across the bay in Oakland where he appeared in Ye Liberty, Balasco's Alcazar and many other popular plays.

The earthquake of 1906 and San Francisco's big fire had a serious and detrimental impact on the business of Coxen Bros and they moved south permanently to Los Angeles.

When he started his acting career Coxen dropped 'Albert' and became, Edward, Eddie or Ed Coxen and in 1909 he returned to New York, this time as an established 29-year-old actor performing at Wallack's Theatre, Broadway. On the 27th December 1909 he appeared, billed as Edward Coxen, in A Little Brother of the Rich, a play that ran for 27 performances.

Hollywood was the centre of the new and rapidly growing motion picture industry; it was a magnet to aspiring young actors. The demand for one-reeler westerns was insatiable and some studios released these on a one-a-week basis. Early in 1911 the Santa Monica Studio was formed by the Kalem Company to satisfy the increasing demand and young talent such as Ed Coxen, Ruth Roland, Marin Sais and Marshall Neiland were recruited.

Coxen was soon to move north up the coast to Santa Barbara where in 1912 he joined the American Film Manufacturing Company's Studios and began his motion picture career as one of a group of actors known as the 'Flying A' stars. He remained a star of those studios until 1917. This was a period when he was very popular with the cinema public and in 1912 alone he made an incredible 34 films. Popular films included The Ghost of the Hacienda; Crooks and Credulous; In Three Hours; The Drummer's Honeymoon, and he took the lead part in The Trail of the Lost Chord. In several of his films, including Saints and Sinners, he often appeared with leading co-star Winifred Greenwood particularly in many melodramas filmed in Santa Barbara. On Saturday August 7th 1915, his popularity was such that his photograph was featured on the front page of 'Pictures and The Picturegoer'. His agents were Central Casting Corporation of Hollywood Boulevard & Western Avenue.

In 1914 at the age of 33 he married Edith Borella, a 24-year-old film actress born in California of Swiss parents. Edith had played minor parts alongside Edward in films such as Restitution, where Winifred Greenwood played Ed's female romantic lead. Edith was also known as Eda or by her professional name of Aida. In 1920 Ed and Eda were living somewhere in Precinct 228, Los Angeles City; the couple had no children. Later they moved into Ed's family home at 646 N. Manhattan Place, Los Angeles.

Coxen's career in acting reached its peak in the second decade of the 20th century although he never really attained the real stardom that his early success promised. As he entered his 40s in the 1920s he ceased to star and became largely a supporting actor usually portraying villains, but working with stars such as Buster Keaton. In the 1930s he was often a supporting actor in low budget westerns where Ken Maynard played the lead. Although he worked on well into the 1940s he could then only get either walk-on parts or appearances as a dress extra.

In 1941 after several appearances that were left uncredited, Coxen retired from film and acting and lived with his wife in Los Angeles. In his thirty years of acting between 1911 and 1941 Coxen had starred in a total of 262 films.

He died aged 74 on 21st November 1954 in Los Angeles and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. His monument reads 'Beloved Husband and Brother', but his birth date is incorrect.

Filmography

External links

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