Slim Summerville: Movies & Box Office

Slim Summerville, born George Joseph Somerville on July 10, 1892 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was an American film actor and director best known for his work in comedies. His mother died when he was five, leading the family to move first to Canada, where he lived with English grandparents in Chatham, Ontario, and later to Oklahoma, giving him a nomadic upbringing that exposed him to a variety of cultures and dialects. While in Canada he earned his first wage as a messenger for the Canadian Pacific Telegraphs, and later, while working in a poolroom in California, he met actor Edgar Kennedy who introduced him to Mack Sennett of Keystone Studios. Sennett hired the lanky, gangly youngster for $3.50 a day, and Summerville’s first screen appearance was as a “Keystone Cop” in the short Hoffmeyer’s Legacy (1912). Over a three‑decade career he appeared in hundreds of shorts and features, ranging from slap‑stick in the silent era to talkies, where his physical comedy remained a hallmark. He directed more than fifty short subjects, often starring himself, and occasionally stepped into dramatic roles such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Jesse James (1939). He is remembered for memorable pairings with ZaSu Pitts and for appearing alongside child star Shirley Temple in Captain January (1936) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). In his personal life, Summerville married Gertrude Martha Roell in 1927; the couple adopted a four‑week‑old baby boy, Elliott George, before divorcing in 1936. He wed nurse Eleanor Brown in 1937, who had cared for him during an illness. Summerville suffered a fatal stroke on January 5, 1946 in Laguna Beach, California, and was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery. His legacy endures with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6409 Hollywood Blvd and a 2012 induction into the New Mexico Entertainment Hall of Fame, while his former Laguna Beach home was later transformed into a well‑known restaurant.