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| James Fitzgerald |
| born: 17 April 1896 Jackson, Mississippi, United States of America |
died: 21 January 1919 Los Angeles, California, United States of America (influenza, age 22) |
| Young, gangly and exceptionally tall (nearly seven feet) American actor, nicknamed "Slim," who frequented Rolin (Roach) shorts with Harold Lloyd and Stan Laurel from 1918 to 1919. Before entering films, he worked as "ballast [inspector] & yard clerk" for the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad in Memphis, Tennessee. Evidently taking over the mantle of the studio's resident "Slim" from the equally-tall David Voorhees, who appears to have left the previous August when recruited by the Army during World War I, he appears on the Rolin payroll as early as January 1918 (though he might be in On The Jump, which was largely filmed in December 1917). Fitzgerald also appeared in comedies for L-KO during his brief film career. With frequent and recognizable appearances in the Lloyd shorts, the tall and lanky Fitzgerald and his physical opposite, short and stout Dee Lampton, seemed to be heading the way of a Sammy Brooks as one of the studio's leading "sight gag" stock players. Sadly, both boys' careers — and lives — would be tragically cut short during the same year. Fitzgerald's number was up first, when he fell victim to the influenza epidemic of the late 'teens in January 1919. The 22-year old would tragically succumb after three days' illness; many of the Lloyd shorts he had completed his parts in were released posthumously, with his final short, Chop Suey & Co. — which completed filming ten days prior to his death — released about seven months later. Between his passing and Lampton's demise in September, as well as Harold Lloyd's August bomb accident (and to a much lesser extent, Bebe Daniels' departure in June), the year of 1919 was not an overly good one for the Rolin stock company... His father, Charles Fitzgerald, was Post Office Inspector. On 29 September 1908, 22-year old Post Office clerk William Austin Sorsby shot and killed the elder Fitzgerald after he threatened to report an embezzling on the young Sorsby's part. Sorsby was sentenced to life imprisonment; he escaped in late December 1918 and worked three months for the Santa Fe Railroad Company under an assumed name before being arrested once more in May 1920. Sorsby was pardoned by Governor Henry L. Whitfield in late 1925, after other attempts to reach such had been blocked or assisted in blocking by the "well-known and influential" Fitzgerald family; he married Bessie Beasley (1896-1976), worked as a station agent, telegraph operator and general store proprietor, and died in 1953. |
| Real name: James Marquette Fitzgerald Height: 6'6" / 6'8" (different sources) |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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| Acknowledgements: https://familysearch.org/pal:/ MM9.3.1/TH-267-12123-38359-47? cc=1325221 (1900 Census, line 70) https://familysearch.org/pal:/ MM9.3.1/TH-1942-23075-2495-24? cc=1727033 (1910 Census, line 11) https://familysearch.org/pal:/ MM9.3.1/TH-1942-24950-34230-75 ?cc=1968530 (WWI Draft Reg. Card) https://familysearch.org/pal:/ MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26181-12624-85 ?cc=1932433 (CA Death Index #2857) https://archive.org/stream/mov ingpicturewee78movi_1#page/n67 5/mode/1up/search/%22slim+fitz gerald%22 (Moving Picture Weekly, 21 Dec 1918) https://archive.org/stream/pho toplayjournal03cent#page/n190/ mode/1up/search/%22james+m+fit zgerald%22 (Photo-Play Journal, Apr 1919 - height: 6'6") https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/79310897/ (Oregon Daily Journal, 3 Sep 1919 - height: 6'8") https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/130617973/ (Eugene Guard, 3 Sep 1919 - height: 6'8") http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cd nc?a=d&d=LAH19190903.2.292 (Los Angeles Herald, 3 Sep 1919) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/194321222/ (Jackson Daily News, 30 Sep 1908) https://www.newspapers.com/ newspage/194303639/ (Jackson Daily News, 23 May 1920) https://www.newspapers.com/ newspage/59739373/ (Fort Scott Daily Tribune, 28 May 1920) https://www.newspapers.com/ newspage/202431118/ (Clarion-Ledger, 25 Dec 1925) https://www.newspapers.com/ newspage/312113906/ (Stone County Enterprise, 11 Nov 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/search/#lnd=1&query=%22will+sorsby%22+fitzgerald (other contemporary articles) The Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia, by Annette D'Agostino Lloyd Stan Without Ollie: The Stan Laurel Solo Films, 1917-1927, by Ted Okuda and James L. Neibaur 1918 LA City Directory: Fitzgerald J Marquette photoplayer Rolin Film Co Jesse Brisson (research and information; identification in Just Rambling Along) This page was last updated on: 26 April 2022 |
