- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMilton George Gustavus Sills
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- American leading man of silent pictures. Born into affluence in Chicago, he attended the University of Chicago on scholarship and remained there as a professor of psychology and philosophy. A chance visit to the school by actor- manager Donald Robertson led to Sills abandoning his career and joining Robertson's stock company as an actor in 1905. Three years later he went to New York and was an immediate Broadway success. After nearly twenty productions, he was wooed into films by producer William A. Brady. Sills debuted in The Pit (1914) and was just as immediately a success in movies. His stalwart personality and handsome looks brought him a following, and his talent extended to a wide variety of roles in an equally wide variety of genres. Although he free-lanced for many years, working at almost every studio, he signed with First National in 1924 and made a couple dozen films there. Still popular at the advent of sound, he seemed assured of a continued career, but physical, emotional, and financial difficulties disrupted his life in the late 1920s. He died suddenly of a heart attack while playing tennis in 1930 at the age of 48. He was survived by his second wife, actress Doris Kenyon, and his two children.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net> - Son of stock broker and mineral dealer William Henry Sills and banking heiress Josephine Antoinette Troost, Milton Sills started out as a philosophy professor before joining Donald Robertson's stock company in 1906. By 1908, he was starring on Broadway. His film career commenced in 1914, and he became a steady box office draw until his sudden death in 1930.
- IMDb mini biography by: <anthony-adam@tamu.edu>
- SpousesDoris Kenyon(October 12, 1926 - September 15, 1930) (his death, 1 child)Gladys Wynne(May 26, 1910 - October 11, 1926) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenDorothy Gardyne SillsKenyon Clarence Sills
- ParentsWilliam Henry SillsJosephine Antoinette Troost
- RelativesClarence William Sills(Sibling)
- His principal heir was his nephew, Frederick (Fritz) Sills, who went on to become a world-famous bodybuilder. Fritz was lured to Hollywood in the 1960s when he was offered the starring role in Tarzan. He turned down the role when he learned that the salary was $1,750 a week, less than he was receiving from his uncle's trust fund. Fritz Sills died in Hollywood in 1968.
- Before becoming an actor, he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago (IL).
- Son Kenyon Clarence Sills (6 May 1927 - 11 April 1971)
- One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
- Fluent in Italian, Russian, French, and German
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