John Francis Dillon

Actor/director John Francis Dillon was born in New York City on July 13, 1884 (his brother, Robert Dillon, also entered the film business, becoming a writer and director). He began his film career in 1913 as an actor in two-reel Keystone comedies, billed as "Jack Dillon". It wasn't long before he was also directing as well as acting in two-reelers, for a variety of studios. He became better known as a director than as an actor, however, and had a string of successes in the silent era--e.g.,Flaming Youth (1923), The Perfect Flapper (1924), We Moderns (1925))--and his directorial career lasted into the 1930s, although with the coming of sound he was relegated to lower-budget comedies and "B" pictures. His best known picture is probably Call Her Savage (1932), which was silent-screen sexpot Clara Bow's "comeback" film after a string of professional failures and personal disasters. The film was well received and got Bow very good reviews, but it couldn't save her career and she left films the next year. John Francis Dillson died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California, on April 4, 1934, at age 49.