Roland West Pics

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Roland West Snapshot

First Name

Roland

Last Name

West

Build

Average

Place of Birth

Cleveland, Ohio

Star Sign

Pisces

Date of Death

31 March 1952

Place of Death

Santa Monica, California

Cause of Death

Stoke

Ethnicity

White

Gender

Male

Nationality

American

Date of Birth

20/02/1885

Eye Color

Brown - Dark

Hair Color

Brown - Dark

Wikipedia Text

Roland West (February 20, 1885 � March 31, 1952) was a Hollywood director known for his innovative film noir movies of the 1920s and early 1930s.

Couple Profile

Roland West was born in Cleveland, Ohio and became an actor in the theater and on the vaudeville stage. He got his start in the film industry in New York City around 1915, forming several production companies to shoot films there. He later worked as general manager of production for producer Joseph M. Schenck, and directed several comedies and dramas. He gained a reputation for moody, atmospheric horror films in The Monster (1925), The Bat (1926) and The Bat Whispers (1930). He directed his last film, Corsair (1931), after which he retired and went into business with actresses Jewel Carmen (his ex-wife) and Thelma Todd (his current girlfriend) in a restaurant and bar on the Santa Monica beach called Thelma Todd`s Sidwalk Cafe. The popular establishment also gained a reputation as a hangout for various shady underworld characters and there were rumors of Todd and West being pressured by mob figures to use the place as a front to enable them to get the couple`s wealthy Hollywood friends drunk and in compromising positions so they could be blackmailed. In 1935, Todd was found slumped over the steering wheel of her car, with the engine still running, in the adjacent apartment building`s garage, the victim of "accidental carbon monoxide poisoning," although many in her circle believed she was murdered by gangsters because she wouldn`t let them use her restaurant for their activities. Others believed she was killed by West himself, who was known to have a violent temper and to have fought with Todd on numerous occasions. Her murder is still listed as unsolved.

Full Name at Birth

Roland Van Zimmer

Friend

Chester Morris

Age