French director and actor of American and French films. He began his career as a stage actor at the Odeon in Paris, then at the Eclair, where he became artistic director and chief director of the theatre school in 1910. Five years later he traveled to America and began a successful career as a film director for a variety of American film companies. After more than a decade as a director, he returned abruptly to acting and appeared in a wide range of roles in a number of films before his death at 53.