George Beranger

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George Beranger (27 March 1893 - 8 March 1973), also known

as André Beranger, was an Australian actor and film director of stage and

Hollywood.

Beranger was born George Augustus Beringer in Enmore, New

South Wales, Australia, the youngest of five sons of Caroline Mondientz and

Adam Beringer, a pipe-fitter. His mother committed suicide when he was

three-years-old and he left home at the age of 14. He studied acting at the

College of Elocution and Dramatic Art founded by Scottish actor Walter Bentley.

Beranger began playing Shakespearean roles at the age of

sixteen with the Walter Bentley Players. He then emigrated from Australia to

California, United States in 1912 and worked in the silent film industry in

Hollywood. According to a researcher, he "reinvented himself in Hollywood,

claiming French parentage, birth on a French ocean liner off the coast of Australia

and a Paris education. Beranger worked under the names George Alexandre

Beranger and Andre de Beranger.

By the 1920s, Beranger had become a star, appearing in the

movies of Ernst Lubitsch and D. W. Griffith. He also directed ten films between

1914 and 1924. Beranger owned a large Spanish-style home in Laguna Beach,

rented a room at the Hollywood Athletic Club and owned an apartment in Paris,

France.

Beranger eventually appeared in more than 140 films between

1913 and 1950. Beranger's career dissipated following the 1930s Great

Depression, and his roles in later films were small and often uncredited. He

supplemented his income as a draftsman for the Los Angeles City Council. He

sold his large properties and moved into a modest cottage beside his house in

Laguna Beach.

Beranger retired in 1952 and lived his later years in

seclusion. He was found dead of natural causes in his home on 8 March 1973.

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