Biography
Émile Chautard (7 September 1864 – 24 April 1934) was a French-American film director, actor, and screenwriter, most active in the silent era. He directed 107 films between 1910 and 1924. He also appeared in 66 films between 1911 and 1934. Chautard was born in Paris. After a significant career beginning as a stage actor at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and moving up to the head of film production at Éclair Films' Paris studio in 1913, Chautard emigrated to the United States around 1914. From 1914 to about 1918, Chautard worked for the World Film Company based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. At World, along with a group of other French-speaking film technicians including Maurice Tourneur, Léonce Perret, George Archainbaud, Albert Capellani and Lucien Andriot, he developed such films as the 1915 version of Camille, and taught a young apprentice film cutter at the World studio: Josef von Sternberg. In 1919 Chautard hired von Sternberg as his assistant director for The Mystery of the Yellow Room, for his own short-lived production company. Choosing Hollywood over a return to France, Chautard went to work for Famous Players-Lasky and other studios. He received some high-profile assignments, for instance a Colleen Moore vehicle and two features for Derelys Perdue, but he was a generation older than other directors in Hollywood's French colony. After 1924 Chautard did not direct again, but continued to make film appearances, in the von Sternberg film Blonde Venus (1932), where he appears for his former protege as "Night club owner Chautard". Chautard died in Los Angeles, California. He is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Acted in 47
1930s
- 1934
Man of Two Worlds
Natkusiak
- 1933
Design for Living
Train Conductor (uncredited)
The Solitaire Man
French Hotel Clerk
The Devil's in Love
Father Carmion
The Three Musketeers
Gen. Pelletier
The California Trail
Don Marco Ramirez
- 1932
The bluffer
Oscar Brown
Blonde Venus
Chautard, Cabaret Manager in France (uncredited)
The Man from Yesterday
Priest
Shanghai Express
Major Lenard
Cock of the Air
French Ambassador
- 1931
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Movie
The Yellow Ticket
Headwaiter
The Road to Reno
Andre
The Common Law
Doorman (uncredited)
The Big House
Pop
The Big Trail
Padre
The Little Cafe
Philibert
- 1930
Counter-Investigation
O'Brien
Just Like Heaven
Dulac
Mysterious Mr. Parkes
Sylvester Corbett
A Man from Wyoming
French Mayor
Estrellados
Movie
The Green Specter
Abdoul
1920s
- 1929
Tiger Rose
Frenchman
Times Square
Movie
House of Horror
Old Miser
- 1928
Adoration
Murajev
Lilac Time
The Mayor
Caught in the Fog
The Old Man
Out of the Ruins
Père Gilbert
His Tiger Lady
Stage Manager
- 1927
The Love Mart
Louis Frobelle
Now We're in the Air
Monsieur Chelaine
Whispering Sage
José Arastrade
Upstream
Campbell-Mandare
Blonde or Brunette
Father-in-Law
- 1926
The Flaming Forest
André Audemard
My Official Wife
Count Orloff, Hélène's Father
Bardelys the Magnificent
Anatol
Broken Hearts of Hollywood
Director
Paris at Midnight
Père Goriot
Directed 39
1920s
- 1924
Untamed Youth
Director
- 1923
Daytime Wives
Director
- 1922
Forsaking All Others
Director
Youth to Youth
Director
The Glory of Clementina
Director
Living Lies
Director
- 1921
The Black Panther's Cub
Director
Whispering Shadows
Director
1910s
- 1919
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Director
Eyes of the Soul
Director
The Marriage Price
Director
Paid in Full
Director
His Parisian Wife
Director
Out of the Shadow
Director
- 1918
Under the Greenwood Tree
Director
A Daughter of the Old South
Director
The Ordeal of Rosetta
Director
The House of Glass
Director
The Marionettes
Director
- 1917
The Eternal Temptress
Director
Magda
Director
Under False Colors
Director
The Fires of Youth
Director
Forget-Me-Not
Director
The Family Honor
Director
The Web of Desire
Director
A Hungry Heart
Director
The Man Who Forgot
Director
- 1916
All Man
Director
The Heart of a Hero
Director
Friday the 13th
Director
Sudden Riches
Director
Love's Crucible
Director
- 1915
The Little Dutch Girl
Director
The Boss
Director
- 1914
A Cashier's Novel
Director
- 1912
The Mystery of Notre-Dame de Paris
Director
- 1911
Hearts and Eyes
Director
Wrote 4
1910s
- 1919
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Screenplay
- 1917
The Man Who Forgot
Scenario Writer
- 1912
The Mystery of Notre-Dame de Paris
Scenario Writer
- 1911
Hearts and Eyes
Writer
Produced 2
1920s
- 1922
Youth to Youth
Producer
1910s
- 1919
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Producer