Rod La Rocque

Rod La Rocque was an American actor who got his start as a teenager in Chicago, appearing with local stock companies and in vaudeville, and later took a bit part in Triangle Studios' The Snowman (1912). He worked as a bit player at Essanay from 1914 to 1917, then moved to New York after the studio closed. He took small film and stage roles, including Let's Get a Divorce (1918), and freelanced for several companies before Cecil B. DeMille's decision to cast him in The Ten Commandments (1923) made him a star. For five years he worked for DeMille's Producers' Distribution Corporation and Famous Players-Lasky. After that he freelanced for Fox, First National, and MGM, and he later appeared in S.O.S. Iceberg (1933) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). His final screen role was in Meet John Doe (1941). He died in 1969.