Biography for
Rod La Rocque More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 November 1898, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Date of Death

15 October 1969, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Roderick La Rocque de la Rour

Height

6' 3" (1.91 m)

Mini Biography

Rod La Rocque was born Roderick La Rocque de la Rou on November 29, 1898 in Chicago, Illiinois to an ethnically French father and an ethnically Irish mother. Stage struck in his early teen years, he spent his summers with local stock companies, playing juvenile roles for $1.00 per performance. By the time he was 16, while he was appearing in vaudeville, he got a bit part in the Triangle Studios' production "The Snowman," for which he was paid the princely sum of $3.25 for a day's work. He moved on to Chicago's other major studio, Essanay, as a bit player in the years 1914-1917. La Roque started out in their Black Cat Productions outfit, which produced potboilers and comedies. He eventually moved up into better - and better-paying - parts.

Essanay failed in 1918, and La Roque moved to New York City, where he signed with with the agent Eddie Small, who represented Norma Shearer, whom he would later appear with in the 1930 M.G.M. picture "Let Us be Gay." The 6'3" La Rocque got a bit part in the Billie Burke movie "Let's Get A Divorce" (1918) and turned to the theater for work. He was cast in the lead of "Up the Ladder," which flopped, necessitating his return to cinema work, though he would continue to appear IMO the theater through the early 1920s.

He made three movies for Sam Goldfish (who renamed himself Samuel Goldwyn) in 1918, but La Roque remained a freelance actor, not signing with any one studio. He appeared in motion pictures for Famous Players-Lasky, Universal and Vitagraph, among others, but did not break through to the big-time until Cecil B. DeMille cast him in his first go at "The Ten Commandmentd" (1923), the film that made La Roque a silent cinema star. For the next five years, until the advent of the talkies, he worked for DeMille's own Producers' Distribution Corporation and for Famous Players-Lasky (the future Paramount, with which DeMille also was associated).

He met his future wife, Hungarian actress Vilma Bánky, at a dinner party at DeMille's home in 1925. When they married in 1927, it was a lavish affair in which DeMille served as best man. The wedding was attended by the creme de la creme of Hollywood society, and afterward, there was a reception for 2,000 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

When La Rocque's contract with DeMille and Famous Players-Lasky lapsed after 1928, he went back to being a freelance actor, appearing in films for Fox, First National, and M.G.M. It was the beginning of the sound era, but La Roque and Banky were still popular. In 1930, the Broadway producer Archibald Selwyn (one of the founders of both Goldwyn Studios and M.G.M.) signed La Roque and Banky to star in the Anita Loos play "Cherries are Ripe," but the play drew indifferent crowds.Three years later, husband and wife went to Germany, where La Roque filmed "S.O.S. Iceberg" (1933) for director Leni Riefenstahl and Banky starred in what proved to be her final film, "The Rebel."

After returning to the States, La Rocque continued to appear in films, though now they were B-pictures, with the occasional supporting role in an A-picture like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939). He made his last appearance in the Frank Capra classic "Meet John Doe" (1941).

After retiring from the screen, Rod La Rocque and Vilma Banky continued to live in Los Angeles, where La Rocque died October 15, 1969, six weeks shy of his 71st birthday.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood

Spouse

Vilma Bánky

(26 June 1927 - 15 October 1969) (his death)

Trivia

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1580 Vine Street.

Salary

The Showman (1914)

$3.50/day

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