Joseph Henabery

American actor

Joseph Henabery (January 15, 1888 – February 18, 1976) of Omaha, Nebraska, was a film actor, screenplay writer, and director in the United States. He is best known for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 silent historical epic The Birth of a Nation.

Henabery was born in Omaha and raised in Los Angeles.

Henabery's acting career began in The Joke on Yellentown (1914). From 1914 to 1917 he appeared in seventeen films, including his portrayal of Lincoln in The Birth of a Nation. Henabery also worked as a second unit director on Griffith's Intolerance (1916), and supervised the filming of at least one extended sequence that appeared in the film. Henabery also acted as Admiral de Coligny in the Renaissance French portion of the film depicting the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Throughout the rest of his career, he worked as a director. From the mid 1920s, and after professional disagreements with both Louis B. Mayer at Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Adolph Zukor at Paramount Pictures, Henabery found employment as a director for smaller Hollywood studios. In 1931 he joined the Vitaphone studio in New York City, where he directed dozens of short subjects for the next 10 years. Most of them were musicals and comedies, featuring a host of popular singers in 20 minute sketches. Henabery remained with Vitaphone until the New York studio closed in 1940. Henabery made documentaries and training films as a member of the Army Signal Corps. Kevin Brownlow's book The Parade's Gone By (1968) contains a photo of Henabery in costume and makeup as Lincoln, seated in a chair with planks placed on the floor under Henabery's feet so that his knees are raised several inches; this effect (with the planks kept off camera in the movie) made Henabery's legs appear longer than they actually were.

Henabery and his wife, Lilian, had a daughter and a son. Henabery died on February 18, 1976, aged 88, at the Motion Picture Country House in Los Angeles, California.

Title Year NotesSay! Young Fellow 1918 director and scenaristMr. Fix It 1918 co screenplayLife of the Party 1920 Love Madness 1920 Brewster's Millions 1921 Traveling Salesman 1921 Don't Call Me Little Girl 1921 Moonlight and Honeysuckle 1921 Her Winning Way 1921 Making a Man 1922 The Stranger 1924 A Sainted Devil 1924 Cobra 1925 Meet the Prince 1926 Play Safe 1927 Sailors' Wives 1928 United States Smith 1928 Red Hot Speed 1929 The Quitter 1929 Double or Nothing 1936 Short