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Crane Wilbur (November 17, 1886 – October 18, 1973) was an American writer, actor and director for stage, radio and screen. He was born in Athens, New York. He died in Toluca Lake, California. Crane Wilbur was a prolific writer and director of at least sixty-seven motion pictures from the silent era into the sound era, but it was as an actor that he found lasting recognition, particularly playing opposite Pearl White in the iconoclastic serial, The Perils of Pauline. He brought to the first motion pictures merry eyes, a great, thick crop of wavy, black hair, and an athlete’s interest... MORE

Crane Wilbur (November 17, 1886 – October 18, 1973) was an American writer, actor and director for stage, radio and screen. He was born in Athens, New York. He died in Toluca Lake, California. Crane Wilbur was a prolific writer and director of at least sixty-seven motion pictures from the silent era into the sound era, but it was as an actor that he found lasting recognition, particularly playing opposite Pearl White in the iconoclastic serial, The Perils of Pauline. He brought to the first motion pictures merry eyes, a great, thick crop of wavy, black hair, and an athlete’s interest in swimming and horseback riding. Twelve years of stage experience prepared him before he ventured into the then new art of silent motion pictures. He was one of the first to explore the techniques required to communicate through the wordless shadows of the movies. He was born Irwin Wilbur on November 17, 1886, in Athens, New York. His father was a shipbuilder who died by his own hand while his son was a young man. Wilbur was a nephew of the actor Tyrone Power, Sr., thereby making him a cousin of Tyrone Power. In an article in the October 1915 issue of Motion Picture Magazine, Wilbur recalled, “My life LESS