Billie Ritchie

Billie Ritchie was a Scottish comedian who first gained transatlantic fame as a performer for British music hall producer Fred Karnothis, a full decade before Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin took a similar career path. Ritchie is best recalled today for the silent comedy shorts he made between 1914 and 1920 for directorproducer Henry Lehrmans LKO Kompany and Fox Film Sunshine Comedy unit. Variations on Ritchies tramp and drunk personae which Ritchie had developed before and during his Karno years were introduced to film audiences by Charlie Chaplin in such shorts as the Lehrmandirected Kid Auto Races at Venice and Mabels Strange Predicament . Ritchie, who due to a series of onset injuries, spent his final years relatively inactive succumbed to stomach cancer in the summer of 1921. Winifred Monroe, the comedians widow, and onetime stage partner, wound up in the employ of Charlie Chaplin. Wyn Ritchie, their daughter, was also a performer, and, in private life, the wife of songwriter

NA

Source: Wikipedia