John R. Cumpson

John R. Cumpson
The Motion Picture Story Magazine, 1911
Born	John Raymond Cumpson August 30, 1866 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Died	March 15, 1913 (aged 46) New York City, New York, U.S.
Other names	John Compson John R. Cumpson Mr. Cumpson
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian
Years active	1901–1913
Spouses	Carrie Craft (m.1898–1900, her death)

John R. Cumpson (August 30, 1866 – March 15, 1913) was an American stage and film actor. On Broadway, he appeared in Up York State in 1901. With regard to his screen career, Cumpson appeared in at least 124 films between 1905 and 1912. A 1910 newspaper item described him as "the famous Swedish dialect comedian."

Silent film star Florence Lawrence enjoyed working often with Cumpson at the Biograph Company in 1908 and 1909, although later, in an interview with Photoplay, she described him as essentially a humorless comedian:

"Mr. Cumpson was the most serious comedian I have ever known. Nothing was ever funny to him, and he never tried to be funny....When all the rest of the company would laugh at something he had said or did, he would become indignant, thinking we were making fun of him."

Cumpson died of pneumonia and diabetes at Washington Heights Hospital in New York City. He was survived by a brother and two sisters.

Film still of Cumpson (wearing hat) co-starring in the Biograph short Mrs. Jones Entertains (1909)

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1905	The White Caps
1908	Romance of a Jewess	Customer
	The Zulu's Heart	Zulu warrior
	The Call of the Wild	Chinese servant
	A Calamitous Elopement
	Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court	Justice McPheeney
	A Smoked Husband	Mr. Benjamin Bibbs
	Mr. Jones at the Ball	Mr. Eddie Jones
1909	Mrs. Jones Entertains	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Mr. Jones Has a Card Party	Mr. Eddie Jones
	The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Jones and His New Neighbors	Mr. Eddie Jones
	His Wife's Mother	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Jones and the Lady Book Agent	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Her First Biscuits	Mr. Eddie Jones
	The Peachbasket Hat	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Jones' Burglar	Mr. Eddie Jones
	Mrs. Jones' Lover or I Want My Hat	Mr. Eddie Jones
	The Road to the Heart	Chinese cook
	Trying to Get Arrested	Tramp
	A Sound Sleeper	Tramp
	Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade	Mr. Schneider
	Those Awful Hats	Theatre audience member	Alternative title: Those Darn Hats
	The Lonely Villa		"At the Inn"
1910	How Bumptious Papered the Parlor	Bumptious
	Two Men	Miner
	Bumptious as a Fireman	Bumptious
1911	Mr. Bumptious, Detective	Bumptious
	Billy's Séance	Billy
	The Child and the Tramp	3rd tramp
1912	Percy Learns to Waltz	Percy
	A Millionaire for a Day	Fred Dudley
	How Shorty Won Out	Shorty
	A Case of Dynamite	Jonathan Jay
	Ferdie, Be Brave	Ferdie

External links

• John R. Cumpson at IMDb
• John R. Cumpson at the Internet Broadway Database