Oscar C. Apfel (January 17, 1878 – March 21, 1938) was an American film actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1913 and 1939, and also directed 94 films between 1911 and 1927.
Apfel was born in Cleveland, Ohio. After a number of years in commerce, he decided to adopt the stage as a profession.[1] He secured his first professional engagement in 1900, in his hometown. He rose rapidly and soon held a position as director and producer, and was at the time noted as being the youngest stage director in America.[1] He spent 11 years on the stage on Broadway, then joined the Edison Manufacturing Company. Apfel first directed for Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1911–12,[2] where he made the innovative short film The Passer-By (1912). He also did some experimental work at Edison's laboratory in Orange, on the Edison Talking Pictures devices.[1]
When Apfel left the Edison company, he joined Reliance-Majestic Studios, remaining with them 18 months.[1] In 1913, he became one of two main directors for the Jesse Laskyn Feature Play Company, the other being Cecil B. DeMille. All the first Lasky pictures were produced under his direction. Among these were the notable successes The Squaw Man (1914), Brewster's Millions, The Master Mind, The Only Son, The Ghost Breaker, The Man on the Box, The Circus Man, and Cameo Kirby.[1]
Apfel's directorial collaboration with DeMille was a crucial element in the development of DeMille's filmmaking technique.
For the Paralta Company, where Apfel went after leaving the Fox Corporation, he produced Peter Kyne's A Man's a Man and The Turn of a Card in which J. Warren Kerrigan starred.[1]
Ravished Armenia (1919) (also known as Auction of Souls), a public-awareness picture for the Armenian Relief Committee, was Apfel's work. This production commanded wide attention and attracted great crowds at the special showings, which took place at the Plaza and other prominent hotels. The sympathetic interest evoked by its revelations helped in materially adding to the large sums that were subscribed to this cause.[1]
A series of pictures for the World Film Corporation, starring Kitty Gordon, Montague Love, June Elvidge, Louise Huff, and Evelyn Greeley, was also among Apfel's successful productions.[1]
