Monroe Salisbury

Monroe Salisbury (May 8, 1876 – August 7, 1935) was an American stage and screen actor born Orange Salisbury Cash in Angola, New York. He was the son of David Cash (c. 1840–1899) and Ellen Louise Salisbury (1842–1929), and had two elder sisters, Adelaide Mary Cash (1864–1956) and Anna Louise Cash (1868–1951). He adopted his stage name from a maternal uncle, Monroe Salisbury (1835–1905), a government contractor and racehorse breeder. His acting career began in 1898, and he went on to establish himself as a matinee idol in romantic leading roles before transitioning to a prolific career in silent film.

Salisbury's stage work brought him into company with notable performers including Richard Mansfield, Eleonora Duse, John Drew, Nance O'Neil, Minnie Maddern Fiske, and Kathryn Kidder. His Broadway career spanned from 1903 to 1906 and comprised five productions. His debut on Broadway came with Marta of the Lowlands in 1903, followed by Leah Kleschna, Becky Sharp, The Prince of India, and The Eyes of the Heart. A U.S. Federal Census taken in June 1900 recorded him and his mother residing at a hotel on Weybosset Street in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was performing at the time.

His film career began in 1914 with an uncredited role as Sir Henry, Earl of Kerhill, in Cecil B. DeMille's The Squaw Man. That same year he appeared in four additional DeMille productions — Brewster's Millions, The Master Mind, The Virginian, and Rose of the Rancho — and in 1915 he appeared alongside Douglas Fairbanks in The Lamb and Double Trouble. His most celebrated screen performance came in Ramona (1916), in which he starred as Alessandro opposite Adda Gleason in the title role. He subsequently signed with Universal Studios, where he ranked among the studio's top stars for several years. Over the course of his silent film career, Salisbury appeared in more than 40 pictures between 1914 and 1922, including a number of westerns. He formed his own production company in 1920 and produced and starred in The Barbarian that same year. His final starring role in silent film was in The Great Alone (1922), in which he played a half-Native American college student and football player.

During the late 1910s, Salisbury purchased a 40-acre citrus ranch near Hemet, California. When he registered for the World War I draft in late 1918, he and his mother were living at the Mountain View Inn at 5956 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, where they were still residing in 1920. In June 1928, he returned to the United States at the Port of San Francisco aboard the S.S. Taiyo Maru, arriving from Kobe, Japan, and listing his address as Hemet, California.

With the arrival of sound film, Salisbury made two further screen appearances. He appeared in the Christie comedy short Her Husband's Woman in 1929 and then played John Lamar in Universal's ten-chapter serial The Jade Box (1930), which proved to be his final work in film. By 1930 he was living at the Warner Kelton Hotel at 6326 Lexington Avenue in Hollywood. In February 1932, he returned to Southern California from Ensenada, Mexico, aboard the S.S. Ruth Alexander, again listing 6326 Lexington Hollywood as his address.

On July 2, 1935, Salisbury was admitted to Patton State Hospital, a mental facility near San Bernardino, possibly under his birth name, Orr Cash, with his occupation recorded as hotel clerk. Approximately one month later he suffered a fall at the institution that proved fatal. He died on August 7, 1935, at the age of 59 from a fractured skull sustained in that fall. His identity was not immediately recognized, and he had been at a local mortuary for a day before it was established. His funeral was held on August 9, 1935, in San Bernardino, attended by only four mourners. His remains were subsequently returned to Los Angeles for cremation, and his ashes were interred alongside his mother in the family plot at Rosedale Cemetery.