Thurlow Bergen

Thurlow Weed Bergen (January 14, 1875 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor who worked in stage and silent film. Born in East Saginaw, Michigan, he was the son of Ella (née Winner) Bergen and George B. Bergen, a lawyer. As a child, Bergen composed and performed a song called Esther's Lullaby, which became well known around the turn of the century. He performed it at the White House for President Grover Cleveland, who granted him permission to dedicate the piece to his daughter Esther.

Bergen initially pursued a legal education in Washington, D.C., but abandoned that path at age nineteen to become an actor. He relocated to Newton, Massachusetts, where in 1899 he married Clara Beatrice Farquhar, the daughter of Boston financier Samuel Farquhar. He established a touring company and also engaged in writing, producing children's stories as well as continuing his work in composition.

His Broadway career spanned from 1900 to 1938 and included appearances in productions such as Ourselves, If Booth Had Missed, The Virgin of Bethulia, Monte Cristo, and Pietro, among others. Prior to 1914, Bergen worked exclusively in stage performance. That year he transitioned into film, making his screen debut in the Pathé production The Stain. By that time his marriage to Farquhar had ended, and in May 1914 he married fellow Broadway performer Elsie Esmond, née Sturkow. The two served as leading man and lady in numerous early productions from Whartons Studio, filmed in Ithaca, New York, including The Boundary Rider, The Kiss of Death, A Prince of India, The Fireman and the Girl, and The Stolen Birthright, all released in 1914, as well as The Lottery Man in 1916. Additional film credits include The Running Fight and The Little Gypsy, both from 1915, The City from 1916, and Lure of Ambition from 1919.

After 1920, Bergen returned to the stage and continued performing on Broadway into the late 1930s. The 1940 census recorded him as a single theater actor residing in an apartment in Manhattan. He died on May 1, 1954.