Vincent Coleman

Vincent Coleman (February 16, 1900 – October 26, 1971) was an American actor who worked in both stage and silent film during the late 1910s and early 1920s. Born in Louisiana, he died in Los Angeles, California at the age of seventy-one.

Coleman began performing at a young age, touring the United States with the Cecil Spooner stock theater company. At twelve years old he made his film debut in the 1912 Frank Montgomery drama short The Junior Officer, appearing alongside Hobart Bosworth and Camille Astor. In the early portion of his career he was occasionally billed as Willie B. Coleman. He returned to the stage at sixteen to appear in the 1917 Broadway play Difference in Gods, one of three Broadway productions in which he would be credited between 1917 and 1921.

Following his Broadway appearance in Difference in Gods, Coleman transitioned back to film, taking on juvenile roles for Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, First National, and Paramount. His screen work during this period placed him opposite actors including Corinne Griffith, Mae Murray, Constance Talmadge, and Constance Binney. In 1919 he appeared in Scarlet Trail, an anti-syphilis propaganda film inspired by the World War I medical pamphlet Don't Take a Chance. As the 1920s approached, Hollywood producers identified Coleman as a potential leading man. He received starring roles in two 1921 films: a remake of the 1914 Mary Pickford comedy Such a Little Queen, directed by George Fawcett, and The Magic Cup, released the same year.

Coleman returned to Broadway in July 1921 to star in Nice People, a production by Sam H. Harris in which he appeared opposite Tallulah Bankhead. His Broadway credits also include the play Martinique. In 1923 he played Herod in the independently produced film Salome opposite Diana Allen, a production that proved a significant financial failure. That same year he appeared in two additional films: Has the World Gone Mad! with Hedda Hopper and Elinor Fair, and the comedy The Purple Highway, starring Monte Blue, Madge Kennedy, and Pedro de Cordoba. After these releases Coleman retired from film at the age of twenty-two and directed his focus toward his stage career.