Warner Richmond

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American actor

title: "Warner Richmond" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1886-births", "1948-deaths", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-stage-actors", "male-western-(genre)-film-actors", "american-male-silent-film-actors", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "burials-at-chapel-of-the-pines-crematory", "american-people-of-german-descent", "male-actors-from-wisconsin"] description: "American actor" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Richmond" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameWarner Richmond
imageWarner Richmond ca. 1915.jpg
captionRichmond 1915
birth_date
birth_placeRacine, Wisconsin, U.S.
birth_nameWerner Paul Raetzmann
death_date
death_placeLos Angeles, California, U.S.
resting_placeChapel of the Pines Crematory
yearsactive1912–1946
occupationActor
spouse
children1
::

| name = Warner Richmond | image = Warner Richmond ca. 1915.jpg | caption = Richmond 1915 | birth_date = | birth_place = Racine, Wisconsin, U.S. | birth_name = Werner Paul Raetzmann | death_date = | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Chapel of the Pines Crematory | yearsactive = 1912–1946 | occupation = Actor | spouse = | children = 1

Warner Richmond (born Werner Paul Otto Raetzmann; January 11, 1886 – June 19, 1948) was an American stage and film actor. He began his career as a stock theatre actor and appeared in films in both the silent film and sound eras. His career spanned four decades. He is possibly best recalled for appearances in Westerns in his later career in sound films. Between 1912 and 1946, he appeared in more than 140 films.

Early life

Warner Richmond was born in Racine, Wisconsin, as Werner Paul Otto Raetzmann, one of seven children born to Wilhelm ("William") Raetzmann and Emilie ("Amelia") Licht. Richmond's father was a German immigrant from Hanover who worked as a printer in Reedsburg. His mother was Wisconsin-born and raised, and of German immigrant parents. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, he became an expert horseman, and this skill would later earn him roles in western movies. As a young man, he moved to Chicago and lived with his brother Ewald and worked as traveling salesman of musical merchandise while pursuing a career as a stage actor.

Career

By the early 1910s, Richmond was working steadily as a travelling stage actor in stock theater. Richmond's only known credited Broadway stage role was in a 1913 production of the Augustus Thomas play Indian Summer, alongside Creighton Hale.

Richmond's first credited film appearance was as the character Dick in the 1912 Ralph Ince directed dramatic short The Godmother for Vitagraph Studios in New York City. By 1917 he was a working consistently as an actor at Solax Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. His first appearance in a Western genre film was as the character Dr. Newberry in House Peters' 1915 The Great Divide. When the film industry later relocated to southern California, Richmond and his family also moved and settled in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Toluca Lake. Richmond, who was not a contracted actor, made films with nearly all major film studios and by the late 1910s and early 1920s played both leading and second lead roles in crime dramas, romantic dramas, serials and Westerns. His career as an actor spanned over four decades and he appeared in prominent roles in Westerns, often playing a villain, particularly later in his career during the sound era.

In 1940, while filming the Albert Herman directed Tex Ritter Western Rainbow Over the Range in Prescott, Arizona, Richmond fell from his horse and suffered a fractured skull which left the left side of his face paralyzed and diminished vision in his left eye. Richmond was hospitalized for eight months following the accident and spent the following two years resting at home and massaging and pinching his face until his reflexes were restored. In 1944, he returned to films.

Personal life and death

Richmond married actress Felice Striker Rose on October 31, 1918. They had a son, Warner Richmond Jr. in 1921.

In the late 1940s, Richmond retired to the Motion Picture Country Home where he died on June 19, 1948, of coronary thrombosis, aged 62. He was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

Selected filmography

References

References

  1. "Warner Richmond". British Film Institute.
  2. Magers, Boyd. (2018). "Warner Richmond". Western Clippings.
  3. (2017). "Warner Richmond". The Old Corral.

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1886-births1948-deathsamerican-male-film-actorsamerican-male-stage-actorsmale-western-(genre)-film-actorsamerican-male-silent-film-actors20th-century-american-male-actorsburials-at-chapel-of-the-pines-crematoryamerican-people-of-german-descentmale-actors-from-wisconsin