Born in Council Bluffs, at twelve he ran away to join the circus. Harry began working in medicine shows in his teens. In 1906 he entered Vaudeville with Rose (Musolff) Langdon, his first wife. In 1929, a year after Rose died, he married Helen Walton. Two years after she died, he married Mabel Sheldon. In Hollywood he became one of the four big comics during the silent film era. Langdon always wrote his own material, and never understood why his character was so successful. He tried directing on his own, but was not as successful as when he was being directed by Frank Capra. Noted in his filmography is the fact that Frank Capra only directed two of his thirty silent comedies. Langdon's last silent film, and the last film he directed, "Heart Trouble" is a lost film. He's style never suited talkies, and he was not as funny articulate as he was pantomiming. But he was a big enough name to command leads in short subjects for Educational Pictures, and Columbia Pictures.
In 1938, he adapted a character that was the hen-pecked husband type and it served him well. He contributed as a script writer to Laurel and Hardy, and that led him to be partnered with Oliver Hardy in a 1939 film, when Stan Laurel had a contract dispute.
Langdon kept busy working until the completion of his last short film, Pistol Packin' Nitwits, only weeks before his death. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on December 22, 1944. He is interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contributions to the film industry.
In 1938, he adapted a character that was the hen-pecked husband type and it served him well. He contributed as a script writer to Laurel and Hardy, and that led him to be partnered with Oliver Hardy in a 1939 film, when Stan Laurel had a contract dispute.
Langdon kept busy working until the completion of his last short film, Pistol Packin' Nitwits, only weeks before his death. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on December 22, 1944. He is interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contributions to the film industry.
A list of his films include:
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