David Horsley (March 11, 1873 – February 23, 1933) was an English born pioneer of the movie industry who built the first movie studio in Hollywood.
Born in West Stanley, Durham, England, a small coal mining village where his entire family worked in the mines. At age nine, he fell on the railway tracks and his hand was badly injured when the train ran over it. Without proper medical care, and fearful of deadly gangrene poisoning, his arm was amput...
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David Horsley (March 11, 1873 – February 23, 1933) was an English born pioneer of the movie industry who built the first movie studio in Hollywood.
Born in West Stanley, Durham, England, a small coal mining village where his entire family worked in the mines. At age nine, he fell on the railway tracks and his hand was badly injured when the train ran over it. Without proper medical care, and fearful of deadly gangrene poisoning, his arm was amputated about two inches below the elbow.
In 1884, the family emigrated to the United States, settling in Bayonne, New Jersey where as a young man he built a bicycle business and ran a pool hall. It was then that he met a former employee of Biograph Studios, Charles Gorman, and along with his brother William Horsley (1870-1956), they formed the Centaur Film Company. By 1910 their operation was producing three movies a week, including the Mutt and Jeff comedies.
David and William Horsely, along with other movie independents, succeeded in defeating...
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