BEN TURPIN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Ben Turpin was born on September 19th, 1869 in New Orleans, Louisiana with the birth name Bernard Turpin.  When he was seven years old he moved with his father to New York's lower Eastside and as a young adult he lived on the streets as a 'bum'.  When he saw an add in a newspaper looking for a comedy act, he applied and actually got the job.
 
Ben became known throughout his career as one of the most well known comedians during the silent era.  He worked in vaudeville, burlesque, circuses and films.  He was known for his physical appearance, a very small man, with a mustache and his famous cross eyes which he claims were the result of an accident.  Ben would do comedy acts on stage where he would even do acrobatic somersaults on the stage and land on his back which became known as the "108".  
 
In 1938, he began working in the film industry normally playing 'goofy' characters who could never do anything right.  When he was finally introduced to Charlie Chaplin through Essanay Studio's, he was then brought to the attention of Mack Sennett.  With Sennett guiding his career, Turpin became one of the top comedy slapstick comedians of the silent era.  Some of his more well known films were roles in, "The Shriek of Araby" (1923), "A Blonde's Revenge" (1926) with Vernon Dent, Barbara Tennant and Billy Gilbert, "Daddy Boy" (1927) with William Searby and Alma Bennett and "She Said No" (1928) co-starring Edwin Argus and Addie McPhail.
 
Throughout his entire career he was well aware that if he ever lost his trademarked "cross Eyes" that his career would fall apart.  He firmly believed that a sharp blow to the head could cause his eyes to un cross and therefore, if he ever acted up on set, the director would threaten to "uncross his eyes", which made him be compliant on set. 
 
As his career progressed and the silent film era came to an end with sound films on the rise, his popularity declined rapidly and mostly was just offered cameo appearances for other more popular stars.  His final role was in, "Saps at Sea" (1940) co-starring Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Hall, James Finlayson and Richard Cramer.
 
Along with his acting career, he was also a pretty smart investor making a number of investments in real estate which helped him become one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. 
     
He married twice throughout his lifetime, first to Carrie Turpin on February 18th, 1907 and they remained married until she passed away on October 3rd, 1925.  His second wife was Babette Dietz whom he married on July 8th, 1926 and they were together having no children until, Ben Turpin passed away on July 1st, 1940 in Santa Monica, California from heart disease.
 
He is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale California. 

 
Filmography

1944 Once Over Lightly 
1940 Saps at Sea 
1939 Hollywood Cavalcade
1935 Keystone Hotel 
1935 Bring 'Em Back a Lie 
1935 The Little Big Top
1934 The Law of the Wild 
1932 Hypnotized 
1932 Million Dollar Legs 
1932 Make Me a Star 
1932 Lighthouse Love 
1932 Running Hollywood 
1931 Ambassador Bill 
1931 Our Wife
1931 Cracked Nuts 
1930 A Hollywood Theme Song 
1930 Swing High 
1930 A Royal Romance
1929 The Show of Shows
1929 The Love Parade 
1929 Taking the Count
1929 The Hollywood Dressmaker 
1928 A Woman's Way 
1928 The Wife's Relations 
1928 Holding His Own 
1928 Idle Eyes 
1928 Seein' Things 
1928 She Said No 
1928 The Cockeyed Family 
1928 The Eyes Have It
1928 Why Babies Leave Home 
1927 Daddy Boy
1927 The College Hero 
1927 Love's Languid Lure
1927 The Pride of Pikeville 
1927 Broke in China
1927 The Jolly Jilter
1927 A Hollywood Hero
1926 A Blonde's Revenge 
1926 A Harem Knight 
1926 A Prodigal Bridegroom 
1926 When a Man's a Prince
1925 Steel Preferred 
1925 Hogan's Alley 
1925 The Marriage Circus 
1925 The Raspberry Romance 
1925 The Wild Goose Chaser 
1924 The Reel Virginian
1924 Three Foolish Weeks 
1924 Romeo and Juliet
1924 Yukon Jake 
1924 The Hollywood Kid
1924 Ten Dollars or Ten Days
1923 The Daredevil 
1923 Asleep at the Switch 
1923 Pitfalls of a Big City 
1923 Where's My Wandering Boy This Evening?
1923 The Shriek of Araby 
1922 Home Made Movies 
1922 Step Forward 
1922 Bright Eyes 
1921 Love and Doughnuts
1921 Molly O'
1921 Love's Outcast 
1921 Home Talent 
1921 She Sighed by the Seaside
1921 A Small Town Idol 
1920 The Quack Doctor 
1920 You Wouldn't Believe It
1920 Married Life 
1920 Down on the Farm 
1920 The Close Shave 
1920 The Star Boarder
1920 The Nutcrackers 
1920 Bloggie's Vacation
1920 Countess Bloggie 
1919 The Speakeasy
1919 A Lady's Tailor 
1919 Salome vs. Shenandoah
1919 Uncle Tom Without a Cabin 
1919 The Dentist
1919 Treating 'Em Rough
1919 Trying to Get Along
1919 No Mother to Guide Him
1919 Love's False Faces
1919 When Love Is Blind 
1919 The Foolish Age 
1919 The Village Smithy
1919 Yankee Doodle in Berlin 
1919 East Lynne with Variations 
1919 Cupid's Day Off
1918 Hide and Seek, Detectives 
1918 Whose Little Wife Are You?
1918 Sleuths
1918 She Loved Him Plenty
1918 Her Screen Idol
1918 Two Tough Tenderfeet 
1918 Love Loops the Loop
1918 The Battle Royal
1918 His Smothered Love
1918 Saucy Madeline 
1918 Sheriff Nell's Tussle 
1918 Watch Your Neighbor
1917 Taming Target Center 
1917 That Night
1917 Are Waitresses Safe? 
1917 Roping Her Romeo
1917 A Bedroom Blunder 
1917 The Pawnbroker's Heart
1917 Lost: A Cook
1917 Pete's Pants 
1917 Two Laughs 
1917 A Clever Dummy 
1917 Sole Mates
1917 Cactus Nell
1917 Oriental Love
1917 Caught in the End 
1917 Bucking the Tiger 
1917 Masked Mirth
1917 When Ben Bolted 
1917 Frightened Flirts
1917 His Bogus Boast
1917 A Studio Stampede
1917 The Butcher's Nightmare
1917 The Musical Marvel
1917 A Circus Cyclone
1916 Jealous Jolts
1916 Taking the Count 
1916 Shot in the Fracas
1916 A Waiting Game 
1916 The Wicked City
1916 Some Bravery 
1916 Picture Pirates
1916 A Safe Proposition 
1916 He Did and He Didn't
1916 Ducking a Discord
1916 Poultry à la Mode 
1916 Doctoring a Leak
1916 The Stolen Booking
1916 Some Liars
1916 Lost and Found
1916 Bungling Bill's Dress Suit
1916 For Ten Thousand Bucks 
1916 A Deep Sea Liar 
1916 I Hired and Fired 
1916 Just for a Kid
1916 When Papa Died
1916 The Iron Mitt 
1916 Delinquent Bridegrooms 
1916 His Blowout 
1916 Nailing on the Lid
1916 National Nuts
1916 Burlesque on Carmen 
1915 A Christmas Revenge 
1915 Snakeville's Champion 
1915 The Escape of Broncho Billy
1915 The Merry Models 
1915 Broncho Billy's Love Affair
1915 It Happened in Snakeville 
1915 Too Much Turkey 
1915 When Snakeville Struck Oil
1915 The Convict's Threat 
1915 Snakeville's Hen Medic 
1915 Broncho Billy and the Card Sharp
1915 A Quiet Little Game 
1915 Versus Sledge Hammers 
1915 Broncho Billy Steps In
1915 The Bell-Hop 
1915 Snakeville's Twins 
1915 Others Started It, But Sophie Finished 
1915 Sweedie's Finish
1915 Sophie and the Fakir 
1915 A Bunch of Matches 
1915 Sweedie's Hero 
1915 Sweedie in Vaudeville 
1915 How Slippery Slim Saw the Show
1915 The Undertaker's Uncle 
1915 Their Social Splash
1915 A Coat Tale 
1915 Curiosity 
1915 Two Bold, Bad Men 
1915 Sweedie Learns to Ride 
1915 Love and Trouble 
1915 The Champion 
1915 Sweedie's Hopeless Love
1915 Hogan Out West 
1915 A Night Out 
1915 Hogan's Romance Upset
1915 Sweedie Goes to College 
1915 His New Job 
1915 Two Hearts That Beat as Ten
1915 Sweedie and Her Dog 
1915 The Clubman's Wager 
1915 Sweedie's Suicide 
1915 Sweedie and the Sultan's Present
1915 Snakeville's Debutantes 
1914 Sweedie Collects for Charity
1914 Their Cheap Vacation 
1914 Madame Double X 
1914 Sweedie and the Hypnotist 
1914 Sweedie at the Fair 
1914 Sweedie the Trouble Maker
1914 The Laundress 
1914 She Landed a Big One 
1914 Sweedie Learns to Swim
1914 The Fickleness of Sweedie
1914 Golf Champion 'Chick' Evans Links with Sweedie
1914 Sweedie's Clean-Up
1914 Sweedie's Skate
1914 Sweedie Springs a Surprise 
1914 Sweedie and the Double Exposure
1914 The Fable of the Busy Business Boy and the Droppers-In
1914 Sweedie and the Lord
1914 Sweedie the Swatter
1913 The Usual Way 
1910 The Hobble Skirt
1909 A Case of Seltzer 
1909 The New Cop
1909 The Little Advertiser 
1909 The Sleeping Tonic
1909 Mr. Flip 
1909 A Mexican's Gratitude
1909 The Rubes and the Bunco Men
1909 Midnight Disturbance 
1909 The Energetic Street Cleaner
1909 Tag Day 
1909 The Haunted Lounge 
1909 The Neighbors' Kids 
1909 Ben Gets a Duck and Is Ducked 
1908 Breaking Into Society
1908 Oh, What Lungs! 
1908 The Younger Brothers 
1907 A Free Lunch 
1907 Mr. Inquisitive 
1907 An Awful Skate; or, The Hobo on Rollers