James Kirkwood Sr.

Kirkwood debuted on screen in 1909 and was soon playing leads for D. W. Griffith. He started directing in 1912, and became a favorite of Mary Pickford, with whom he is rumored to have had an affair. In 1923, he married actress Lila Lee; with her, he had a son, James Kirkwood Jr., who became a successful writer, winning both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for A Chorus Line.^[2][3] Previously he had been married to Gertrude Robinson, with whom he also had a child.^[4] During his marriage to Robinson, he had an affair with Mary Miles Minter, who was 15 at the time. They "married" without clergy in the countryside near Santa Barbara. Their relationship ended after Minter became pregnant with Kirkwood's child and underwent an abortion.^[5]

In 1931, he married actress Beatrice Powers, and had a daughter, Joan Mary Kirkwood, with her. They divorced in 1934, with Powers citing mental cruelty.^[6] He married Marjorie Davidson (1920–2008) in 1940, and had a son with her, Terrance Michael Kirkwood (born 1941).

He was George Melford's original choice for the starring role of Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in The Sheik, which was later famously passed to Rudolph Valentino.^[7][8] His directing career fizzled in 1920,^{[citation needed]} but he continued acting well into the 1950s. His film career would span more than two hundred films over nearly a half century.

He died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.^[9]