Trivia

Descendants own his hat, cane and gloves, as well as his scrap books and family photographs.

Lived at 704 Summit Dr, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.

Lived at 1660 Agate St, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.

Won a Variety Award (a forerunner of the Academy Award).

Enjoyed ocean cruising, during which he performed with other passengers and he made several trips to Britain, France, and later, in 1928, to Sydney, to visit his family for ten days, whom he had not seen for sixteen years.

Was taught by Walter Bentley at the College of Elocution and Dramatic Art, later joining the Walter Bentley Players.

Owned a large Spanish-style home in Laguna Beach, which still stands on what is now Rembrandt Drive, he rented room 806 at the Hollywood Athletic Club, and owned an apartment in Paris, France.

Later worked as a draftsman for the Los Angeles city council.

Publicity departments and press stated that he had been in the Australian Army and the Royal Flying Corps crack squadron 85, had French parentage, that his birth took place on a French ocean liner off the coast of Australia, that he had studied law and architecture, receiving his education in Australia and Paris, and that he had become an actor as a dare when he was a student of law.

As an early collector of Silent art; he built an impressive collection of silent films, (which were later acquired by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), press cuttings, photographs, and costumes, having saved all of them, his favorite being that worn by his Hamlet.

Owned and drove a Kissel roadster.

His hobbies were literature, music, painting, motoring, history, walking, swimming, athletics, research and archaeology.

Had a tenor voice.

Kept a clipping detailing a negative commentary, by a leading lady, on his comedic ability and intelligence in his pocket and showed it to people.

Initially, offended and disgusted, he turned down his role in Are Parents People? (1925).

He was good friends with Malcolm St. Clair and his first wife; Cordelia St Clair.

A favorite activity of many Hollywood stars of the 1920s was to spend an evening at the club and then go up to George's room to watch the old silent movies he'd collected.

Held a letter of recommendation written and signed by D.W. Griffith.

His US fan mail address was Hotel Algonquin, NY and his European fan mail address was Hotel Royal, Avenue Friedland, L'Etoile, Paris.

Directed movies in the US, Britain and Holland.

On June 11, 1919, he was dismissed from Fox because he "was generally rebellious, caused chaotic conditions to arise in the studio, acted as a disturbing influence, and after engaging all the cast and starting production on Number 17 (1920), he refused to continue with the work, hid the original scenario, and refused to return it.".

He had brown hair and brown eyes, and he always maintained a consistent weight of around 150 lbs.

He was a (trout) fishing buddy of James Smith, with whom he'd go, along with 'Dutch,' D.W. Griffith nighttime driver, and others, to Big Bear for several (largely unplanned) days away from the studio.

In 1926, The Los Angeles Examiner selected him to appear as a member of the 'All American Screen Players Team,' along with Estelle Taylor, Monte Blue, Norma Talmadge, Ricardo Cortez, Eleanor Boardman, Marion Davies, Patsy Ruth Miller, Sydney Chaplin, Ronald Colman, Noah Beery, Alec B. Francis, Julia Faye, William Boyd, Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen.

One late night, in June 1915, Edward Dillon came home to find his bungalow on fire, as W.E. Lawrence, Chester Withey, Irene Hunt, Walter Long, Teddy Sampson, George Siegmann, Fay Tincher, Ford Sterling, Franc Newman and Beranger, all wearing pajamas, tried to put out the flames. Their work was praised by the Los Angeles fire department, which found that the blaze had been caused by crossed wires, causing apparently serious damage.

In Nightmare Alley (1947) he sings 'The Boston Burglar, a folk song that has its' origins in 'The Whitby Lad,' a transportation song, which he may have been familiar with since childhood.

During the filming of The Failure (1915), Christy Cabanne deliberately failed to call for extras at the appropriate time so that when they were required he had none, thereby forcing Frank E. Woods to call everyone on the lot to take part, resulting in Beranger, Henry B. Walthall, Charles Clary, Jack Conway, Sam De Grasse, Ralph Lewis, Spottiswoode Aitken, George Siegmann and around twenty other leading men and directors appearing in the movie as barflies.

Appeared in the original, scrapped version of Love (1927), which was directed by Dmitriy Bukhovetskiy, and starred Ricardo Cortez and Greta Garbo, who were supported by Lionel Barrymore, Maude Turner Gordon, Mario Carillo, Helene Chadwick, Albert Conti, Zasu Pitts and Beranger. Garbo mentioned him in her 1927 article for Screenland.

In 1936, the press announced that Beranger, Frank Borzage, Malcolm St. Clair, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Henry Mollison, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, and Boyd Martin of the Louisville Courier-Journal were selected to attend a dinner held in honor of D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett.

In 1930, The Film Daily presented a new birthday section, which was discontinued in 1948. For its entire course, they always wished Beranger a happy birthday.

Unlike some silent stars, he experienced a resurgence of interest in his earlier work with; The Birth of a Nation (1915) being re-release (1923 and 1940), Are Parents People? (1925) and The Eagle of the Sea (1926) being entered into the Kodascope library (1936), and The Small Bachelor (1927) being listed in Mogull's Silent Motion Picture Library catalog, 1940 and 1945.

In Universal Weekly in October 1923, it was announced that he had been selected as one of the "best known names on the screen" and "among the most important" to be chosen to act in Universal's 1925 features, and in May 1927 Moving Picture World listed him as a Universal-Jewel Star.

Said that he had worked in every capacity on the set of D.W. Griffith , which was referred to as apprenticing, or training. Roles included prop boy, assistant, and being put in charge of firing people. Upon leaving the 'company' he was referred to as a graduate. Katherine Albert wrote, in her 1931 article for Photoplay, that "If Griffith arrived at nine o'clock to begin rehearsals, we knew that we would stop for lunch. If he did not arrive until eleven, it meant that we'd work until three before stopping. When he was hungry, he turned to his assistant director (his name was George, he is now Andre and he plays character roles) and said, "Tell them they may eat."".

He joined Equity in December 1920, nine months after the AF of L declared that Equity had jurisdiction. In November 1928, it was announced that (despite a production slump) he had been selected as a "Warner Talking Star" and that exhibitors would be assured, with his name in the cast, of a strong box office draw. He then made his first full 'talkie' Stark Mad (1929) , for which he received good voice reviews. In June 1929 it was announced that Equity had suspended him for signing a 'producer contract' and in July it was announced that Equity were taking out an injunction to prevent Warner Bros. from signing people again, thereby keeping him out of work until the end of the year when the press listed him simply as 'RKO talent' and following the stock market crash of October and the Great Depression that followed, he was forced to sell his house and land and it was around that time that he received his first small, uncredited role.

Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge (1920) , which he directed, had $10,000 ($157,087.50 in 2024) spent on a single scene. It was an anti-war movie, which caused producer Harry Levey to be called before the Senate. The movie was first shown to President Woodrow Wilson at the White House. It had two (sold out) premiers at which notable figures spoke, and Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt attended, and when it was released to the public, it was so popular that it was only shown at the larger venues and it had its own program. The movie was later selected to be shown as part of Veterans Appeal Day and as part of the League of Nations Day.

He was listed, or mentioned in the following books; The Film Year Book (1926), Masterpieces of the Screen (1927), The Film Daily Year Book (1928), Motion Picture News Blue Book (1929), Year Book of Motion Pictures (1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1937), Motion Picture Almanac (1930, 1931, and 1932), Year Book of Motion Pictures (1933), World Book of Pictures (1933), The World Film Encyclopedia (1933, 1936, and 1937), Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures (1942, and 1943), Motion Picture Production Encyclopedia (1949, 1950, and 1952), Motion Pictures 1912-1939 (1951), The Exhibitor General Edition (1953), A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen (1953), Classics of the Silent Screen (1959), Star Maker; The Story of D.W. Griffith (1959), Fifty Famous Films: 1915-1945 (1960), and The Film till Now: A Survey of World Cinema (1960).

He directed Burn 'Em Up Barnes (1921) , which had a brief color sequence, and he used real locals as extras, who just thought they were watching a real car race. Johnny Hines did not use a stunt double, and he was racing against numerous notable, professional race car drivers who Beranger had employed for the scene during which a member of the public drove a truck into the scene, and there was very nearly a fatal accident, which was only avoided due to the skillful driving of the professionals. The movie had an initial test screening and a premiere, and race cars were utilized in the film's publicity.