J. Gordon Edwards

Who was J. Gordon Edwards?

J. Gordon Edwards was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and a writer who began his career as a stage actor and as a stage director. He made his directorial debut on film in 1914's St. Elmo.

Edwards went on helming all of the Fox Film Corporation's mega-budget spectacles, including all of actress Theda Bara's productions between 1916 to 1919. Later, he became the production supervisor at Fox, and continued to direct until he died in 1925. One of his biggest projects was The Queen of Sheba, a lost silent film which contained a huge chariot race, four years before Ben-Hur. He was the stepgrandfather of director Blake Edwards.

J. Gordon Edwards died in New York City at age 58 and was interred at Kensico Cemetery in a grandiose private mausoleum with a minaret on each side similar to the Taj Mahal.