Born July 12, 1886, in Copenhagen, Denmark, he would become a well known actor in the United States.

He was also a Hans Christian Andersen enthusiast who assembled a large collection of books related to that writer (now in the Library of Congress). His translations of Andersen's Tales are considered the best English version in existence.

He died June 2, 1956, in Hollywood, California and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. .