Joseph Kaufman

Joseph Kaufman (1882 – February 1, 1918) was an American silent film actor and director prominent during the World War I years. He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in New York City.

Kaufman graduated from Georgetown University. His wife was silent film star Ethel Clayton.

Kaufman started out as an actor appearing on Broadway in Mistakes Will Happen (1906) and The Pretty Sister of Jose (1903) with Maude Adams. His other Broadway credits included Three Twins (1908), Caught in the Rain (1906), Twiddle-Twaddle (1906), and La Belle Marseillaise (1905). He acted in a troupe of Henry B. Harris.

Kaufman organized the Motion Picture Directors Association. Following his death in February 1918, both of his parents died—his mother on April 9, 1918, and his father on April 18, 1918.

Kaufman died of pneumonia on February 1, 1918, at New York's Polyclinic Hospital. He was 35 years old. His funeral was held at the Funeral Church on Broadway and 66th Street

Selected filmography The Fortune Hunter (1914) The Wolf (1914) (*as actor) Heartaches (1915)

The College Widow (1915) (*as actor) The Sporting Duchess (1915) The World's Great Snare (1916) Dollars and the Woman (1916) Ashes of Embers (1916) Nanette of the Wilds (1916) Broadway Jones (1917) The Amazons (1917) Arms and the Girl (1917) The Land of Promise (1917) Shirley Kaye (1917) The Song of Songs (1918)