Romaine Fielding

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Romaine Fielding, born William Grant Blandin on May 22, 1867, in Riceville, Iowa, was an American actor, writer, and silent-film director known for dramatic westerns. He also went by Royal A. Blandin. He grew up with his grandparents and worked many jobs before acting, including practicing medicine without formal training in Kansas City, prospecting for gold in Alaska, working as a travel agent, machinist, and railway engineer.

Fielding started in stock theater and joined Lubin Studios in 1911 at age 44. In 1912 he became director of the Lubin Southwest Company, while continuing to act. He wrote and directed films, often using local people as extras. He challenged stereotypes by avoiding villains based on Native Americans or Mexicans and his movies frequently ended on a somber note, yet were praised for their visual beauty and realism.

He shot on location in the Southwest—Tucson, Prescott, Nogales—and even filmed the Battle of Nogales as it happened, blending real and staged footage. He later set up an outdoor studio in Silver City, New Mexico, and rented the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico, renaming it Hotel Romaine. His films included The Rattlesnake and The Golden God, a five-reel epic with thousands of extras; the print of The Golden God was lost in a fire. He also staged costly train wrecks that Lubin reused in other films. In 1915 he helped Lubin shoot at night using a portable lighting plant he built.

Fielding served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Intelligence during World War I. After the war he started the General Film Manufacturing Corporation in St. Louis, but the business struggled and faced stock-selling charges in 1924. He later returned to Hollywood and continued working in film until his death.

He married three times—Icylene L. Richards (1890s), Mabel van Valkenburg (1907–c. 1917), and actress Joan Arliss (Naomi Sachs) in 1918—with whom he had three children. Romaine Fielding died on December 16, 1927, in Hollywood at age 60 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.