Unseen photographs of silent Hollywood stars including Charlie Chaplin to be auctioned for £1,000

A treasure trove of never-before-seen photos of historic silent film stars including Charlie Chaplin and ‘forgotten’ fellow stars Leslie Stuart and Gloria Swanson from the early days of Hollywood have been unearthed.

More than 200 previously unseen snaps give a candid behind-the-scenes glimpse of what life was like back in the golden age of cinema creating, according to auctioneers an important record of movie history and life in Hollywood and Beverly Hills from more than a century ago up to the 1950s. 

Several of the photos, from Stuart’s personal photo album from a century ago, show Leslie and Charlie together in 1919 at Chaplin’s Studios in Los Angeles.

Charlie Chaplin (left) and Douglas Fairbanks (right) pose on set in rare photos 

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Leslie Stuart (left) and Jack Conway recline off set

Chaplin inscribed ‘To Leslie Stuart, from your sincere admirer Charlie Chaplin’ on one photo 

One photo is of the two of them arm-in-arm and Chaplin inscribed ‘To Leslie Stuart, from your sincere admirer Charlie Chaplin’ on the front of it.

Stuart replied and inscribed ‘To Father, from Leslie.’ 

Other photos in the historic collection show American actor Douglas Fairbanks with boxer Spike Robinson and photos of Douglas with notorious boxer Kid McCoy.

Those photographs are believed to have been taken when Fairbanks was making the film The Knickerbocker Buckeroo (1919) and employed Robinson, Montana and McCoy to help him get in shape for stunts. 

Leslie is also pictured with a young Gloria Swanson, who he starred in the 1918 film The Secret Code with.

In another image he can be seen surrounded by a group of young women on a beach, including silent film actress Clarine Seymour who died in April 1920 aged just 21. 

The stunning array of photos were owned by one of Leslie’s distant relative’s friends and have been passed down that same family for decades.

The album is expected to sell for £800 – £1,000 when it goes under the hammer at Ewbank’s Auctioneers in Surrey later this month. 

Denise Kelly, a specialist at Ewbank’s Auctioneers said: ‘These are not purely promotional photographs issued by studios, but the personal images taken by and of a man who was very much at the centre of Hollywood life – both professionally and socially – from the end of the First World War onwards.

‘They are packed with iconic stars like Chaplin, Swanson, Valentino and Fairbanks, but also with people who were once in the Hollywood limelight but who have since faded from view, each with a fascinating tale to tell. 

‘The personal nature of this album combined with the inclusion of so much Hollywood history makes it endlessly fascinating and of unique appeal to auction-goers.’ 

Leslie Stuart can be seen surrounded by a group of young women on a beach, including silent film actress Clarine Seymour

Chaplin poses with a young Jackie Coogan in between takes 

The photos are expected to fetch over £1000 at auction

Manchester-born Stuart, a contemporary of Chaplin, died in 1977 and had a film career that ran from around 1918 to 1925. But he seemingly disappeared into the mists of time and isn’t as widely renowned as Chaplin or his own father, the composer of the same name. 

He is known to have been living in London in 1950, when he wrote to Chaplin proposing the use of his father’s music in a new film project. 

But eventually returned to Los Angeles where he died. 

The album will appear in Ewbank’s Entertainment & Memorabilia auction on February 24, with bidding available online.