Thomas Harper Ince

 Thomas Harper Ince (November 16, 1880 – November 19, 1924)

Ince was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for making over 800 films. He revolutionized the motion picture industry by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of film making. He was the first mogul to build his own film studio dubbed "Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. Ince was also instrumental in developing the role of the producer in motion pictures. Two of his films, The Italian (1915), for which he wrote the screenplay, and Civilization (1916), which he directed, were selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. He later entered into a partnership with D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett to form the Triangle Motion Picture Company, whose studios are the present-day site of Sony Pictures. He then built a new studio about a mile from Triangle which is now the site of Culver Studios. Ince's untimely death at the height of his career after he became severely ill aboard the private yacht of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst has caused much speculation, although the official cause of his death was heart failure.

However, several conflicting stories circulated about the incident, often revolving around a claim that Hearst shot Ince in the head mistaking him for Chaplin Chaplin (In a jealous rage). Chaplin's valet, Toraichi Kono, claimed to have seen Ince when he came ashore via stretcher in San Diego. Kono told his wife that Ince's head was "bleeding from a bullet wound." However, during Ince's funeral, the Los Angeles Times noted that his casket would remain open for one hour "to afford friends and studio employees to pass for one last glimpse of the man they loved and respected", with no witnesses ever mentioning a bullet wound. Unfortunately, the myth of Ince's death overshadowed his reputation as a pioneering filmmaker and his role in the growth of the film industry. His studio was sold soon after he died. His final film, Enticement, a romance set in the French Alps, was released posthumously in 1925.