Carl Voss (film extra)

Carl Voss (6 May 1896 – 18 September 1947)[1] was an American World War I veteran who besides appearing as a film extra and military film technical advisor commanded a private army of up to 2112 former servicemen who acted as extras in 232 films from 1923 to 1940.[2]

Film work

A former US Army staff sergeant in World War I, Voss both acted as a technical advisor and played a role as an officer in The Big Parade, a war film with a large number of extras playing both American and German soldiers. Voss drilled his extras, called the "Military Picture Players",[3] and made sure their appearance was correct for every film assignment, requiring his military extras to look the part no matter the nationality or time period they portrayed. Voss also had a role in and provided military advice for Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940).

Voss's private army made their last appearance in Archie Mayo's Four Sons (1940). The Screen Actors Guild decreed that no agent could accept a commission from an extra and that thereafter the studios would have to recruit their own extras. Voss's last appearance as an actor was in Two Years Before the Mast in 1946.

References

Wallenchinsky, David & Wallace, Amy The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information p. 50 Canongate 2005

Notes
  1. Varietyobituaries
  2. Robertson, Patrick Film FactsAurum Press (2001)
  3. P.126 Popular Science World's Craziest Jobs Make Movies Realistic Mar 1936

Carl Voss at IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0903694/

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