Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century.Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school.In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country.In 1908, while Sills was performing in New York City, he garnered critical praise from such notable Broadway producers as David Belasco and Charles Frohman. That same year he made his Broadway debut in This Woman and This Man, which was an immediate success with both the theatergoing public and critics. From 1908 to 1914, Sills appeared in about a dozen Broadway shows, becoming a crowd favorite and attaining a great deal of fame.In 1910, Sills married English stage actress Gladys Edith Wynne, a niece of actress Edith Wynne Matthison. The union produced one child, Dorothy Sills, and the couple divorced in 1925. In 1926, Sills remarried, this time to silent film actress Doris Kenyon. The couple had a son, Kenyon Clarence Sills, born in 1927.
Before becoming an actor, he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago (IL).
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His principal heir was his nephew, Frederick (Fritz) Sills, who went on to become a world-famous body-builder. Fritz was lured to Hollywood in the 1960s where he was offered the starring role in Tarzan. He turned down the role when he learned that the salary was $1,750 a week, less than he was receiving from his uncles Trust Fund. Fritz Sills died in Hollywood in 1968.
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Fluent in Italian, Russian, French, and German
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One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
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Son Kenyon Clarence Sills (6 May 1927 - 11 April 1971)
$3 Million
