---
name: "Norman Kerry"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/norman-kerry"
fi1m_id: "norman-kerry"
imdb_id: "nm0449908"
tmdb_id: 14485
wikidata_id: "Q1748282"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "15 June 1894"
died: "12 January 1956"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T06:25:49.189660+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Norman Kerry

## Identity

Norman Kerry

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/norman-kerry
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** norman-kerry
- **IMDb ID:** nm0449908
- **TMDB ID:** 14485
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1748282
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Kerry, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1748282, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449908/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14485

Actor. Born 15 June 1894 in Rochester, New York, USA. Died 12 January 1956.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 15 June 1894, Rochester, New York, USA
- **Died:** 12 January 1956
- **Also known as:** Norman Hussey Kaiser, Norman Kaiser
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Kerry, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1748282, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449908/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14485

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Unknown*](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Norman Kerry

> Norman Kerry’s conventional romantic heroes have a useful place beside Lon Chaney’s troubled men. In *The Unknown*, though, his thinly written Malabar leaves us waiting for the film to return to Chaney.

Norman Kerry’s slicked-back hair and carefully waxed moustache make him easy to place in a silent-film romance. Beside Lon Chaney’s tormented figures, he was often cast as the more conventional romantic or heroic counterpart. There is useful work in giving a melodrama someone less alarming to turn towards. We are less persuaded when that contrast is expected to make up for a character who has scarcely been written.

Kerry was already a leading man opposite Mary Pickford in *The Little Princess* (1917). The 1920s made that his regular employment, with leading roles under contract to Universal and later MGM. His Phoebus in *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1923) and Raoul in *The Phantom of the Opera* (1925) placed him alongside Chaney. We should not expect him to play the same kind of part simply because the films put the two men together.

*The Unknown* (1927), directed by Tod Browning, shows the difficulty plainly. Kerry plays Malabar opposite Joan Crawford’s Nanon Zanzi, while Chaney’s Alonzo holds most of our attention. We were uncomfortably absorbed by Alonzo, whose intensity left us impatient to return to him whenever the romance needed our interest elsewhere. We recommend the film, but Kerry is less compelling than Crawford, who at least provides some relief from that intensity.

Waldemar Young’s screenplay, from Browning’s story, bears some responsibility for that imbalance. Crawford also needs a fuller character, so it would be unfair to treat Malabar’s limitations as proof that Kerry cannot hold our interest. A more forceful performance would not necessarily solve the problem: the romance needs people we care about separately. We want more from Malabar than an alternative to Alonzo.

There were other settings for his leading-man work, including the Scottish historical romance *Annie Laurie* (1927), opposite Lillian Gish. After the arrival of sound, his appearances became sparse, with *Air Eagles* and *Bachelor Apartment* among the films he made in 1931. That decline should not become a convenient verdict on every silent performance. Start with *The Unknown* for Browning and Chaney; anyone coming chiefly for Kerry should temper their expectations.

## Biography

Norman Kerry (born Norman Hussey Kaiser) was an American actor. He appeared in films from 1916 to 1941, with his career peaking during the silent era of the 1920s.

He is known for his roles as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny in *The Phantom of the Opera* (1925), Phoebus de Chateaupers in *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1923) and Malabar in *The Unknown* (1927). Kerry received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Unknown* (1927), Fi1m 80, as Malabar — [page](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md)

## Complete filmography (64)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Phantom of Santa Fe* (1936), as Miguel 'Mike' Morago, aka The Hawk
- *Bachelor Apartment* (1931), as Lee Graham
- *Ex-Flame* (1930), as Beaumont Winthrop
- *The Phantom of the Opera* (1929), as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
- *The Woman I Love* (1929), as Kenneth Hamilton
- *Trial Marriage* (1929), as Oliver Mowbray
- *Man, Woman and Wife* (1929), as Rance Rogers / Ralph Brandon
- *The Bondman* (1929), as Jason
- *The Woman from Moscow* (1928), as Loris Ipanoff
- *The Foreign Legion* (1928), as Richard Farquhar
- *The Irresistible Lover* (1927), as J. Harrison Gray
- *Body and Soul* (1927), as Ruffo
- *Love Me and the World Is Mine* (1927), as Von Vigilatti
- *The Unknown* (1927), as Malabar — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md)
- *Annie Laurie* (1927), as Ian Macdonald
- *The Claw* (1927), as Maurice Stair
- *The Love Thief* (1926), as Prince Boris Alexander Emanuel Augustus
- *The Barrier* (1926), as Meade Burrell
- *Mademoiselle Modiste* (1926), as Etienne
- *Under Western Skies* (1926), as Robert Erskine
- *Lorraine of the Lions* (1925), as Don Mackay
- *The Phantom of the Opera* (1925), as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
- *Fifth Avenue Models* (1925), as Francis Doran
- *The Price of Pleasure* (1925), as Garry Schuyler
- *So This Is Marriage?* (1924), Actor
- *Butterfly* (1924), as Konrad Kronski
- *Hello, 'Frisco* (1924), as Norman Kerry
- *Between Friends* (1924), as Jack Greylock
- *Cytherea* (1924), as Peyton Morris
- *True As Steel* (1924), as Harry Boutelle
- *The City of Stars: A Reporters Visit to the Universal Studios* (1924), Actor
- *Daring Youth* (1924), as John J. Campbell
- *The Shadow of the East* (1924), as Said
- *The Satin Girl* (1923), as Dr. Richard Taunton
- *The Acquittal* (1923), as Robert Armstrong
- *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1923), as Phoebus de Chateaupers
- *Merry-Go-Round* (1923), as Count Franz Maximilian Von Hohenegg
- *Is Money Everything?* (1923), as John Brand
- *Till We Meet Again* (1922), as Robert Carter
- *The Man From Home* (1922), as Prince Kinsillo
- *Find the Woman* (1922), as Marc Weber
- *Three Live Ghosts* (1922), as Billy Foster
- *Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford* (1921), as 'Blackie' Daw
- *Little Italy* (1921), as Antonio Tumullo
- *The Wild Goose* (1921), as Ogden Fenn
- *Proxies* (1921), as Peter Mendoza
- *Buried Treasure* (1921), as Dr. John Grant
- *A Splendid Hazard* (1920), as John Fitzgerald
- *Passion's Playground* (1920), as Prince Vanno Della Robbia
- *Soldiers of Fortune* (1919), as Robert Clay
- *The Dark Star* (1919), as Jim Neeland
- *Virtuous Sinners* (1919), as Hamilton Jones
- *Getting Mary Married* (1919), as James Winthrop, Jr.
- *Toton* (1919), as David Lane
- *The Talk of the Town* (1918), Actor
- *Good Night, Paul* (1918), as Richard Landers
- *Rose o' Paradise* (1918), as Theodore King
- *Up The Road With Sallie* (1918), as Joshua Cabot II, aka Smith Jones
- *Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley* (1918), as Gordon Phillips
- *A Little Princess* (1917), as Capt. Richard Crewe
- *The Little American* (1917), as Wounded Soldier (uncredited)
- *The Black Butterfly* (1916), as Vladimir
- *Manhattan Madness* (1916), as Country Club Patron with Monocle (uncredited)
- *Vanity* (1916), as Crandell

## Gallery

- ![Norman Kerry](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-01df469cebf6.jpg) Norman Kerry — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Norman_kerry.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Publicity still for Annie Laurie (1927)](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-f4db91bf4ec6.jpg) Publicity still for Annie Laurie (1927) — Employee(s) of MGM, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Gish%2C_Lillian_%28Annie_Laurie%29_04.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Still from the American silent film The Acquittal (1923). Subjects: motion pictures, actresses, actors](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-66b8ea1abc1a.jpg) Still from the American silent film The Acquittal (1923). Subjects: motion pictures, actresses, actors — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/The_Acquittal_%28SAYRE_14772%29.jpg/1280px-The_Acquittal_%28SAYRE_14772%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Still from the American comedy film Daring Youth (1924), on page 28 of the 31 December 1925 A Scena Muda.](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-6129f1738f0c.jpg) Still from the American comedy film Daring Youth (1924), on page 28 of the 31 December 1925 A Scena Muda. — B.F. Zeidman Productions Ltd. / Principal Distributing Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Daring_Youth_%281924%29_-_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Norman Kerry](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-f8c2b685b584.jpg) Norman Kerry — Image via TMDB
- ![Norman Kerry](https://film.one/media/person/3850468/gallery-1b49437f5540.jpg) Norman Kerry — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/norman-kerry