Anthony J. Xydias(1879-1952)

Greek-born film producer Anthony J. Xydias got his start in the movie industry in 1909, when he opened up a theater in Dallas, TX. It was successful and it wasn't long before he had a string of theaters. In 1922 he decided to get into film production and started Sunset Productions, which specialized in low-budget westerns. His first "star" was cowboy actor Jack Hoxie. His films, while short-running and inexpensive, nonetheless proved successful, and Hoxie soon left for greener pastures--the much greener, and much bigger, ones at Universal Pictures.

Xydias elevated character player Kenneth MacDonald to replace Hoxie, but his pictures flopped and he was soon booted in favor of J.B. Warner, an actual cowboy from Nebraska. Warner made six pictures for Sunset before unfortunately dying from leukemia. Xydias apparently gave up on trying to groom a star for his westerns and decided to make a series of pictures about famous western figures from America's past: Buffalo Bill, George Custer, Daniel Boone, and others. While none would compete with the spectacles put out by Cecil B. DeMille, they were a notch or two above the flood of cheap, mostly inept westerns being churned out by many low-buck producers of that era.

Ill health forced Xydias' retirement in 1931, but he came back six years later with promises of producing a string of more "historical" westerns. Unfortunately, the only one he managed to turn out was Heroes of the Alamo (1937), a shoddy "epic" that turned off critics and audiences alike. He retired from the business after the failure of this film. In 1941 he was in the Philippines on a business trip when the country was invaded by Japanese forces. Xydias was captured and interned in a prison camp for the duration of the war.

He died in Los Angeles, CA, in 1952.