Francis X. Bushman was a favorite of my grandmother's, and I knew him from Ben Hur, so I watched with interest.
This is an excellent documentary about Bushman's career and life, and a fascinating look at early days of film and of film acting. And the money - $750 a week in the '20s with a $50,000 bonus (the equivalent of $717,000 today) at one point. He even owned a house on which Grauman's Chinese Theatre was eventually built. And he spent it all and lost it all in the Wall St. Crash.
Hosted by his grandson, we learn that Bushman's career was multivaried - he started as a sculptor's model, worked in the old nickolodeon short films and on the stage, and he became a huge silent film star and matinee idol.
Bushman handled aging and the downturn in his career by working in radio, becoming a spokesperson for the elderly, and later appearing in films and television. In fact, the day he died, he was on his way to a film job.
The documentary is only an hour and is packed with information and film clips. Give it a watch. It's worth it.
