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After regional theatrical experience in Chicago and elsewhere, Bryant Washburn joined the Essanay film company as a leading man in 1913 or thereabouts. Washburn occasionally co-starred with his wife, Mabel Forrest; their son, Bryant Jr. (actually Bryant the fourth), also briefly pursued an acting career. Popular in the teens and early '20s, Washburn's star began to fade around 1925, when he could be found playing the supporting role of Prince Kynd in Larry Semon's version of The Wizard of Oz. Shortly afterward, he appeared in several of Hal Roach's "Comedy All-Stars" two-reelers, sharing screen space with such up-and-comers as Oliver Hardy and Jean Harlow. Bryant Washburn kept busy in features, Westerns, serials, and short subjects, often playing the first-reel murder victim, until his retirement in 1947.