Person
Thomas A. Edison
Milan, Ohio, USA
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices…
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Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory. Edison was raised in the American Midwest; early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanic laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. He was a prolific inventor, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 of the complications of diabetes.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
EQUITY 6928
Movie Self (Archive)
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2020
History 101
TV show Self (archive footage)
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2019
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Movie Self (voice) (archive footage)
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2019
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2015
Edison
Movie Himself (archive footage)
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2011
The Extraordinary Voyage
Movie Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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2008
Murnau, Borzage and Fox
Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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2005
Edison: The Invention of the Movies
Movie Himself (archive footage)
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2002
Naqoyqatsi
Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1998
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1995
The Shadow of Hate: A History of Intolerance in America
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1990
The Crash of 1929
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1982
Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter
Movie Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1978
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
TV show Self (archive footage)
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1972
The Wizard Who Spat on the Floor
Movie Himself (Archival Footage)
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1964
Horizon
TV show Self
More credits
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1955
MGM Parade
TV show Self
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1950
The Golden Twenties
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1946
Okay for Sound
Movie
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1942
The Film That Was Lost
Movie Self (archive footage)
- 1928
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1922
A Day with Thomas A. Edison
Movie Self
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1915
Censorship and Its Absurdities
Movie Producer
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1914
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Movie Producer
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1914
Andrew Carnegie
Movie Producer
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1914
The Old Violin
Movie Producer
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1914
The Birth of the Telephone
Movie Producer
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1913
Nursery Favorites
Movie Producer
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1913
The Politician
Movie Producer
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1913
Julius Caesar
Movie Producer
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1913
The Deaf Mute
Movie Producer
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1913
A Minstrel Show
Movie Producer
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1913
The Old Guard
Movie Producer
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1913
The Musical Blacksmiths
Movie Producer
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1913
The Edison Kinetophone
Movie Producer
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1913
Jack's Joke
Movie Producer
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1913
The Five Bachelors
Movie Producer
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1913
Her Redemption
Movie Producer
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1913
The Irish Policeman
Movie Producer
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1913
Votes for Women
Movie Producer
