Monroe Salisbury

Monroe Salisbury was born Orange Salisbury Cash, the son of David Cash and Ellen Louise Salisbury Cash, and grandson of Aaron Cash and Ann Roat Cash of Evans, Erie County, New York. He grew up with two sisters, Adelaide Mary Cash and Anna Louise Cash. By 1900, he was a working actor supporting his widowed mother and living in Providence, Rhode Island. He performed on Broadway between 1903 and 1906. By 1914, he left New York for Hollywood to work in films and became well-known, playing opposite such actors as Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Lon Chaney, and Ruth Clifford eventually becoming a movie idol. He was six feet tall and ruggedly handsome, making him a great choice for western films. His most famous part was that of Allesandro in the film "Ramona" (1916). By the late 1920s, the aging actor was less in demand and he struggled to find parts. His last movie was in 1930 after which he disappeared from the Hollywood scene. On July 2, 1935, Salisbury was admitted to Patton State Hospital for the Insane in San Bernardino, California, his name unknown, his occupation a hotel clerk. A month later, on August 6th he fell, hitting his head and fracturing his skull. He lay in the morgue for two days before his sister, Adelaide Cash Bosche, identified him giving his real name as Orr S. Cash. His cremated remains were buried in the same grave with his mother, Ellen, who died in 1929, in the Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.