Trivia

Tall, strong-jawed silent screen actor/director, often associated with the early films of his then-wife, the director Lois Weber at Universal. Smalley was the son of wealthy parents and graduated from Oxford University. After brief stage experience, he started in films in 1911 as a leading man with Gaumont in New Jersey. Immensely prolific, he was at the peak of his career in the mid-1910's. He stopped directing in the 1920's and was eventually relegated to small part character roles and extra work by the 1930's.

Smalley was married to actress, writer, director, and producer Lois Weber from April 29, 1904, to 1922. They met in 1904 when Weber was acting in a theater where Smalley was stage manager. In 1908 Smalley and Weber began working for the U.S. division of Gaumont Film Company, where Smalley was an actor, and later a director. He is sometimes listed as a co-director with Lois Weber, and the extent of his contribution to her work is unresolved.

He began directing in 1911 and made more than 300 films by 1921.

He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1886.

Smalley began his career in vaudeville and acted in more than 200 films between 1910 and his death in 1939.