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Francis Xavier Bushman was an American film actor and director. His career as a matinee idol started in 1911 in the silent film His Friend's Wife. He gained a large female following and was one of the biggest stars of the 1910s and early 1920s. Bushman, like many of his contemporaries, broke into the moving picture business via the stage. He rose to fame at Essanay Studios in Chicago, where he was first noticed for his muscular, sculpted frame. He appeared in nearly 200 feature film roles—more than 175 films before 1920, and 27 in his screen debut year of 1911 alone. He also worked for the Vitagraph studio before signing with Metro in 1915. He later went into radio and television.