Biography

William J. Bowman (sometimes cited William J. Bauman; February 27, 1884 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actor, writer, and director noted for his work in the early 1900s on silent productions for studios in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and in Los Angeles during the first decade of filmmaking in and around Hollywood. His direction of a series of films with matinee idol Francis X. Bushman in 1915 and his direction of the serials The Invisible Hand in 1920 and The Avenging Arrow in 1921 form only a small part of Bowman's extensive filmography.

William J. Bowman's surname in some silent-era film reviews and news items, as well in some modern references on American film history, is occasionally misidentified or also cited as William J. "Bauman." It is significant that in the extensive "Studio Directory" published by the trade magazine Motion Picture News in January and October 1916 no "William J. Baumen" is mentioned among more than 2,000 "authorized" biographies of actors, actresses, directors, writers, technicians, executives, and "Other Members of the Film Industry." Only William J. Bowman, as a director, is profiled. The lack of any reference to a William J. Bauman in the editions of that directory, the absence of even a basic profile on him in earlier or later film-industry publications, and the attribution of credits to both men for the same films—such as The Starbucks, The Beautiful Unknown, and The Terror of the Fold—indicate that Bowman and Bauman were actually the same person.