Film Producer. He is remembered for his part in the pioneer years of the American film industry. In a time before Hollywood, California, he, as a teenager, was making films in New Jersey. In 1914, he co-founded Alco Productions, a short-term adventure that lasted one year. In 1915, he was co-founder of Quality Pictures Corporation with Joseph W. Engel and cinematographer, Fred J. Balsholfer, and in 1916, these three men co-founded Yorke Film Corporation. In 1916, he and Louis B. Mayer started the original Metro Pictures Corporation before Mayer left in 1918 to form his own studio. In 1918 he appears in a role as himself in a comedy-drama film, “Pay Day.” Rowland is quoted as saying“the lunatics have taken over the asylum,” when noted actors, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford left Metro in 1919 to form United Artists Studio; this was done in an attempt to control their own careers. Becoming an executive at Fox Film Corporation, he sold in 1920 Metro Pictures to Marcus Loew. Years later after several merges, Metro Pictures became part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM Studios; in 1981 MGM purchased United Artist. He played a significant role in setting standards and improving the speed of movie projection to improve the quality of the viewing experience. He was a member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, the forerunner of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He became a professor at Columbia University in New York City, where he wrote several academic articles on the role that films played in the modern culture. In one of his essays, “American Classics”, he argues that the Marx Brothers films were classic and would stand the test of time; this essay was published in the “Hollywood Quarterly” April, 1947. Also, in his early film career days, there were no laws governing filmmakers, thus he was part of that era testifying before the State of New York Senate in January 1917. For his contributions to the film industry, he has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1541 Vine Street. Among his over 50 productions were “What People Will Say?” in 1915, “The Eternal Question” in 1916, “The Divorcee” in 1919, “The Patent Leather Kid,” “Hard Boiled Haggerty” and “The Lovelorn” in 1927, “The Barker,” “The Shepard of the Hills” and “The Little Shepard of Kingdom in 1928, “The Divine Lady,” “House of Horror,” and “Two Weeks Off” in 1929 and “I'd Give My Life” and “Along Came Love” in 1936. Prior to 1929, the movies were silent; the 1929 movies were not completely silent as Vitaphone was used to give sound in certain scenes of the movies. Many of his earliest films have disintegrated turning to dust while being archived. The last film that he produced was a historical drama in 1941, “Cheers for Miss Bishop.” His later films were produced under Richard A. Rowland Productions. A very successful man, Richard Arthur Rowland was the son of James Rowland, a Welsh emigrant. He is credited in discovering Rudolph Valentino, Francis X. Bushman, Harold Lockwood and many other early “movie stars” of the silent screen.