Born Max Aronson in Little Rock, AR. Worked briefly as a traveling salesman, then went to New York in a futile search for a stage acting career and was working as a model when hired by the Edison studio to play the lead in an Edwin S. Porter one-reeler, THE MESSENGER BOY'S MISTAKE (1902). The following year he played several roles in a Porter short that made film history, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903). Several months and a dozen acting roles later he joined Vitagraph, Edison's competitor, directing and acting in many one-reelers, including the successful RAFFLES, THE AMERICAN CRACKSMAN (1905). He then moved on to the Selig Polyscope Company, where he wrote and directed several shorts. In 1907, Anderson quit Selig to go into partnership with George K. Spoor. They established the Essanay company (S. and A.), then moved to California to produce a series of short comedies starring Ben Turpin, starting with BEN GETS A DUCK AND IS DUCKED (1907). The script called for Turpin, playing a hungry hobo, to dive into the pond in Westlake Park in L.A. in pursuit of a duck. As Anderson spun the story later, a real policeman plunged in after Turpin, the camera kept turning, and when the situation was explained to the policeman, Turpin got off and the comedy was complete.
	Also in 1907, Anderson and Spoor moved to Niles Canyon near San Francisco for its Wild West scenery. They built a small studio, and Anderson starred himself in the role of a cowboy called Broncho Billy in a highly successful two-reel Western, THE BANDIT MAKES GOOD (1907). Over the next seven years, he directed and starred in close to 400 Broncho episodes (the spelling was later changed to Bronco) at an average of one a week. Broncho Billy was one of the first recognizable characters in movie history. The continuing enthusiastic public response made Anderson one of the screen's first stars and certainly the first cowboy hero. In 1911 Anderson launched the "Snakeville Comedy" series and the following year the "Alkali Ike" series. He then steered Essanay to the production of more-costly ventures, including several Chaplin comedies (THE PUGILIST, CARMEN, etc.), with Chaplin signed for a then-phenomenal $1,250 per week. In 1916, when Chaplin left Essanay, Anderson sold his interest to Spoor and retired from the business. In 1920, after a string of failures as a Broadway producer, he attempted a comeback, directing several Stan Laurel shorts for Metro. That same year he went into permanent retirement as an actor, although he continued directing and producing for several more years. He was all but forgotten when, in 1957, he was honored by the Academy with a special Oscar® "for his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment." After retiring from the picture business, Anderson lived frugally in Los Angeles. He enjoyed telling of the old days and still considered movies "the maximum amount of entertainment for the minimum amount of price." He still liked cowboy pictures -- except for singing Westerns. He died in a sanitarium in Hollywood at the age of 88.
	Honorary Award 1957: For his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment. Winner presented a Statuette. 1 Honorary Award