Paul Willis (actor) film director Tod Browning. In 1917 Willis appeared opposite the very popular onscreen duo Harold Lockwood and May Allison in the romantic drama "The Promise". Through the 1910s and into the 1920s, Paul Willis would appear opposite such actors as Carmel Myers, Lester Cuneo, Broncho Billy Anderson and Mae Marsh. Willis is possibly best recalled for his portrayal of Dickon Sowerby in the 1919 Gustav von Seyffertitz-directed film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel "The Secret Garden" for the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in which he appeared opposite actors Lila Lee, Richard Rosson and Spottiswoode Aitken. The film is now
Frances Hodgson Burnett stressed the age difference—Townsend was ten years younger than she—and she referred to him as her secretary. Biographer Ann Thwaite doubts he loved her. She claims at that time the 50-year-old Burnett was "stout, rouged and unhealthy". Thwaite believes Townsend needed her to help with his acting career and support him financially. Within months, in a letter to her sister, she admitted the marriage was in trouble. She described Townsend as scarcely sane and hysterical. Thwaite argues Townsend blackmailed her into the marriage: he wanted money from her and he wanted to control her as a husband. Unable to bear