Time was, according to Norma Desmond, when the cinema didn’t need dialogue, because it had faces. Very famous faces, that are less familiar to us now. And, according to new research, the very first film star face belonged to a French slapstick comedian, who died young in terrible circumstances and then was largely forgotten for decades. Max Linder was a dapper, handsome actor from the early silent era who not only starred in films but also directed, wrote and produced them.

Andrew Shail, senior lecturer in film at Newcastle University, has uncovered what appears to be the first film-star marketing: a poster for a Pathé Frères’ film featuring Linder called Le Petit Jeune Homme, released in Europe in September 1909. Whereas Linder had been known on-screen as a first-name-only character called “Max” since 1907’s The Skater’s Debut, this poster uses his full name, and is thus the earliest surviving European evidence of publicity for a regular film performer. The poster was found in the personal collection of Linder’s daughter, Maud, but it took Shail almost a year to date the exact release of the film. After this poster, Linder’s name and image were consistently used to sell his films to the public. “This makes Linder – as far as we can tell – the first film star anywhere,” says Shail. “Pathé Frères’ decision rippled out and changed the way film-makers marketed their wares. The effects of their decision can still be seen on posters and billboards around the world.”

Previously the title of “first film star” had been bestowed on the American actor Florence Lawrence, known to the public only as the Biograph Girl until Carl Laemmle hired her for his IMP studio in 1910. He famously created a press stunt that capitalised on rumours of her death in a road accident before placing ads that she was alive and well and would be appearing in IMP films, under her own name.

“It’s difficult to overemphasise how averse film-making companies were to launching a star system,” says Shail. “Publicity for an employee puts power in the hands of someone who is supposed to have sold their labour, which is a bit like handing them back some of their wages.” By 1912, says Shail, most studios in Europe and the US were promoting their stars on posters and in the press. “A star system only emerged because new risks arose that made having a star system a bit less risky, economically, than not having one,” says Shail. “And because, in the case of Linder, even when he was anonymous, cinemagoers were already treating him as a star.”

Charlie Chaplin (left) with Linder sometime in the 1910s. Photograph: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Linder was born Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle in 1883 in Gironde, France. Although his parents expected him to take up the family wine business, he was drawn to the stage. He started working as an actor in 1901, before adopting the stage name Max Linder in 1905 – that is when he is thought to have made his movie debut playing bit parts.

There is a great story, which may be apocryphal, that the producer Charles Pathé saw Linder on stage and sent him a note reading: “In your eyes lies a fortune. Come and act in front of my cameras, and I will help make it.” Linder did indeed have beautiful, soulful eyes, and his comedy was more romantic and character-led than much contemporary slapstick – he would often play a luckless suitor in pursuit of a beautiful woman.

It was Pathé’s company, Pathé Freres, that Shail says transformed Linder from a recurring character to the world’s first movie star, with that poster for Le Petit Jeune Homme – and he soon developed a global fanbase. After becoming a star in Europe, Linder went to Hollywood, where he made a handful of films.

Linder was a major influence on Charlie Chaplin, arguably the biggest film star of all time, who made his own screen debut in 1914, and who once sent Linder a signed photograph addressed: “To Max, the Professor, from his disciple, Charlie Chaplin.” The two never appeared in the same film but they did spend time together and discussed gag ideas. When Linder died, Chaplin closed his studio for the day as a show of respect.

Many of Linder’s peers in European silent comedy still remain mysterious, because they were known under their character rather than star names, especially women. Female actors who played popular recurring characters such as Léontine and Cunégonde in slapstick comedies were only credited under their pseudonyms, and film historians are still trying to trace their true identities.

Linder served in the first world war as a dispatch driver in 1914 and it was on his return from service that he first experienced a bout of the depression that would remain with him for the rest of his life. In 1925, he and his young wife were found dead, having taken barbiturates and cut their wrists: it is speculated that they may have had a suicide pact.

After Linder’s death, his work was rarely screened, until a compilation of three of his Hollywood films, put together by Maud, was shown at the Venice film festival in 1963. Maud, who died in 2017, was responsible for protecting and promoting her father’s legacy, ensuring his name, once learned, is never forgotten.

The Origins of the Film Star System: Persona, Publicity and Economics in Early Cinema by Andrew Shail is published by Bloomsbury

• This article was amended on 22 November. The original stated that Florence Lawrence was known to the public as Vitagraph Girl; in fact she was Biograph Girl. This has been corrected.