Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMille's, appearing in big bold letters above the title of his films.

[citation needed] He was an accomplished stage actor working in Cincinnati, Ohio, before joining the Kalem Company motion picture studio in New York City in 1909.

Hired by director Sidney Olcott for character actor roles, in the fall of 1910 he was sent to work with a film crew on the West Coast.

In 1911, with Robert Vignola, he co-directed Ruth Roland in his first short film, Arizona Bill based on a script he had written.

His last major work as a director came in 1937 when he and Harry L. Fraser co-directed Columbia Pictures' first serial, a 15-episode, five-hour-long adventure film titled Jungle Menace starring Frank Buck.