[2] Griffith was already an experienced actor when, at age seven, he got his first acting role as a regular character in the Little Billy series of films, starting in 1913.

[3] Mack Sennett of Keystone Studios cast Griffith in many of his slapstick features, where he eventually earned supporting roles in Charlie Chaplin films, including Tillie's Punctured Romance, in which he portrayed a paperboy, a role that Milton Berle frequently claimed to have played.

"[citation needed] He continued to act in silent films well into his teen years, including a role as Mary Pickford's older brother in Little Annie Rooney (1925).

[citation needed] At the time of the 1930 census, he and his brother were living with his sister and her family in Pasadena, California.

In 1941, Griffith became a production manager at Columbia Pictures, and later served as an associate producer for RKO.