He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the first American film adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1908), and directed one of the first motion pictures ever made in Hollywood.

[3] He was a stage manager for the Shubert family, sang baritone with the Carleton Opera Company, and starred in his own play, Henri Duvar.

[5][3] He played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1908), the first American film adaption of the Dickens classic,[6] then starred in The Old Curiosity Shop (1909).

[5] Chief dramatic and general producer for two years at Essanay,[7] he helped organize the American Film Manufacturing Company in 1910.

"[b][5] However, Ricketts did direct several more feature films for American through 1916, including some with their major romantic team of May Allison and Harold Lockwood such as The Lure of the Mask (1915)[15] and The Other Side of the Door (1916).

[17] Ricketts died at Hollywood Hospital 19 January 1939, aged 86,[3][18] of pneumonia, contracted the previous week when he went to work at Universal Studios despite a cold.

"Mr. Ricketts left no funds," reported The New York Times, "and expenses of his funeral will be paid by the Motion Picture Relief Society.

"[5] Josephine Ricketts, hospitalized in Santa Monica[3] since suffering a stroke at Christmas, was not informed of her husband's death;[5] it was reported that she would be told sometime before his funeral.