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Si Jenks, an American character actor known for rustic roles, was born Howard Hansell Jenkins on September 23, 1876, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to John, a shopkeeper, and Catherine Jenkins. He was the sixth of seven siblings. Details of his early life are scarce. At 21, on April 21, 1898, the first day of the Spanish-American War, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard (Company F, 6th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry). He served until October 1898, two months after the war ended, but did not leave the United States during his service. In January following, he enlisted in the U.S. Army for a three-year term but served only eight months as an artilleryman, again without deployment overseas. After completing his military service in 1899, he returned to Norristown and worked as a hostler at a local inn until at least 1904.
Eventually, Jenks developed an interest in entertainment as a profession. By 1919, he was married to Victoria Allen, and together they performed a vaudeville act called "Small Town Wise Crackers." This act toured the Orpheum Circuit, playing 45 theaters in 36 U.S. cities. After their marriage and act ended, Jenkins, now using the stage name Si Jenks, continued performing with various new partners. In 1922, this tour brought him to Los Angeles, where comic actor-director Al St. John, who later became known as a bearded Western sidekick similar to Jenks, cast the 46-year-old vaudevillian in small roles in several comedy shorts at Fox. It was also at Fox that Jenks appeared in his first feature film, John Ford's The Village Blacksmith (1922).
After a brief hiatus, Jenks caught the attention of Mack Sennett, who cast him in about 15 films over the following decade. Jenks was best known for roles where he went without dentures and sported a scruffy beard, securing many comedic roles primarily in Westerns. Although he frequently portrayed bearded sidekick characters like George 'Gabby' Hayes and Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, he never attained their level of fame. Throughout his thirty-year career, mostly in smaller roles, Jenks appeared in over 220 films and a few television episodes. He retired in 1954 at the age of 78.
Jenks spent much of his later life with his wife, British actress and fellow former vaudevillian Lilian Hartford, at the Motion Picture Country House & Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He passed away there from heart disease at age 93 on January 6, 1970. Lilian Hartford died in 1983 at the age of 100.
