Elmer Clifton, (March 14, 1890, Chicago - October 15, 1949, Los Angeles) was an American writer, director, and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D. W. Griffith, he appeared in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916) before giving up acting in 1919 to concentrate on work behind the camera.

In the sound era, Clifton wrote and directed many low-budget Westerns, along with anti-marijuana Assassin of Youth (1937) and Not Wanted (1949), which was finished by Ida Lupino. Clifton became ill during the filming of Not Wanted and died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly after the film's release.