95 articles
Gene Evans
Gene Evans (Eugene Barton Evans, 1922-1998), American character actor of war and western films; Samuel Fuller's tough guy in The Steel Helmet, also Operation Petticoat and My Friend Flicka.
George Nader
George Nader (October 19, 1921 - February 4, 2002) was an American actor of 1950s Hollywood films, star of Robot Monster and eight German Jerry Cotton thrillers, and author of the gay sci-fi novel Chrome.
Hank Patterson
Hank Patterson (Elmer Calvin Patterson, 1888–1975) was an American character actor and vaudeville pianist; stableman Hank Miller on Gunsmoke and farmer Fred Ziffel on Green Acres, not the ballplayer or the Delaware namesake.
Hank Worden
Hank Worden (Norton Earl Worden, 1901–1992), American Western character actor; Mose Harper in The Searchers, Simms Reeves in Red River, the Twin Peaks waiter; 15 John Wayne films.
Harry Carey Jr.
Harry Carey Jr., also known as Dobe Carey (1921–2012), was an American character actor best known for Westerns, appearing in more than 100 films including many for John Ford.
Hazel Court
Hazel Court (1926–2008), English actress known as the 'Queen of Scream'; starred in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Roger Corman's Poe films The Premature Burial, The Raven, and The Masque of the Red Death.
Henry Brandon (actor)
Henry Brandon (Heinrich von Kleinbach, 1912–1990), German-born American character actor, villain specialist of over 100 films; Silas Barnaby in Babes in Toyland, Scar in The Searchers, not the casting director Brandon Henry Rodriguez.
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear (1905–1969), American character actor, played Floyd the Barber on The Andy Griffith Show (1961–1967) and originated Doc Charles Adams on radio's Gunsmoke (1952–1961).
Huntz Hall
Huntz Hall (Henry Richard Hall, 1919–1999), American comic actor of the Dead End Kids, East Side Kids, and Bowery Boys series; played Dippy and Sach opposite Leo Gorcey in 87 of his 120 films.
Jack Elam
Jack Elam, born William Scott Elam, was an American character actor whose blind left eye made him a memorable Western villain in more than fifty Westerns.
Joe Besser
Joe Besser (1907-1988), St. Louis-born American comedian, third Stooge in the Three Stooges after Shemp Howard's death, also Stinky on The Abbott and Costello Show and Jillson on The Joey Bishop Show.
Joe DeRita
Joe "Curly Joe" DeRita (Joseph Wardell, 1909-1993), American comedian, last of the Three Stooges' third members, joining Moe Howard and Larry Fine in 1958 and starring in six Stooge feature films.
John Agar
John Agar was an American film and television actor who began in John Ford's 1940s cavalry Westerns before becoming known for 1950s science fiction films.
John Carradine
John Carradine (Richmond Reed Carradine, 1906-1988), American character actor of Stagecoach and The Grapes of Wrath, father of David, Keith, and Robert Carradine, prolific in horror films, never a star.
John McIntire
John Herrick McIntire (1907-1991) was an American character actor of westerns and crime dramas; replaced Ward Bond as wagonmaster Chris Hale on Wagon Train, played Clay Grainger on The Virginian, the sheriff in Psycho, and married Jeanette Nolan for 56 years.
John Mitchum
John Mitchum (1919–2001) was an American character actor, singer, and poet, the younger brother of Robert Mitchum, best known as Inspector Frank DiGiorgio in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films.
Johnny Eck
Johnny Eck (John Eckhardt Jr., 1911–1991) was a Baltimore sideshow performer and film actor born with sacral agenesis; billed "The Amazing Half-Boy", he performed on his hands, played the Half Boy in Freaks (1932) and bird creatures in three Tarzan films, and became Baltimore's best-known screen painter.
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn (1916-1986), American character actor, son of Ed Wynn, grandson of Frank Keenan; MGM staple from 1942, Col. Bat Guano in Dr. Strangelove, Disney's Alonzo Hawk, 1978 Emmy nominee.
Kenneth Tobey
Kenneth Tobey (1917-2002), American character actor of nearly 100 films and seven decades; best known as Captain Patrick Hendry in The Thing from Another World (1951) and star of the TV series Whirlybirds.
L. Q. Jones
L. Q. Jones (Justice Ellis McQueen Jr., 1927–2022) was an American character actor in Westerns and war films, a Sam Peckinpah stock-company member in The Wild Bunch, and writer-director of the Hugo-winning A Boy and His Dog (1975).
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney (1919-2002), American character actor from Brooklyn, Hollywood tough guy of noir classics Dillinger (1945), Born to Kill (1947), The Devil Thumbs a Ride; late revival as Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs, Seinfeld and Star Trek roles.
Leo Gorcey
Leo Gorcey (1917-1969), American actor, original Dead End Kid, star of the East Side Kids as Muggs McGinnis and 41 Bowery Boys films as Slip Mahoney; quit the series in 1956 after his father Bernard's death.
Lisa Gaye
Lisa Gaye (Leslie Gaye Griffin, 1935–2016), American actress and dancer of Rock Around the Clock (1956), Shake Rattle & Rock!, and TV's How to Marry a Millionaire as Gwen Kirby; sister of Debra Paget; distinct from the 1960-born Troma actress Lisa Gaye.
Lon Chaney Jr.
Lon Chaney Jr. (Creighton Tull Chaney, 1906-1973), American character actor and son of Lon Chaney Sr.; played Lennie in Of Mice and Men (1939) and was the only actor to portray Universal's big four monsters, most famously the Wolf Man.
Maila Nurmi
Maila Nurmi (Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi, died 2008), Finnish-American actress known as Vampira, television's first horror host on KABC-TV 1954-1955; appeared in Plan 9 From Outer Space and lost the 1989 Elvira lawsuit.
Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren, born Joan Lucille Olander (February 6, 1931), American actress, singer, and author; Universal's 1950s answer to Marilyn Monroe, one of the Three M's, known for Untamed Youth, High School Confidential!, Teacher's Pet, and memoirs Playing the Field and You Thought I Was Dead.
Mara Corday
Mara Corday (born Marilyn Joan Watts, 1930–2025) was an American showgirl, model, and actress who co-starred in the 1950s monster films Tarantula, The Black Scorpion, and The Giant Claw.
Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor (Emily Marie Bertelsen, 1919–2000), American actress dubbed Queen of the Bs, known for film noir femme fatale roles in Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin, and Kubrick's The Killing.
Mike Mazurki
Mike Mazurki (Маркіян Мазуркевич) was a 6-foot-5 Ukrainian-born American professional wrestler and character actor who played thugs and gangsters in more than 150 films and TV roles.
Milburn Stone
Milburn Stone (1904–1980), American character actor born in Burrton, Kansas, best known as Dr. Galen "Doc" Adams on CBS's Gunsmoke (1955–1975, 605 episodes); 1968 Emmy winner, Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree, nephew of comedian Fred Stone.