Henry "Bomber" Kulky

Here is a perennial favorite with a great name.  Henry "Bomber" Kulky (1911 - 1965) started out as a boxer and then went into wrestling.  In South America, he was in somewhere between 175 and 7,000 matches.  He remembered it differently than the rest of the world....but he said he won most of them.

During his years as a wrestler he got to know Mike Mazurki, and that led to making movies.  Click on Mike's name to see more about him. 

Kulky has 113 titles on IMDb in the movies and on TV.  His roles weren't usually big, and many of his productions weren't the biggest hits, but he brought character to the roles and life to those movies.  He looked like a wrestler with a boxing background, so that limited his roles to playing bartenders, strongmen, soldiers, cops, crooks and such. 

In 1948 he was in To the Ends of the Earth with Dick Powell.  He played a 'Giant Chinese Man.'  He was a strongman in Mighty Joe Young (1949).  In 1951 he was in Love Nest with Marilyn Monroe.  And the B-movies kept coming for him.  Red Planet Mars (1952), No Holds Barred (1952), and Target Hong Kong (1953).

He was versatile enough to play children's movies - The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953), horror flicks - Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), and comedies - Fireman Save My Child (1954) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955).

I recently saw him as the bartender in The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959) starring Joel McCrea.  I don't believe he said a word, but his face is unmistakable. 

When I was young, we watched "The Life of Riley" on TV, and Henry Kulky played Otto Schmidlap, Chester Riley's friend.  The memories come flooding back.  He also had a regular role in "Hennesey" starring Jackie Cooper. 

His final role was as Chief Petty Officer Curley Jones on "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."  I was 14 years old when that was on, so it was a show I never missed.  And CPO Jones wasn't someone to mess with!

Henry died of a heart attack during that series.  He never had big parts, but he is worth looking for.  And once you see him, you can't miss him!

Mr. Peepers

I guess everyone who watched "Hollywood Squares" on TV knows who Wally Cox (1924 - 1973) was.  Us older folk remember him as "Mister Peepers."  But he was more than that.

Of his 73 titles, listed on IMDb, only 12 were movies.  Cox spent most of his time on TV.  He was also a lifelong friend of Marlon Brando (1924 - 2004).  They grew up together, and were room mates for a while. 

"Mister Peepers" ran in 1952 and 1953.  It was very well received and enjoyed by kids, including me.  A few years later, he had the lead in "The Adventures of Hiram Holliday" a show I have never seen.  Most of his TV work was in teleplays, or as a guest star.

Wally's first appearance on the big screen was in the final Marilyn Monroe flick called Something's Got to Give in 1962, with Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse.  That film was never finished because Marylin passed away, but parts of it show up on TV and are found in the anthology The Diamond Collection.  Not a good start for Cox's big screen career.

He comes back in the 1962 Pat Boone release of State Fair, and the next year as the preacher in Spencer's Mountain with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.  That's better.

In 1964 he appears with an all star cast in The Yellow Rolls Royce.  You'll find Wally way down the cast list, though.  In 1965 he gets to work with his friend, Marlon Brando, in Morituri, a World War II drama.  This was the only time they worked together on screen.

Next up, Wally is the perfect sonar man in the cold war drama, The Bedford Incident, released in 1965.  This is one of my favorites, with another great cast.  It showed that Cox could do serious acting as well as character stuff.

There were a few more movies for Cox in the late 1960s up until his death, but they are not much more than TV movies for the big screen.  Light comedies, with titles like The One, Only, Genuine, Original Family Band; Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County; The Boatniks; and Up Your Teddy Bear.  The good thing is that these movies had some wonderful actors, including Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen, Dan Blocker, Jim Backus, Robert Morse, Phil Silvers and Julie Newmar.

From what I have read, Wally Cox didn't really match his appearance.  He enjoyed his motorcycle, and was most intelligent.  I suppose you have to match your parts to your looks, but what if he had been cast as the lead in a modern action film?  Would you believe it?

Robert Pastorelli

Robert Pastorelli (1954 - 2004) was a tough character actor.  I remember him for his comic portrayal in Eraser (1996) as a bartender in a gay bar, after Arnold Schwarzenegger (b. 1947) got him into the witness protection program.  He wasn't gay, and his best line was when he said, "I'm the king of Bayonne" in his natural accent.

Pastorelli was a boxer and a drug addict before he cleaned up his life and took up acting.  He started working on TV, and he made a good living in movies as well.  His first substantial role was as the mule teamster in Dances with Wolves (1990), but he had earlier roles in several good movies with some big stars.  Look for him in Outrageous Fortune (1987) with Bette Midler, and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) with Eddie Murphy.

After he was in Dances, more good movies followed.  In 1993 he appeared in Striking Distance with Bruce Willis, and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit with Whoopi Goldberg.  

Pastorelli's persona was so strong that he could remain in demand in Hollywood.  He looked like a boxer, and had a great North Jersey accent that fit in with so many movies.  Plus, he could easily inject humor into his part that could be used to broaden his popularity with fans...and casting directors.

After Eraser, he was in Michael (1996) with John Travolta, and even made the musical "South Pacific" for TV in 2001 starring Glenn Close.

Pastorelli may have had more success on TV.  Even in his early career he appeared on many great shows in the 1980s.  His biggest role was on "Murphy Brown" which ran from 1988 to 1994.  His last movie was released the year after his death, Be Cool starring Travolta and Uma Thurman.

At the end of his life, drugs had once again taken hold.  IMDb lists his death as an accidental heroin overdose.  Sorry, if you are shooting heroin, there is nothing accidental about it. 

Excalibur

King Arthur is really the stuff of legends.  There probably was a real King Arthur somewhere in Britain, some time ago, but the story wasn't written until long after he was dead.  By that time, writers were not particularly interested in keeping to the facts, if their story was to become popular.  I guess not much has changed in a millennium and a half.

Excalibur (1981) is one of the better Sword and Sorcerer films.  John Boorman (b. 1933) produced and directed it.  Boorman was already famous for Deliverance (1972) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).

The movie starred Nigel Terry (b. 1945) as Arthur.  This was his second big film, after making The Lion in Winter in 1968.  Terry was mostly unknown in the USA, as were most of the cast.  Boorman was more interested in telling the story, rather than showcasing big stars.  This leads us to an interesting start as Bit Actors for some new stars who would become famous.

Helen Mirren (b. 1945) was in Caligula (1979) and The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu (1980), but was still relatively unknown here.  She plays Morgana (or Morgaine) the sorceress and it is interesting to see her in an early role.  She is incredibly talented, and back then she was very pretty.

Nicol Williamson (b. 1936) was a bit better known after appearing in Robin and Marian and The Seven-Percent-Solution in 1976, and The Goodbye Girl the next year.  Williamson was marvelous as Merlin who could walk on the mist.

Gabriel Byrne (b. 1950) played Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, early in his career.  Byrne went on to have over 80 titles on IMDb, and shared the lead with Kevin Spacey (b. 1959) in The Usual Suspects (1995). 

Liam Neeson (b. 1952) shows up in his first big film.  Neeson plays Gewain, a knight of the Round Table.  No need to tell you what became of Neeson.  (Oscar for Best Actor in 1994 for Schindler's List.)

Patrick Stewart (b. 1940) was well into his acting career, but not well known here.  He plays Leondegrance, who would be Arthur's father-in-law, I believe.  Stewart would appear in Dune in 1984, but not gain real notice in the states until he left for space in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987. 

In some other roles we see Corin Redgrave (1939 - 2010) who was the brother of Lynn and Venessa.  And director John Boorman's three children all appear in small roles, including his daughter Katrine Boorman (b. 1958) who played Igrayne (or Igraine), Arthur's mother.

Excalibur is a movie to see.  It is dark and violent, but beautifully lush in the way it is filmed.  It rained almost every day, so the greenery is particularly green.  Maybe not one of my favorite films (and I have a long list) but it certainly belongs in my collection.

Stallone - Cobra

I must admit, I made a big mistake when I tuned in the 1986 slasher movie, Cobra, over the weekend.  I thought, it's a Stallone movie, he made Rocky in Philly, how bad could it be?  The answer is, pretty bad.

Sylvester Stallone (b. 1946) made Cobra the year after Rambo II and Rocky IV.  I guess the sequel thing should have told me to stay away.  Everybody knows that sequels are never as good as the first story.  Of course, Cobra wasn't a sequel, but maybe somehow he got stuck in sequel mode.

Cobra is about a cop who's duty is to clean up when no one else can handle the job.  There is a night slasher loose, with a gang of creeps who carry axes.  When they aren't slashing people at random, they stand on a sound stage and clink their axes together in time with the music.

Let's look for something good in the Bit Part cast.  One intended victim is Brigitte Nielsen (b. 1963).  Nielsen is a model and actress, having 32 titles listed on IMDb.  She is a good place to start because she is very pretty.  She's also a pretty good screamer, which is necessary for a slasher movie.

Her first movie was Red Sonja (1985) where she gets to fight Arnold Schwarzenegger.  It was a draw.  Her next film was, you guessed it, Rocky IV.  She was the Russian boxer's (Dolph Lundgren) wife.  She loses.  Next came Cobra and in 1987, Beverly Hills Cop II.  Oh no, another sequel.  It was all downhill from there for Brigitte. 

The lone bright spot was Stallone's sidekick, Reni Santoni (b. 1939).  A typical cop actor, Reni has 96 titles on TV and in movies.  He fit the part well, but he couldn't overcome Stallone's overacting.

Santoni was in an early TV series with George C. Scott (1927 - 1999) called "East Side, West Side" in the 1960s.  He also appeared in Dirty Harry (1971) as a police inspector.  Look for him in any number of great TV dramas and some comedies.

Let's not forget the slasher.  Brian Thompson (b. 1959) has that honor.  (Did I say, honor?)  Thompson started out in The Terminator (1984) where he played a punk in a bar.  Arnold S. took his clothes. 

In 1989 he got to play a Klingon in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."  His huge size, huge jawline and huge voice made him perfect for the part.  He would also play a Klingon in Star Trek: Generations (1994) and again in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Enterprise."

Thompson is not a bad actor in reality.  He has over 80 titles listed, and his range is better than you would expect for a guy who started out as a slasher and a punk.

Cobra is a movie with a message, and the message is...Beware.  I didn't want to lead you to this movie, so I put a link to Amazon for a better movie.  There will almost always be something better on TV, so please change the channel, unless it is Red Sonja which was almost as bad.  I can't believe I watched the whole thing!

Sheila Ryan goes A-Haunting

Last night was the spring banquet for the local Sons of the Desert group, and I was there.  It's good to see old friends again.  Hopefully you remember that the SoD is the Laurel and Hardy appreciation club. and we have "tents" all over the world.  The Philadelphia, PA chapter is the Two Tars Tent, each city having a tent named after one of the films.

This time we had a magic theme to the evening.  We started out with a documentary on the later films, made at 20th Century Fox and MGM.  Then we toasted the boys and some friends and sang the SoD theme song.  Next came a wonderful buffet dinner, with a showing of a Three Stooges film that had nothing to do with magic.

A live magician was next, and he gave us a great show, astounding us with card tricks.  To end the meeting, we screened A-Haunting We Will Go (1942).  While not one of the boy's best film's, it was quite enjoyable.  The camera tricks were a bit over the top and took away from Laurel and Hardy to an extent, but the film still works.

Laurel and Hardy were still a big draw at the box office, some 21 years after they first appeared in The Lucky Dog (1921), although not as a team back then.  The film also featured Dante the Magician, as I mentioned a few days ago.  He was quite good and obviously felt at home on the stage or screen.

In smaller parts Elisha Cook Jr. (1903 - 1995) played a crook, as usual.  His career spanned 1930 to 1988, and this was only six films after The Maltese Falcon, which was released a year earlier.

Looking pretty as always was Sheila Ryan (1921 - 1975).  Ryan was married from 1951 to 1975 to Pat Buttram (1915 - 1994) who played his most famous part (to modern audiences) as Mr. Haney on "Green Acres."  To most of us older folk, he was Gene Autry's sidekick.

Sheila has 62 acting credits on IMDb, starting in 1939.  She was in The Gay Caballero (1940) with Cesar Romero, Dressed to Kill (1941) with Lloyd Nolan, and Sun Valley Serenade (1941) with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  Her first work with Laurel and Hardy came in Great Guns (1941) and then A-Haunting We Will Go.

She made four movies with Gene Autry, I wonder if that's where she met Pat, and also appeared multiple times on his TV show.  Looking at the titles in her later movie career, she was mostly in B-movies.  Her last film was Street of Darkness (1958), starring Robert Keys (1921 - 2004).  (Who?)

As Dante's assistant in A-Haunting, she was perfect, and could not be any prettier.  You can be part of the Sons of the Desert.  Just send me a private e-mail and I'll get you in touch with your local Grand Sheik.  bitactors@gmail.com  It is a load of fun and very educational about these older films, and the Bit Actors as well as the stars.

Mae Marsh

I just realized that today is a special date.  This is the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight, and also the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. 

The famous D.W. Griffith (1875 - 1948) film, The Birth of a Nation, was released in 1915, which is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.  We will not go into the controversy surrounding the film, because this is a blog about Bit Actors.

Mae Marsh (1894 - 1968) started working in films in 1910.  She was one of the leads in TBoaN, along with Lillian Gish (1893 - 1993).  Marsh went on to appear in about 200 films, up until a few years before her death.

In 1912 her big break came when Griffith cast her in The Sands of Dee, a movie that Mary Pickford (1892 - 1979) was supposed to get.  This led to The Birth of a Nation, and then a starring role in Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages in 1916.  Those two are arguably the most famous silent films made in America. 

After Intolerance, Mae left Griffith and started working for Samuel Goldwyn (1879 - 1974).  Her career faltered after that.  She made quite a few more silents, but none were the big hits she had with Griffith. 

With the advent of talkies, Mae went back to work as a character actress, which made her a very famous Bit Actress.  She was approaching 40 years old by then, so starring roles would go to younger actresses.

Her list of sound films is impressive, but she is uncredited in many of them.

1932 -   Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1933 -   Alice in Wonderland
1939 -   Drums Along the Mohawk
1940 -   The Grapes of Wrath
1941 -   Tobacco Road
1941 -   Great Guns (Had to get Laurel and Hardy in there!)
1941 -   How Green was my Valley
1943 -   The Song of Bernadette

Plus, State Fair, Miracle on 34th Street, Fort Apache, The Fighting Kentuckian, The Gunfighter, The Quiet Man, The Robe, A Star is Born, The Searchers...Holy Cow! what a list.

Her last two films, both uncredited roles, were Donovan's Reef (1963) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964).  She worked with John Wayne in eight films, but she only did a few TV westerns around 1960. 

Mae Marsh was a star.  And I am glad we have her in so many great films, if only in Bit Parts.

Sim Sala Bim!

This coming Friday will be the next banquet for The Two Tars Tent of The Sons of the Desert.  The SoD is, of course, the Laurel and Hardy film appreciation society, formed in part by Stan Laurel himself.  Each city has a Tent named after one of the films, and the one in Philadelphia is Two Tars.

This week will include a screening of A-Haunting We Will Go (1942) starring The Boys.  This is one of their last films, and was made at Twentieth Century Fox, after they left Hal Roach.  It is not considered one of their best films, but it is worth seeing.

The film is about L&H getting involved with con men and a magician.  The magician is played by real life magician Dante.  Dante the Magician was considered one of the best.  He was born in Denmark as Harry August Jensen (1883 - 1955) (possibly spelled Jansen).  He was also the last of the large traveling magic shows in the USA.  He often said, "Sim Sala Bim" during his performance.

His career as an entertainer started when he was about 16 years old, and he was quickly recognized as talented.  He was given the stage name Dante by Howard Thurston (1869 - 1936) in 1925.  Thurston was, at the time, the premier magician in the world.  Thurston was more well known than Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926). 

In film, Dante first appeared as himself in a Swedish film called Dante Mysterier (1931).  Next came A-Haunting, and then two more films; Bunco Squad (1950) from RKO Radio Pictures, and The Golden Coach (1951) made in Italy.  Of his four performances on screen, A-Haunting would be the best choice to see a good movie, but my guess is Dante Mysterier would be the best to see Dante.  (If you can find it.)

Another great Bit Actor we will see in A-Haunting We Will Go is Elisha Cook Jr. (1903-1995) who made more than 200 titles in his career. 

At this banquet we will also partake of a sumptuous buffet dinner, and then be entertained by a real life magician, who performs in the style of Dante.  We will raise a glass to Dante, Stan and Ollie, and some other friends, and then park our camel and have one for the road.

A Request from Me

As it says on the right side of the Bit Part Actors Blog, my three year old grandson has Cystic Fibrosis.  This is a short commercial to ask for your help.

This is Cayden -

Cayden's Third Birthday

He is, on the outside, a healthy, fun loving three year old.  He has an older sister, and the best parents in the world.  He also has CF.  It is a disease that somehow he inherited from both his mother's and his father's genes.  Neither side of the family knew they had the gene, so this was a complete surprise to everyone.  Luckily, all young children are tested for CF in their first year, so it was caught early.

Here is the good news.  Our family lives in the Philadelphia area, and we have Children's Hospital of Philadelphia within a short drive.  CHoP is considered the best hospital for children in the USA.  Also, Cayden's mom is a pediatric nurse, and there are a considerable number of nurses in our family to call on.  His grandparents on both sides are also very helpful.

Both of Cayden's parents have great, understanding bosses, so the frequent trips to CHoP have not caused a huge problem.  That doesn't mean they aren't a drain on everyone's stress level.  His daily care at home is also quite a lot of work.  And luckily, his insurance has been pretty good.

Here is my short request.  The Great Strides walk to benefit Cystic Fibrosis is coming up on April 30, 2011.  I am asking you to please take a look at the link below and consider donating to help defeat CF.  The link goes to the page I have set up, and the donations shown there are mine for this year.  I have it set up to automatically charge my card ten bucks a month.

I hope you will click on the "Click to Donate" button at the top of that page.  If you can give five or ten bucks, that would be great.  More would be better, and an automatic charge can be set up any way you can handle.  This money does not go to my family, it goes to fight CF.

Here's the link - Great Strides Walk for CF

If you can't donate this month, maybe you'll keep it in mind for later.  Thanks.

Two SE PA Silent Movie Events

Not everything centers around Hollywood or even the West Coast.  There are two small events coming up soon in Southeastern Pennsylvania, which is strangely enough, where I live.  Both are inexpensive excursions into the Silent Movie Era.

First up is 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at the famous Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA.  Yes, that is the theater where the 1958 hit movie The Blob was partially filmed.  To benefit the Theatre Organ Society of the Delaware Valley, they will be showing five silent shorts accompanied by the newly renovated organ. 

Courtesy http://www.thecolonialtheatre.com/

Sadly, they don't say which five silent shorts, but they do mention Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  Those four men made hundreds of films, and many were silent shorts.  Let's hope they pick your favorites for the show.  It doesn't really matter much, since the admission is only ten bucks and the proceeds benefit the Organ Society. 

Later on in the summer, July 8 to 10, is this year's Blobfest.  Come on out for your chance to run out of the theater screaming.  After that show, you can drive out to the Downingtown Diner for some refreshments.  That's where the Blob was fried.  It's only about 15 miles away.

Then, on Saturday, May 14, 2011, come to Montgomery County Community College at 8:00 p.m. for the Betzwood Silent Film Festival.  The Betzwood Studio was located near Norristown, PA, and the site of the interior studio and lab is about a mile from where I live now.  It was a 350 acre ranch of early movie mogul Siegmund Lubin (1851 - 1923).  Check my Blog label list on the right for more about Lubin and Betzwood.

This year will be a showing of westerns, accompanied by Don Kinnier on the organ.  It's not a theater organ, but Don is incredibly talented at bringing silent films to life.  Hosting the event, as always, is Lubin biographer, Joseph Eckhardt.  Make sure you pick up his book, The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin, and bring it along for an autograph.

I will be there once again.  Look for me with my copy of his book!  And this show is only eight bucks.