William Fawcett

I must say, William Fawcett (1894 - 1974) has always been a favorite of mine.  I think it is because the old Saturday morning TV show, "Fury," was one I never missed, and Bill Fawcett was a regular as Pete the ranch hand. 

Fawcett worked as an actor from 1936 to 1972, and I believe he always looked like an old man.  He was a professor of theater and had a Ph.D., working at Michigan State University before the war.  He did appear in one movie in 1936 (The King Steps Out starring Franchot Tone) as a strongman, so maybe he didn't look that old back then.

After WWII, he decided to give acting a try as a full time career, and he went on to appear in almost 250 titles on the big and small screens.  I'll try to pick some good examples of his work from each decade.

In the 1940s, Fawcett made eight westerns with Eddie Dean (1907 - 1999).  Dean was a singing cowboy who came along a little too late.  Dean did manage to make over 50 films, and ended up on "The Beverly Hillbillies." 

Fawcett also made two films with Lash La Rue (1917 - 1996), Pioneer Justice and Ghost Town Renegades, both in 1947.

The 1950s brought television.  Doc T. (for William Fawcett Thomas) was already working in movie serials, appearing in some Kirk Alyn (1910 - 1999) Superman episodes, and in several others, including Tex Grainger, Pirates of the High Seas, Captain Video and Blackhawk.  He started on TV as a regular on "The Range Rider" series around 1952, starring Jock Mahoney (1919 - 1989) and Dickie Jones (b. 1927).

The 1950s were his most prolific years.  He could be seen on TV everywhere, from "The Lone Ranger" to "Whirlybirds."  Did we really call helicopters 'whirlybirds?'  He also appears in No Time for Sergeants (1958) as Andy Griffith's father, and Damn Yankees! (1958) starring Tab Hunter.

1961 brought his only work with John Wayne in The Comancheros.  The next year he is uncredited in The Music Man, and he even gets to sing a line in The Wells Fargo Wagon.  I just saw him the 1964 Audie Murphy movie, The Quick Gun, but he has a very small part as the bartender.  No mistaking that face, though.

Again, the 1960s find him in all sorts of TV shows, from "Perry Mason," Hazel," and "The Smothers Brothers Show."  And a few TV series' you may not remember..."T.H.E. Cat" and "Pistols 'n' Petticoats."

You can't always make good choices for work in Hollywood.  Bill Fawcett can be found in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) starring John Lupton (1928 - 1993) and in her last film, Narda Onyx (1931 - 1991). 

Fawcett's last movie was The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) starring Kurt Russell.  And after stints on "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," and "The Virginian," Bill made his final appearance in the TV movie, "The Manhunter" in 1972, starring Sandra Dee (1942 - 2005).

William Fawcett had quite an acting career.  He never really was the star of any movies or TV shows, but he added a lot, just by looking old.

Fritz Weaver

Fritz Weaver sounds like a name from Spike Jones.  Sorry, that was Doodles Weaver (1911 - 1983).  Fritz Weaver (b. 1926) was a fine actor, and it may be questionable to include him as a Bit Actor. 

Weaver started acting in television in the late 1950s.  His first film was Fail Safe (1964) where he played a colonel.  There were a lot of colonels in that one.  Weaver's deep voice and great facial expressions of terror, disgust or horror help him to stand out.

He was very active on TV through most of his career.  You can find him on most of the dramatic and western series, including "Rawhide," "The Fugitive," and "Combat."

His next film was The Maltese Bippy (1969) starring Dan Rowan (1922 - 1987) and Dick Martin (1922 - 2008).  While "Laugh-In" was a big hit, I am not sure the movie was as good, and it didn't have Goldie Hawn. 

To put him back in his element, Fritz appeared multiple times on "The F.B.I." and "Mission Impossible" over the years of those well received shows.  It suited Weaver.  As did most dramatic or suspense roles. 

Weaver has a major part in The Day of the Dolphin (1973) starring George C. Scott (1927 - 1999).  Then, a few years later, he is in a trio of decent movies...Marathon Man (1976), Black Sunday (1977) and Demon Seed (1977). 

A year after appearing in 1977 on "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman" he has, perhaps, his best television role.  He plays Dr. Josef Weiss on the TV mini series "Holocaust."

Weaver appears in one segment of Creepshow (1982) which is a very interesting, and campy, horror flick by Stephen King (b. 1947).  The cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adirenne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen and E. G. Marshall.  I loved it!

His final film was the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and the wonderful Rene Russo.  I thought that version held up well in comparison to the 1968 Steve McQueen version.  That sort of comment always causes a reaction from the public.  I do love McQueen, the King of Cool.

Fritz continued to work on the TV series, "Law & Order" up until 2005.  He is now 85 years young, so I hope he has the health to continue appearing in roles, even if they are small ones.  His voice can be heard on many History Channel documentaries, so Fritz Weaver will be around for quite a while.

Hi-Hat Hattie McDaniel

Here is a Bit Actress who needs to be recognized on my blog.  Her accomplishments were amazing, yet she never really became more than a Bit Part player in most of her movies.

Hattie McDaniel (1892 - 1952) was born in 1892 to former slaves, her father actually fought in the Civil War in the U. S. Colored Troops.  She graduated from high school in Denver, CO, and was able to get some work singing on the radio and recordings.  She is considered the first African American woman to sing on the radio.  After the stock market crashed, she worked as a waitress in a club in Milwaukee, and eventually became a regular on their stage.

McDaniel started as an extra or a singer in films in the early 1930s, with stars Lew Ayers, Una Merkel, Lionel Barrymore, Hoot Gibson and Marlene Dietrich.  It has been my thought that a novice in Hollywood could learn their trade by observing the more important stars in a film, and I am sure Hattie was no exception.

In 1933 she worked with Mae West (1893 - 1980) in I'm No Angel, also starring Cary Grant (1904 - 1986).  She then scores a big role opposite Will Rogers (1879 - 1935) in Judge Priest (1934), and even sings a duet with him.

The next year she works with the biggest star in Hollywood, Shirley Temple, in The Little Colonial.  This was another chance to work with Lionel Barrymore (she made four films with Barrymore), and also with Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. 

If you have a chance to watch some of McDaniels' films in chronological order, you can probably see her refining and enlarging her 'Mammy' character.  She starts out as a maid, but slowly starts getting more confident in her ability, almost to the point of becoming confrontational.  You can see the changes between her part in Alice Adams (1935) with Katharine Hepburn and The Mad Miss Manton (1938) starring Barbara Stanwyk and Henry Fonda.

1935 saw her in China Seas with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, then 1936 and Show Boat starring Irene Dunn.  Hattie plays Queenie and gets to sing again.  Another Harlow film, Libeled Lady (1936) with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and then a major role in Saratoga (1937), again with Harlow and Gable.  A busy couple of years!

She was in Vivacious Lady (1938) with Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers, and in 1939 she worked with Oliver Hardy in Zenobia, one of the later films he made without Stan Laurel due to a contract dispute.  Hattie's roles finally settled back into less than great parts for Hattie as the years progressed. 

Hattie McDaniel is best remembered as Mammy in Gone With the Wind (1939), and this may be her strongest role as a maid.  That part won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  She was the first African American to win an Oscar, and the first African American to attend the award ceremony as a guest rather than a servant.  The next time an African American actress would win an Academy Award was 51 years later when Whoopi Goldberg took one for Ghost in 1990.

Courtesy USPS.com

After that big year, she continued to work hard, but in smaller roles.  She was in They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Errol Flynn, and in 1942 in George Washington Slept Here with Jack Benny.  In 1946 she works for Walt Disney in Song of the South, appropriately.

She ends her acting career on TV, starring in a handful of episodes of "Beulah" in 1952, after replacing Ethel Waters in the role.  She would be replaced by Louise Beavers and soon after that she died of cancer.  She was the first African American to be buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Hattie McDaniel must have been quite a lady.  She was also active in charity work, and in bringing respect to her middle class community of Sugar Hill in Los Angeles.  Although she made quite a good salary for most of her work, she had a load of medical bills at the time of her death and left an estate of only $10,000.  Not fair for such an impressive actress.  She didn't just open doors, she knocked down walls for future generations.

More Film Restoration and Richard W. Bann

I received a comment from film historian and writer, Richard W. Bann, about my last post requesting everyone to donate lots of money to film restoration.  Here is what he has to say:

"Richard W. Bann commented on your link.

"My comment:

"All of us want to believe we are doing something useful with our lives, something that matters, something that leaves lasting marks. Something that speaks to future generations, to show we were here, and made a difference.

"Time travel is an important component of my attraction to old films. Did all that talent realize they were communicating with millions of people not yet born at that time? Those of us who receive that communication today...how can we respond? We want to let these artists and technicians know they didn't do all that work for nothing. That we enjoy and honor the entertainment value, and that we treasure the living history they have unwittingly given us. And one meaningful thing we can do and one way we can respond is to support film preservation efforts. It is important to do so.


"Yes my essay will make some fans cringe. The story is painful; in fact it is worse than you know. I softened and concealed some of the worst incidents. And yes it is easy for us to look back and criticize the careless custodians of these treasures. We have some responsibility here too, however, because we have an opportunity now to be part of the film preservation effort at UCLA. If these films mean something to you, please get involved."


Pretty good thoughts, don't you think?  It shows his insight, as well as his love of movies.

I would like to add a few words about Dick Bann.  I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago at a Sons of the Desert meeting.  Dick is incredibly knowledgeable in all things film, and probably has one of the best jobs in the world. 

A quick search at Google Books for his name returns well over 800 hits.  He didn't write that many books, but his writing is easy to find.  He is also well known for his contribution to movie documentaries and other books about the film industry.

I have an autographed copy of his 1984 book, Our Gang: The Life and Times of The Little Rascals, which was co-authored by Leonard Maltin.  There is an updated version of that book, released in 1992, called The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang.  Buy either one...they are very informative, including a section on where they are now.  (The Rascals...not Bann and Maltin.)

Bann has also co-authored several other books.  Here is a very short list -

• Laurel & Hardy, with text by John McCabe, compiled by Al Kilgore, and filmography by Richard W. Bann.  I have had the pleasure of meeting McCabe and Kilgore as well, but sadly, they are both gone.
• Lone Pine in the Movies, Celebrating Republic's 75th Anniversary, with Ed Hulse, Chris Langley, and Sam Sherman.  (I don't know them!)
• W. C. Fields: A Life on Film, with W. C.'s grandson, Ronald Fields.  (I met him, too.)

As you can see, his interest in movies reflects that of many classic film buffs by covering some of the top people and studios in all of classic filmdom.

Dick Bann is also tapped as a source of reliable information for other authors and filmmakers.  He has helped on many documentaries, and you can find him quoted on many web sites as well.

Courtesy Richard W. Bann

According to IMDb, Dick has appeared as himself in two documentaries, a video short about Hal Roach's Rascals, and on the Playboy TV series, "Kendra."  (Dick is also a regular at the Playboy Mansion.)  He will soon appear in a documentary about Bettie Page (1923 - 2008) sometime this year, and is currently making one about Laurel and Hardy.

It is interesting to search for his name on the 'net, and then follow the links to read his various interviews, references and stories.  Many of these can be found at http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/ the official web site for The Boys, or on other L&H devoted web sites.

In addition to the UCLA film restoration project, there are other institutions that do their part.  The Library of Congress is one of the biggest, although with limited money at the present due to the economic dilemma in the USA.  You can search the Internet for Film Preservation or go to the Wikipedia site for that topic for more info and other organizations.

I am thankful as well, to have Dick answer my e-mail questions.  I have limited resources and time to write my little blog, and getting the full poop from him has been very helpful.  I am sure he can now be included in the (more or less) exclusive club called - Bit Actors.

Classic Film Restoration

Think about how many movies have been made since 1896 and the first public exhibition of motion pictures in New York City.  It must be hundreds of millions, at least.  Well, maybe not quite that many, but it would be impossible to screen everything ever filmed, for more than one reason.  Time constraint is a concern, but sadly, the great majority of movies have been lost.

It has been said that at least 80% of all the silent films ever made are gone forever.  That is a thought that makes any movie buff angry at the way these important negatives were treated by their creators.  But most of them were making a simple business decision.  Even Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were responsible.

Movies in the silent era were made, shown, and discarded.  The studio heads didn't think they would ever be needed again, once everyone had seen them.  The film stock was nitrate based, so it was flammable (Very flammable.  It would even burn underwater.), and it would deteriorate after a few years, turning into powder.  Because it was dangerous to keep in storage, requiring fire-proof buildings, it was much cheaper to get rid of it all.  One famous incident included using the old negatives as fuel for a new film that required a big fire scene.

Many films were lost in warehouse fires.  A fire destroyed most of the negatives of the Lubin Studios in 1914, the same year that Lubin had saved Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille from technical problems they had with the film The Squaw Man (1914).  MGM and Warner Brothers may never have been created if it were not for the technical advances of Lubin Manufacturing.  By 1917 Siegmund Lubin had to dissolve his business, party due to the fire, and also to World War I. 

In 1927, Talkies started coming out.  The change took several years because theaters had to invest in more equipment, as did the studios, but everyone could see that from The Jazz Singer on, movies would talk.  Again, the studios that still had negatives in storage for their silent films could see no reason to retain them.  Surely, nobody would ever want to see a silent film again.  Wrong!

Film restoration efforts began after television started to become popular.  But that was a full 50 years after those first motion pictures flickered in small theaters.  Much had already been lost forever.  Early restoration attempts were spotty at best, with new titles added to many films, complete with mistakes made in the transformation.  Much of this was for television screening, and the network heads couldn't see any reason for doing the restoration job right.  All they needed was a 16mm print made from the 35mm negative.  It would be expensive to do more, and it would probably never be needed after the first showing.  Wrong again!

In a similar mindset, the movie studios that sold their work to television saw this as a last chance to make a few dollars on old films.  Surely this would be the end of the need to keep these old negatives.  No attempt was made to properly store them...it would be too expensive.  What wasn't duped for TV was left to turn to dust.  Not only wrong, but a tragedy as well.

I recently read an incredibly detailed account by Richard W. Bann about the restoration of the films of Hal Roach Studios.  Hal Roach made the films of Charley Chase, The Little Rascals, Laurel and Hardy, Thelma Todd, and many others.  Bann is a film historian and writer, and was personally involved with the process.  You can find him on Facebook. 

The article is not for the faint of heart.  It is long and somewhat technical.  But it is important to give it a shot if you love old movies.  If you get through all four pages, you will learn some new terminology, and I am sure the article will bring back some memories.  Plus, it has some great pictures.

You can find a link to the article on the home page of the official Laurel and Hardy web site. 
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/

The web site is also a font of information about the best comedy team to ever grace the big screen.  The Sons of the Desert are championing the restoration of these films at UCLA Film & Television Archive.
http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/support/laurel-and-hardy

If you love classic movies as much as I, please take a look at these links.  Spend some time there.  Donate some money if you can.  It is important to save these films for future generations, and as Dick Bann puts it, it is comforting to know that Laurel and Hardy will be around forever.  Our government is having some moderate to heavy financial trouble these days, so whatever we can do privately will help the project move along.  Thanks!

B4 They Were Stars - Ginger Rogers

I thought it would be fun to look at famous stars, before they got that way.  Of course, most started out as extras or Bit Actors.  Ginger Rogers (1911 - 1995) was no exception. 

Ginger has 90 titles listed on IMDb.  Of that, 25 appear before her first pairing with Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933).  It was that pairing that made her a real star, and since over 1/4 of her movies were released before that, it could be said she was a Bit Actress.  (Or am I stretching the point?!?)

In 1925 Ginger won a Charleston contest at the age of 14, and that was really her start in show business.  She toured for a short time with the dance show, and then went to Broadway.  Ginger started making movies in 1929.  Her first time on screen was in A Day of a Man of Affairs a short that no one remembers.

Two more shorts in 1930.  A Night in a Dormitory with Thelma White (1910 - 2005) who later appeared in Tell Your Children (1936) also known as Reefer Madness.  Then, Campus Sweethearts starring Rudy Vallee (1901 - 1986). 

In Young Man of Manhattan (1930) she co-stars as a flapper with Claudette Colbert (1903 - 1996).  Also in 1930 she was in The Sap from Syracuse with Jack Oakie (1903 - 1978).  These were already pretty big parts for Ginger...the problem was they were in pretty small movies.  Ginger made seven films in 1930.  That year she also worked with Charlie Ruggles, Frank Morgan, Ed Wynn and Ethel Merman. 

In 1931 she works with William Boyd (1895 - 1972) in Suicide Fleet, just two films before he became Hopalong Cassidy in 1935.  In the next few years she works with Joe E. Brown in two films, and with Joan Blondell, before their first Busby Berkeley film together.

Two great musicals are up next, 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, both released in 1933.  Gold Diggers of 1933 started Ginger on her real climb to stardom.  The opening number is "We're in the Money" with Ginger taking the lead.  There is a closeup of her singing the song in pig-latin, and even though it is a distorted shot due to being too close for the lens, it endears Ginger to the audience.  She really didn't have a lead part in the film, but she was on her way none-the-less.

Ginger made six more films before Flying Down to Rio with Fred.  She had the lead in all of them, and got to work with more stars like Zasu Pitts, Lew Ayres (her husband from 1934 to 1940), Charley Grapewin, Joel McCrea and Jack Haley. 

After Flying, she was in ten films with Fred Astaire and could now be considered one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.  She won just a single Oscar for her work, and it wasn't with Fred.  It was for Best Actress in Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940). 

Ginger's last film was Harlow in 1965 starring Carol Lynley (b. 1942) in the title role, and she continued acting on TV until 1987.  But she'll always be remembered as the girl who did everything Fred did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.

Charles Stevens, a Native American

Although it isn't a name that would have you think Native American, Charles Stevens (1893 - 1964) was one.  And an important one to the movies and to the name Bit Actor.

Stevens started in the movies in the 1915 classic, The Birth of a Nation.  For the next five years or so, in the silent films, he played a variety of American, Japanese, and Mexican parts.  He worked with some of the biggest names in silent film.  He made no less than 22 films with Douglas Fairbanks (1883 - 1939), including some of his biggest films, The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924).  He would later make three films with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the 1940s.

In 1930 he plays Injun Joe in the Jackie Coogan version of Tom Sawyer.  Although Stevens works regularly in the next decade, he doesn't make many famous movies.  Remember, this was the depression and any work was good to have.  Plus, the country needed cheap entertainment to keep spirits up, and these movies would help.

In 1939 he plays a drunken Indian in Frontier Marshal.  This telling of the gunfight at the OK Corral was almost completely fictional, but it must have inspired My Darling Clementine (1946) which is almost the same story, with similar historical mistakes.  Stevens plays the drunken Indian in that one as well.  Speaking of Tombstone, Stevens plays an Indian in Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942) with Richard Dix (1893 - 1949) as Wyatt Earp.

In 1940 he is in the Tyrone Power remake of The Mark of Zorro.  Once again as a Mexican.  Stevens is found in quite a variety of westerns, and he played an Indian named Joe it six of them, by my count.  He was never a regular sidekick to any popular western star, but he worked with almost everyone at least once.  (Except Roy Rogers, for some reason.) 

As with many Bit Actors of the new television era in the 1950s, he found regular work on the small screen.  He can be found in all of the western TV series' including "The Lone Ranger," "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," and "Maverick" among many others.

In 1956 he played a slave in The Ten Commandments.  I dare you to pick him out!

His final film was The Outsiders (1961).  This was a film about an Indian, Ira Hayes, in the Second World War, who helped raise the flag above Iwo Jima.  (The second time, for the photo.  The real Hayes is the one on the left.)  Ira was played by Tony Curtis, and Charles Stevens played Joseph Hayes, in a Bit Part as Ira's father.  I haven't seen The Outsiders, but I have in my collection Flags of our Fathers (2006) by Clint Eastwood, that covers the real story of the flag raising. 

Stevens has over 220 titles listed on IMDb, and did I mention that Charles Stevens was the grandson of Geronimo, and he was 1/4 Apache?

Happy Fourth, and George Washington

Independence Day Weekend is upon us.  I just rebuilt the gas barbecue, so I am ready.  A three day weekend and a pool party is all you need...well, almost all you need, to have a great time.  For people reading this blog, you also need some great, patriotic movies!

I thought it would be fun to look at the range of actors who have portrayed George Washington (1732 - 1799) in film and on TV.  I was right, it was fun and the variety is staggering.

About 110 years after George passed away, he shows up for the first time in the 1909 Vitagraph silent film, Washington Under the British Flag with Joseph Kilgour (1863 - 1933) in the title role.  Kilgour played Washington about five times in silent films. 

In 1917 we see William Beery (1879 - 1949) playing Washington in The Spirit of '76.  William was Wallace Beery's brother.  The final silent film that included the Father of our County was The Flag: A Story Inspired by the Tradition of Betsy Ross (1927).  Here we find the biggest star of the silent era, Francis X. Bushman (1883 - 1966) as George.  I believe the title was probably longer than the film.

A dozen films later and we are in 1940 and the release of Holiday Highlights.  This was a comedy compilation of short vignettes of history.  Mel Blanc (1908 - 1989) plays George chopping down a cherry tree.  Of course, Blanc is most famous as his vocal counterparts, Bugs Bunny and many other Warner Brothers cartoon voices.  I am not sure he could be elected president, though.

"You Are There" was a popular historical television series in the 1950s.  In the 1955 episode, "Washington's Farewell to his Officers," E. G. Marshall (1914 - 1998) takes the president's role. 

In 1970 Lorne Greene (1915 - 1987) is Washington in "Swing Out, Sweet Land" an all star TV show starring John Wayne.  That cast is interesting, with Lucille Ball as the Voice of The Statue of Liberty, Jack Benny as the man who finds the silver dollar, and Dan Blocker as the indian who sold Manhattan.  Look for "John Wayne's Trubute to America" as the DVD release title.

Here are a few more TV Washingtons:
Will Geer on "Bewitched"
Pat Hingle on "NET Playhouse" episode "Trail of Tears"
Rene Aberjonois also on "NET Playhouse" in "Portrait of the Hero as a Young Man"
Jim Henson on "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence"  (Huh?)
Richard Basehart on "Hallmark Hall of Fame" episode "Valley Forge"
Peter Graves in "The Rebels"
Kelsey Grammer on "Biography" in the Benedict Arnold episode

The list keeps going, with Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Anthony Hopkins and Jack Black, all playing GW at some time.  That's quite a mix!

David Morse plays a credible Washington in the HBO bio-series, "John Adams" starring Paul Giamatti.  Well worth seeing if you are the least bit interested in American history.

It's up to you to decide who is the best Washington on screen.  Which is the best performance, or the most historically accurate?  Hard to say.  My guess is that the newer productions, like "John Adams" may be fairly accurate, given the current trend to do research rather than just make entertainment.  I happen to agree with that philosophy.

There are 132 titles on IMDb with a George Washington character, from 1909 to 2009.  I am sure more are to come.  And they will just keep getting better. 

OK...Let The Holiday Weekend Commence!  Enjoy yourself and be careful with those fireworks.  I may take a short drive over to Valley Forge National Historical Park.  It's right near my home, and the dog loves it!

Peter Vaughan and The Remains of the Day

I was watching The Remains of the Day (1993) last night and was drawn in by the performance of Peter Vaughan (b. 1923) who plays Anthony Hopkins' elderly father.  I love British actors, and Vaughan is no exception.  There is something about their demeanor that allows them to be completely believable, especially in period roles.

Vaughan now has over 200 titles on IMDb.  Much of his work is in British television, so you may have to look hard for it in the USA.  You can easily find him in many diversified movie roles.  His appearance can change from kindly to menacing in an instant, depending on the requirements.

His early roles were mostly uncredited and he played policemen or porters, just as an extra.  His first movie was The 39 Steps, but it was the 1959 remake.  He was in Village of the Damned (1960) which was a hit horror film starring George Sanders and a bunch of kids with glowing eyes. 

He had to suffer through the 1960s with stars like Vince Edwards (The Victors 1963), but he did press on.  In 1965 he had a bigger part in Die! Die! My Darling! starring Tallulah Bankhead (1902 - 1968).  Vaughan stars in Smokescreen (1966) which sounds like a pretty good, low budget mystery.  He plays an insurance investigator who solves an insurance fraud scheme.  I'll have to look for that one.

In 1967 he co-starred with Frank Sinatra in The Naked Runner.  I don't believe either one of them was naked in it, but it certainly helped his career.  Then, he worked with Vince Edwards again in Hammerhead (1968).  I may have to write about Edwards soon, as it looks like he did something other than "Ben Casey!"

I have to mention that Vaughan was in an episode of "The Avengers" in 1968.  It was one of my favorites.  Let's move on...
Straw Dogs (1971) starring Dustin Hoffman
The Blockhouse (1973) starring Peter Sellers
The MacKintosh Man (1973) starring Paul Newman
Massacre in Rome (1973) starring Richard Burton
Valentino (1977) starring Rudolph Nureyev and Leslie Caron
Time Bandits (1981) a Terry Gilliam film, where he played Winston the Ogre
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) starring Meryl Streep
The Razor's Edge (1984) starring Bill Murray

I think you can see that he was very capable.  He worked with everyone from Richard Burton to Bill Murray.  Now that takes flexibility.

Vaughan worked again with Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, in Brazil (1985).  In 1988 he was in the television movie, "The Bourne Identity" which I would also like to see.  It starred Richard Chamberlain (b. 1934, and another TV doctor), who probably brought in a good performance, considering the limited budget of a TV movie.  I would expect the story to be the star in that one, rather than the action scenes and explosions.

Vaughan's part in The Remains of the Day was spot on.  He played it in a touching way that brought some understanding to his son's role as the butler.  That is the job of a Bit Actor.

In 1996 you can find him in The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Rider.  1998 in Les Miserables with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman.  In 2007 he is in Death at a Funeral, which is on demand in FiOS right now, so I may have to watch it.

Peter Vaughan keeps on working, even well into his 80s.  It is time to take real notice of his contribution to the movies we enjoy so much.  I know that Remains received a nomination for an Oscar for Best Picture (plus seven others), but I wonder how many awards ALL of his works have gathered in total.  It would be a real tribute to compile a full list.

A Tale of Two Chans

Let's compare Charlie Chan's two movie sons, Lee played by Keye Luke (1904 - 1991) and Jimmy (or sometimes Tommy) played by Victor Sen Yung (1915 - 1980).  Well, let's look at the actors, not the characters.  Both were Chinese/Americans and both had long, wonderful acting careers.  These days, I think they may be less remembered, except by classic movie fans like us.

Warner Oland (1879 - 1938) was the first, major Charlie Chan in the movies.  He made Chan films starting in 1931, up until his death.  Oland was also the first of a long line of Chans who were not Asian.  His real name was Olund and he was Swedish.  Keye Luke played "Number One Son" Lee Chan.

Luke started working in film just a year before his first Chan movie, Charlie Chan in Paris (1935).  Eight of Oland's 16 Chan movies also included Luke.  Luke played Lee Chan in one oddity, Mr. Moto's Gamble (1939) which started out as another Chan movie, until Oland couldn't continue.  The studio brought in Peter Lorre and converted it to a Mr. Moto/Charlie Chan hybrid.

The Charlie Chan series was very popular with the public and served as a great start for Keye.  He found himself in demand wherever an Asian actor was needed.  His first big role outside of Chan was in The Good Earth in 1937, and he played the first screen Kato in The Green Hornet in 1940.  No matter that Kato was supposed to be Korean.

Luke then played a doctor in the Lionel Barrymore, Dr. Gillespie series.  Five entries in all.  The late forties brought him once again to play Lee Chan, this time with Roland Winters (1904 - 1989, note that they were the same age) as his Pop.  BTW, Winters was born Roland Winternitz in Boston, MA...another non-Asian Chan.

The 1950s brought television and more opportunities.  Luke embraced TV, and also did voice work for animation and dubbing foreign films.  He was in everything from "My Little Margie" to "Star Trek."  In 1972 he finally got to play Charlie Chan in "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan," and was probably the first Asian to do the lead in a major work, even if it was animated. 

Keye Luke will be remembered by younger viewers as Master Po in "Kung Fu."  His newer movies include Gremlins (1984) and his final film, Alice (1990) by Woody Allen.  He has 200 titles listed on IMDb.

Victor Sen Yung also has a long career with 151 titles.  His first film was The Good Earth in an uncredited part. 

Victor started in the Chan films as Jimmy, with Sidney Toler (1879 - 1947, of Scottish ancestry) as Chan.  They made 13 films from 1938 to 1946. 

Victor was Tommy Chan in five Chan movies starring Roland Winters.  One of those also included Keye Luke, The Feathered Serpent in 1948.  The two would work together in eight other films and numerous TV shows, including "Kung Fu."

Sen Yung also worked on many TV shows.  He continued in film and you can see him in The Left Hand of God (1955) starring Humphrey Bogart, the musical Flower Drum Song (1961), and The Hawaiians (1970) with Charlton Heston and Keye Luke.  His final film was Sam Marlow, Private Eye in 1980, starring Robert Sacchi (b. 1941) who is mostly known as a Bogart look alike.

I have always enjoyed watching Keye Luke and Victor Sen Yung.  They are both instantly recognizable on screen, whether large or small.  But they will always be best remembered as three of Charlie Chan's sons.  Or is that, the sons of three Charlie Chans?