Henry Brandon (actor)
Henry Brandon was an American film and stage character actor with a career spanning almost 60 years, involving more than 100 films; he specialized in playing a wide diversity of ethnic roles.
Early life
Brandon was born in 1912 in Berlin, German Empire, the son of Hildegard and Hugo R. von Kleinbach, a merchant. His parents emigrated to the United States while he was still an infant. After attending Stanford University, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, he trained as a theatre actor at the Pasadena Community Playhouse and subsequently performed on Broadway, continuing to return to the stage periodically throughout his career.
Film career
He made his motion picture debut in 1932 as an uncredited spectator at the Colosseum in The Sign of the Cross. In the Victorian-era stage melodrama The Drunkard – played for laughs in a popular local revival – Kleinbach appeared as the wizened old villain "Squire Cribbs". The 22-year-old Kleinbach was so convincing in elderly makeup that he fooled movie producer Hal Roach, who hired Kleinbach to play Silas Barnaby, the villain in the Laurel and Hardy feature Babes in Toyland. In 1936, having until then been performing under his real name, he adopted the stage name of Henry Brandon. He reprised the Barnaby character in Roach's short-subject production Our Gang Follies of 1938.
Character actor
Henry Brandon was a character player, often called upon to portray various ethnic types. He played the character of Renouf, a deserter from the French Foreign Legion, in the 1939 remake of Beau Geste. In 1943, he played Major Ruck, a British secret agent in the guise of an SS officer in Edge of Darkness. In 1948 he appeared as Giles de Rais in Joan of Arc. He appeared as the African tribal chieftain M'Tara in Tarzan and the She-Devil, and a French army captain in Vera Cruz.
In 1956, he played the chief villain, a Comanche chieftain called Scar, in John Ford's The Searchers. The following year he portrayed Jesse James in Hell's Crossroads. In 1958, he portrayed Acacius Page in Auntie Mame and on television starred in the episode "The Tall Man" of the NBC anthology series Decision. In 1959, he played the role of Gator Joe in "Woman in the River" in the crime drama Bourbon Street Beat. On October 12, 1959, he played the role of Jason in Euripides' Medea as a part of the Play of the Week television series.
In 1960, he played a Native American character again as Running Wolf in the episode "Gold Seeker" in the television series The Rebel. He played Asian characters in two 1961 episodes, viz. "Angel of Death" and "The Assassins", of the television series Adventures in Paradise and played an American Indian chieftain again in John Ford's Two Rode Together. In 1965, he played the Shug chief in the pilot episode of F Troop and made a guest appearance on the TV programme Honey West "A Matter of Wife and Death". Brandon once again played Squire Cribbs at long-running revivals of The Drunkard from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s at the Los Angeles Press Club theatre and, again, in the 1980s at the Hollywood Masquers Club theatre.
Personal life
Brandon married in 1941; the marriage produced one son before ending in 1946. He subsequently had a long relationship with the actor Mark Herron. Herron left Brandon in the mid-1960s, and was briefly the fourth husband of Judy Garland. Herron and Garland separated after five months of marriage, after which Herron returned to Brandon and remained with him until Brandon's death.
Death
Brandon lived in West Hollywood in his final years. He suffered a heart attack and died on February 15, 1990, at the age of 77, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. His body was cremated, and the ashes were reportedly scattered at an undisclosed theatre location.
Selected filmography
The Sign of the Cross as Colosseum Spectator Babes in Toyland as Silas BarnabyThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine as Wade FalinThe Preview Murder Mystery as The Bat Man Big Brown Eyes as Don ButlerThe Garden of Allah as HadjKiller at Large as Mr. ZeroBlack Legion as Joe DombrowskiJungle Jim as The CobraSecret Agent X-9 as BlackstoneI Promise to Pay as Henchman FancyfaceIsland Captives as Dick BannisterThe Last Train from Madrid as Radio Announcer West Bound Limited as Joe ForbesConquest as Staff Officer Wells Fargo as Larry I Met My Love Again as Bruno - the Painter Three Comrades as Valentin - Man with Eye Patch Spawn of the North as Davis If I Were King as Soldier The Last Express as Henchman PinkyThe Last Warning as Willie the Creep Pirates of the Skies as Gang Pilot Buck Rogers as Captain LaskaBeau Geste as Renouf - Another DeserterConspiracy as Carlson - CrewmanNurse Edith Cavell as Lt. SchultzThe Marshal of Mesa City as Duke AllisonGeronimo Drums of Fu Manchu as Dr. Fu ManchuHalf a Sinner as HandsomeSki Patrol as Jan SikorskyFlorian as Groom The Ranger and the Lady as General Augustus LarueDoomed to Die as Attorney Victor MartinUnder Texas Skies as Tom BlacktonDark Streets of Cairo as HussienThe Son of Monte Cristo as Lt. SchultzUnderground as RolfTwo in a Taxi as ProfessorThe Shepherd of the Hills as Bald Knobber Hurricane Smith as Sam CarsonBad Man of Deadwood as Ted CarverThe Corsican Brothers as Marquis de Raveneau Night in New Orleans as Croupier Edge of Darkness as Maj. Ruck Northwest Outpost as Chinese Junk Captain Old Los Angeles as Larry StocktonCanon City as FreemanHollow Triumph as Big Boy Joan of Arc as Captain Gilles de RaisThe Paleface as Wapato Wake of the Red Witch as Kurinua The Fighting O'Flynn as Lt. CorpeTarzan's Magic Fountain as SikoCattle Drive as Jim CurrieThe Golden Horde as Juchi, Son of Genghis KhanFlame of Araby as MalikHarem Girl as Hassan AliScarlet Angel as PierreWagons West as Clay CookHurricane Smith as SamThe War of the Worlds as Cop at Crash SiteScared Stiff as PierrePony Express as Joe CooperRaiders of the Seven Seas as Captain GoitiTarzan and the She-Devil as M'Tara, Locopo ChiefThe Caddy as Mr. PreenWar Arrow as MaygroKnock on Wood as Second Trenchcoat ManCasanova's Big Night as Capt. RugelloVera Cruz as Capt. DanetteLady Godiva of Coventry as BejacSilent Fear as Cliff SuttonComanche as Black CloudThe Searchers as Chief Cicatriz Bandido as GuntherThe Ten Commandments as Commander of the HostsHell's Crossroads as Jesse JamesThe Land Unknown as Dr. Carl HunterOmar Khayyam as CommanderThe Buccaneer as British MajorAuntie Mame as Acacius PageOkefenokee as Joe KalhariThe Big Fisherman as MenicusTwo Rode Together as Chief Quanah ParkerCaptain Sindbad as Colonel KabarThe Outer Limits as General CrawfordSo Long, Blue Boy as BuckThe Manhandlers as CarloWhen the North Wind Blows as AvakumAssault on Precinct 13 as Sgt. ChaneyRun for the Roses as JeffMission to Glory: A True Story as Father CanionBud and Lou as BernieHollywood Knight as CurleyEvita Peron as General RamirezTo Be or Not to Be as Nazi OfficerWizards of the Lost Kingdom II as Zarz
Selected theatre performances
Ramona Medea Twelfth Night The Lady's Not For Burning