Jack Holt (actor)
Charles John Holt, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was prominent in both silent and sound movies, particularly Westerns.
Early life
Holt was born in 1888 in the Fordham section of The Bronx, New York, the son of an Episcopal priest at St. James Church. When in Manhattan, he attended Trinity School. He was accepted into the Virginia Military Institute in 1909, but expelled for misbehavior in his second semester there.
Following Holt's father's death, the family moved to Manhattan, where Jack, his mother, and brother Marshall lived with his married sister, Frances.
Holt worked at various jobs, including construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad's tunnel under the Hudson River and being a "surveyor, laborer, prospector, trapper, and stagecoach driver, among many other jobs" during an almost six-year stay in Alaska.
Military service
Holt was prevented from serving in World War I because of "chronic foot problems" from frostbite when he was in Alaska. On January 28, 1943, Holt reported for duty with the rank of captain in the Army Quartermaster Corps. He began training at Fort Francis E. Warren.
Film career
Holt began in Hollywood with stunt work and bit parts in serials and at Universal Pictures worked as a supporting player for Francis Ford and his brother John Ford, and Grace Cunard.
In his 1914 film debut, Holt rode a horse down a steep embankment into the Russian River in a scene for Salomy Jane. The stunt cracked some of Holt's ribs and injured the horse so badly that it had to be destroyed. The film, which was considered lost for years, was included in the DVD released 2011 anthology Treasures 5 The West 1898—1938 by the National Film Preservation Foundation after a print was discovered in Australia.
Holt appeared in three Frank Capra action dramas: Submarine, Flight and Dirigible. Holt's characterizations were eclipsed by younger actors like James Cagney and Chester Morris, but still played leads. Two mid-1930s features, Whirlpool and The Defense Rests, starred Holt opposite up-and-coming ingenue Jean Arthur.
Exhibitors had come to associate Jack Holt with rough-and-tumble action, and so Holt continued to work in low-budget crime dramas through 1940. The series came to an end when he argued with studio chief Harry Cohn. Cohn thought the actor so arrogant that he assigned Holt the leading role in a lowbrow 15-chapter serial, Holt of the Secret Service. Holt — the star of longest standing with the studio — was insulted by Cohn's demotion; although he turned in a professional performance in the serial, he walked out on both Cohn and Columbia.
Holt began freelancing at other studios, frequently appearing in outdoor and western fare. He would become an enduring member of the cowboy fraternity through Trail of Robin Hood, a Roy Rogers western with guest appearances by Holt, Allan Lane, Tom Keene, Tom Tyler, Kermit Maynard, and Rex Allen.
Holt's children established their own film careers. Tim Holt succeeded George O'Brien as the star of RKO Radio Pictures' "B" westerns, and co-starred with his father in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with Jack as a grubby vagrant. Jennifer Holt played ingenues in low-budget features, mostly for Universal Pictures. The Holt family performed together on the "Drifty" episode of All Star Western Theater as a father/son/daughter trio featuring a dramatic sketch and additional entertainment by Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage.
Personal life
Holt married divorcee Margaret Wood in 1918. She obtained a divorce in Mexico in 1932 but, on January 9, 1940, a judge in Los Angeles ruled that the divorce was invalid. Her father, tycoon Henry Morton Stanley-Wood, disowned her because she married an actor; they later made up after her father lost most of his money in the Great Depression. She already had a daughter when she married Holt, and together they had a son, Charles John Holt III, and a daughter, Elizabeth Marshall Holt. Better known as Tim and Jennifer, respectively, both of them became actors in western films.
Holt was a lifetime member of the Society of Colonial Wars, admitted to the California Society on July 13, 1928.
Death
Holt died in 1951 of a heart attack, at age 62. He was interred at Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Contribution
Holt has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6313-½ Hollywood Blvd for his contribution to the motion picture industry.
Margaret Mitchell, although having no say in the casting for Gone With the Wind, expressed her preference for Jack Holt as Rhett Butler, because her personal favorite, Charles Boyer, had a French accent.
Filmography
Salomy Jane as Solitaire-Playing Cowboy in Saloon The Master Key as Donald FavershamThe Broken Coin as Captain WilliamsJewel as Nat BonnellThe Dumb Girl of Portici as CondeNaked Hearts as HowardLiberty as Captain Bob RutledgeSaving the Family Name as Jansen WinthropThe Chalice of Sorrow The Black Sheep of the Family as Kenneth CarmontJoan the Woman Patria The Cost of Hatred as HuertezSacrifice as Paul EkaldGiving Becky a Chance as Tom FieldingThe Inner Shrine as Viscount D'ArcourtThe Little American as Karl von AustreimThe Call of the East as Alan HepburnThe Secret Game as Maj. John NorthfieldThe Hidden Pearls as Robert GarvinThe Claw as Maurice StairOne More American as Sam PottsHeadin' South Love Me as Gordon ApplebyThe Honor of His House as Robert FarlowThe White Man's Law as Sir Harry FalklandThe Iron Claw as Maurice StairA Desert Wooing as Barton MastersGreen Eyes as Pearson HunterThe Marriage Ring as Rodney HeatheThe Road Through the Dark as Duke KarlThe Squaw Man as Cash HawkinsCheating Cheaters as Tom PalmerA Midnight Romance as Roger SloanFor Better, for Worse as CrusaderThe Woman Thou Gavest Me as Lord RaaA Sporting Chance as Paul SayreThe Woman Michael Married as Michael OrdswayThe Life Line as Jack Hearne, the Romany RyeKitty Kelly, M.D. as Bob LangVictory as Axel HeystThe Best of Luck as Kenneth, Lord GlenayrCrooked Streets as Rupert O'DareHeld by the Enemy as Col. Charles PrescottThe Sins of Rosanne as Sir Dennis HarlendenMidsummer Madness as Bob MeredithAll Soul's Eve as Roger HeathDucks and Drakes as Rob WinslowThe Lost Romance as Mark SheridanThe Mask as Kenneth Traynor / Handsome JackAfter the Show as Larry TaylorThe Grim Comedian as Harvey MartinThe Call of the North as Ned TrentBought and Paid For as Robert StaffordNorth of the Rio Grande as Bob HaddingtonWhile Satan Sleeps as PhilThe Man Unconquerable as Robert KendallOn the High Seas as Jim DornMaking a Man as Horace WinsbyNobody's Money as John WebsterThe Tiger's Claw as Sam SandellA Gentleman of Leisure as Robert PittHollywood as himselfThe Cheat as Dudley DrakeThe Marriage Maker as Lord StonburyDon't Call It Love as Richard ParrishThe Lone Wolf as Michael LanyardWanderer of the Wasteland as Adam LareyEmpty Hands as GrimshawNorth of 36 as Don McMastersEve's Secret as Duke of PoltavaThe Thundering Herd as Tom DoanThe Light of Western Stars as Gene StewartWild Horse Mesa as Chane WeymerThe Ancient Highway as Cliff BrantThe Enchanted Hill as Lee PurdySea Horses as George GlanvilleThe Blind Goddess as Hugh DillonBorn to the West as 'Colorado' Dare RuddForlorn River as NevadaMan of the Forest as Milt DaleThe Mysterious Rider as Bent WadeThe Tigress as Winston Graham, Earl of EddingtonThe Warning as Tom Fellows / Col. Robert WellsleyThe Smart Set as NelsonThe Vanishing Pioneer as Anthony Ballard / John BallardCourt-Martial as James CamdenThe Water Hole as Philip RandolphSubmarine as Jack DorganAvalanche as Jack DuntonSunset Pass as Jack RockThe Donovan Affair as Insp. KillianFather and Son as Frank FieldsFlight as Panama WilliamsVengeance as John MeadhamThe Border Legion as Jack KellsHell's Island as MacThe Squealer as Charles HartThe Last Parade as Cookie LeonardDirigible as Jack BradonSubway Express as Inspector KillianWhite Shoulders as Gordon KentFifty Fathoms Deep as Tim BurkeA Dangerous Affair as Lt. McHenryMaker of Men as Coach DudleyBehind the Mask as Jack Hart aka QuinnWar Correspondent as Jim KenyonThis Sporting Age as Capt. John SteeleMan Against Woman as Johnny McCloudHollywood Speaks as himselfWhen Strangers Marry as Steve RandThe Woman I Stole as Jim BradlerThe Wrecker as Chuck ReganMaster of Men as Buck GarrettWhirlpool as Buck RankinBlack Moon as Stephen LaneThe Defense Rests as Matthew MitchellI'll Fix It as Bill GrimesThe Best Man Wins as Nick RobertsStorm Over the Andes as Bob KentThe Unwelcome Stranger as Howard W. ChamberlainThe Awakening of Jim Burke as Jim BurkeThe Littlest Rebel as Col. MorrisonDangerous Waters as Jim MarloweSan Francisco as Jack BurleyCrash Donovan as 'Crash' DonovanEnd of the Trail as Dale BrittenhamNorth of Nome as John RaglanTrouble in Morocco as Paul CluettRoaring Timber as Jim SherwoodOutlaws of the Orient as Chet EatonTrapped by G-Men as G-Man Martin Galloway, Posing as Bill DonovanUnder Suspicion as Robert BaileyMaking the Headlines as Police Lt. Lewis NagelFlight into Nowhere as Jim HorneReformatory as Robert DeanCrime Takes a Holiday as Walter ForbesThe Strange Case of Dr. Meade as Dr. MeadeWhispering Enemies as Stephen BrewsterTrapped in the Sky as MajorFugitive at Large as Tom Farrow / George StormHidden Power as Dr. GarfieldOutside the Three-Mile Limit as Treasury Agent ConwayPassport to Alcatraz as George HollisterFugitive from a Prison Camp as Sheriff LawsonThe Great Plane Robbery as Mike HendersonThe Great Swindle as Jack ReganHolt of the Secret Service as Jack Holt / Nick FarrellThunder Birds as Colonel MacDonaldNorthwest Rangers as Duncan FrazierCat People as The CommodoreThey Were Expendable as General MartinMy Pal Trigger as Brett ScovilleFlight to Nowhere as FBI Agent Bob DonovanThe Chase as Cmdr. DavidsonRenegade Girl as Maj. BarkerThe Wild Frontier as Charles 'Saddles' BartonThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre as Flophouse Bum The Arizona Ranger as Rawhide MorganThe Gallant Legion as Capt. BannerThe Strawberry Roan as Walt BaileyLoaded Pistols as Dave RandallThe Last Bandit as Mort PembertonBrimstone as Marshal Walter GreenslideTask Force as Captain ReevesRed Desert as Deacon SmithThe Daltons' Women as Clint Dalton – Mike LeonardReturn of the Frontiersman as Sheriff Sam BarrettTrail of Robin Hood as himselfKing of the Bullwhip as Banker James KerriganAcross the Wide Missouri as Bear Ghost