| Charles Middleton | |
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| Born | October 3, 1874 |
| Died | April 22, 1949 (aged 74) |
Charles B. Middleton (October 3, 1874 – April 22, 1949) was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, Charles Middleton appeared in nearly two hundred films as well as numerous plays including in the 1946 Broadway production, "January Thaw."
Biography
Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Charles Middleton worked in a traveling circus, in vaudeville, and acted in live theatre before he turned to motion pictures in 1920. Middleton's career as a character actor came into full flower with the advent of sound movies. His ominous baritone voice was perfect for villainous roles, and he became an excellent foil for comedy stars Harold Lloyd, Eddie Cantor, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Laurel and Hardy. He then was cast in Warner Bros.' 1932 hit: The Strange Love of Molly Louvain, opposite Ann Dvorak and Richard Cromwell. Other notable performances by Middleton during this period were both released the very next year from Paramount Studios: first as "the district attorney" in This Day and Age, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and then as "the prosecutor" opposite The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. He also played Sheriff Ike Vallon, the official who tries to arrest Julie La Verne (Helen Morgan) and her husband for being illegally married, in Universal Pictures' classic 1936 screen version of the musical Show Boat. Middleton's granite-hard features resembled those of Abraham Lincoln. He played Lincoln in a public-service short subject, The Road Is Open Again, appeared in a rare comic role as an actor exasperated at being typecast as Lincoln in the 1937 comedy Stand-In, and played Lincoln's father in the film version of Robert E. Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Middleton was also featured in many serial adventures from 1935 to 1947. He is most famous for his villainous role as Ming the Merciless, the evil nemesis of Buster Crabbe in the three Flash Gordon serials: Flash Gordon (1936), Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938), and 1940's Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. The first Flash Gordon serial has the honor of having been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Middleton is equally memorable in such serials as Dick Tracy Returns, Daredevils of the Red Circle, and Jack Armstrong. Charles Middleton died of a heart attack in Los Angeles and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California next to his wife of many years, stage and film actress Leora Spellman (1888-1945).
Influence
It is believed that the producer Harry Saltzman of the James Bond films mixed the Ian Fleming real-life book character and Middleton's Emperor Ming attributes to create the screen persona for Bond's arch enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
External links
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| Silent Serials (1914-1929) |
Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery • The Master Key • The Trey o' Hearts • The Black Box • The Broken Coin • Graft • Under the Crescent • The Adventures of Peg o' the Ring • Liberty, A Daughter of the USA • The Mystery Ship • The Red Ace • The Gray Ghost • The Voice on the Wire • The Brass Bullet • Bull's Eye • The Lion's Claw • The Lure of the Circus • The Red Glove • The Great Radium Mystery • The Lion Man • The Midnight Man • The Flaming Disc • The Moon Riders • King of the Circus • The Vanishing Dagger • The Dragon's Net • The Diamond Queen • Do or Die • The Secret Four • Terror Trail • The White Horseman • Winners of the West • The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • In the Days of Buffalo Bill • Perils of the Yukon • The Radio King • With Stanley in Africa • Around the World in 18 Days • Beasts of Paradise • The Eagle's Talons • Ghost City • In the Days of Daniel Boone • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Fortune • The Social Buccaneer • The Steel Trail • The Fast Express • The Fighting Ranger • The Iron Man • The Riddle Rider • Wolves of the North • The Ace of Spades • The Great Circus Mystery • The Scarlet Streak • Fighting With Buffalo Bill • Strings of Steel • The Winking Idol • Blake of Scotland Yard • The Fire Fighters • The Return of the Riddle Rider • Trail of the Tiger • Whispering Smith Rides • The Haunted Island • Tarzan the Mighty • The Vanishing Rider • The Diamond Master • A Final Reckoning • Pirate of Panama |
| Part-sound Serials (1929-1930) |
The Ace of Scotland Yard • Tarzan the Tiger • The Jade Box • The Lightning Express • Terry of the Times • The Indians are Coming |
| Pre-war Sound Serials (1931-1942) |
Finger Prints • Heroes of the Flames • Danger Island • Battling with Buffalo Bill • The Spell of the Circus • Detective Lloyd • The Airmail Mystery • Heroes of the West • The Jungle Mystery • The Lost Special • Clancy of the Mounted • The Phantom of the Air • Gordon of Ghost City • The Perils of Pauline • Pirate Treasure • The Vanishing Shadow • The Red Rider • Tailspin Tommy • Rustlers of Red Dog • The Call of the Savage • The Roaring West • Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery • The Adventures of Frank Merriwell • Flash Gordon • The Phantom Rider • Ace Drummond • Jungle Jim • Secret Agent X-9 • Wild West Days • Radio Patrol • Tim Tyler's Luck • Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars • Flaming Frontiers • Red Barry • Scouts to the Rescue • Buck Rogers • The Oregon Trail • The Phantom Creeps • The Green Hornet • Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe • Winners of the West • Junior G-Men • The Green Hornet Strikes Again • Sky Raiders • Riders of Death Valley • Sea Raiders |
| War-time Serials (1942-1945) |
Don Winslow of the Navy • Gang Busters • Junior G-Men of the Air • Overland Mail • The Adventures of Smilin' Jack • Don Winslow of the Coast Guard • Adventures of the Flying Cadets • The Great Alaskan Mystery • Raiders of Ghost City • Mystery of the River Boat • Jungle Queen • The Master Key • Secret Agent X-9 |
| Post-war Serials (1945-1946) |
The Royal Mounted Rides Again • The Scarlet Horseman • Lost City of the Jungle • The Mysterious Mr. M |
| Actors and Actresses | Buster Crabbe • Priscilla Lawson • Béla Lugosi • Frank Merrill • Charles B. Middleton • Jean Rogers • Frank Shannon |
| Production Crew | Ford Beebe • Lewis D. Collins • Robert F. Hill • Lew Landers • Henry MacRae • J.P. McGowan • George H. Plympton • Clifford Smith • Ray Taylor |
| See also | Film serials • List of film serials • List of film serials by studio |
