Victor McLaglen

Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British-American actor and boxer. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially as a leading man, though he was better known for his character acting. He was a well-known member of John Ford’s Stock Company, appearing in 12 of the director’s films, seven of which co-starred John Wayne.

For his performance as a treacherous Irish Republican in the 1935 film The Informer, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Quiet Man, both directed by Ford. In 1960, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life and education McLaglen claimed to have been born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, although his birth certificate records 505 Commercial Road, Stepney in the East End of London as his true birthplace. His father, Andrew Charles Albert Mclaglen, was a missionary in the Free Protestant Church in South Africa, and was later a bishop of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England.

The McLaglen family is ultimately of Scottish origin, descended from a MacLachlan who settled in South Africa in the 19th century. The name was rendered into McLaglen from Dutch pronunciation. A.C.A. McLaglen was christened Andries Carel Albertus McLaglen in Cape Town on 4 April 1851.

Victor had eight brothers and a sister. Four of his brothers also became actors: Arthur, an actor and sculptor, and Clifford, Cyril, and Kenneth.

His other siblings included Frederick, Lewis, and a sister, Lily. Another brother, Sydney Temple Leopold McLaglen, who appeared in one film, gained notoriety prior to World War I as a showman and self-proclaimed world jujutsu champion, who authored a book on the subject.

Victor moved with his family to South Africa for a time, where his father was Bishop of Claremont.

Army service and boxing career McLaglen left home at 14 to join the British Army with the intention of fighting in the Second Boer War, but much to his chagrin, he was stationed at Windsor Castle in the Life Guards and was later forced to leave the army when his true age was discovered. earning a living as a wrestler and heavyweight boxer, with several notable wins in the ring. He also briefly served as a constable in the Winnipeg Police Force in 1907.

One of his most famous fights was against heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in a six-round exhibition bout at the Vancouver Athletic Club on 10 March 1909. This was Johnson's first bout since winning the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns. Between bouts, McLaglen toured with a circus, which offered $25 to anyone who could go three rounds with him.

He returned to Britain in 1913, and during the First World War was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, on 19 June 1915. He landed at Basra on 10 August 1916 and served as an assistant provost marshal in Mesopotamia, ending the war as a temporary captain. (He may also have seen some service with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.) He continued boxing, and was named heavyweight champion of the British Army in 1918. His final fight was a loss by knockout to Arthur Townley in October 1920.

He was in the adventure films: Corinthian Jack (1921) and The Prey of the Dragon (1921). He followed it with The Sport of Kings (1921). Donald Crisp cast him in The Glorious Adventure (1922) and he was in A Romance of Old Baghdad (1922), Little Brother of God (1922), A Sailor Tramp (1922), The Crimson Circle (1922), The Romany (1922), and Heartstrings (1922).

McLaglen played leads in M'Lord of the White Road (1923), In the Blood (1923), The Boatswain's Mate (1923), Women and Diamonds (1924), and The Gay Corinthian (1924). He was in The Passionate Adventure (1924), co-written by Alfred Hitchcock, and The Beloved Brute (1924), The Hunted Woman (1925), and Percy (1925).

Hollywood McLaglen's career took a surprise turn in 1925 when he moved to Hollywood.

Fox put McLaglen in The Loves of Carmen (1927) with del Río, directed by Walsh. He was top-billed in Mother Machree (1928), directed by Ford. He was top-billed in A Girl in Every Port (1928), co-starring Robert Armstrong and Louise Brooks. He starred in Hangman's House (1928) for Ford, a romantic drama set in Ireland, and The River Pirate (1928), and Captain Lash (1929). McLaglen then made two films for Ford: Strong Boy (1929) and The Black Watch (1929).

Talking movies

McLaglen was one of many Fox stars who had cameos in the musical Happy Days (1929). He was reunited with Edmund Lowe and Raoul Walsh in a sequel to What Price Glory?, The Cock-Eyed World (1929), which was another huge success at the box office.

McLaglen starred opposite Boris Karloff's crazed religious fanatic in John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934) at RKO, a picture about desperate soldiers gradually losing their minds fighting Arabs in the desert of what is now Iraq.

At Paramount, McLaglen and Lowe were in No More Women (1934) (a non-What Price Glory? film), then McLaglen made Wharf Angel (1934). He was one of many stars in Murder at the Vanities (1934). At Columbia, McLaglen starred in The Captain Hates the Sea (1934) with John Gilbert. Lowe and he reunited at Fox for Under Pressure (1935) (directed by Walsh) and The Great Hotel Murder (1935).

The Informer

Another highlight of his career was winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Ford's The Informer (1935), shot at RKO, based on a novel of the same name by Liam O'Flaherty.

Back at Fox – now 20th Century Fox – McLaglen made Professional Soldier (1935) with Freddie Bartholomew. At Paramount, he was teamed with Mae West in Klondike Annie (1936), then he went back to Fox for Under Two Flags (1936) with Rosalind Russell and Ronald Colman.

McLaglen starred in The Magnificent Brute (1936) for Universal, Sea Devils (1937) for RKO, and Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937) for Fox. He stayed at Fox to support Robert Taylor in This Is My Affair (1937), and notably, Shirley Temple in Wee Willie Winkie (1937) directed by John Ford at Fox. He had a cameo in Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937). Brian Donlevy and he made a comedy Battle of Broadway (1938) at Fox, then he went to Universal for The Devil's Party (1938).

Gunga Din

McLaglen returned to Britain for We're Going to Be Rich (1938) with Gracie Fields. Back in Hollywood, he did some films for RKO: Pacific Liner (1939) and Gunga Din (1939). The latter, with Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., was an adventure epic loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's poem that served as the template decades later for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

He supported Nelson Eddy in Let Freedom Ring (1939) at MGM, and was in Ex-Champ (1939). He supported Brian Aherne in Captain Fury (1939), and starred in Full Confession (1939) for John Farrow at RKO, the latter film being somewhat a remake of The Informer.

At Universal, McLaglen teamed with Basil Rathbone in Rio (1939) and Jackie Cooper in The Big Guy (1939). He was top-billed in Edward Small's South Seas adventure, South of Pago Pago (1940). He remained top-billed for Diamond Frontier (1940) and Broadway Limited (1941).

McLaglen and Lowe reprised their roles from What Price Glory? in the radio program Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, broadcast on the Blue Network (28 September 1941 – 25 January 1942, and on NBC 13 February 1942 – 3 April 1942).

McLaglen and Lowe then played basically the same roles, but under different names in Call Out the Marines (1942) at RKO. He starred in Powder Town (1942), and went to Fox to support Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942). He was one of many stars in Forever and a Day (1943), and had a support role in Tampico (1943) and Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944). McLaglen was a villain in Bob Hope's The Princess and the Pirate (1944), and he was in Rough, Tough and Ready (1945).

Supporting actor McLaglen began to be exclusively a supporting actor, with parts in Love, Honor and Goodbye (1945), Whistle Stop (1946) with George Raft and Ava Gardner, Calendar Girl (1947), The Michigan Kid (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947).

McLaglen was back with John Ford for Fort Apache (1948) with John Wayne and Henry Fonda. It was very much a support part, as a cavalry sergeant, but so well received that McLaglen basically reprised it in the other two films in the Ford-Wayne "cavalry trilogy": She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) with Maureen O'Hara and Ben Johnson.

McLaglen was later nominated for another Oscar, this time for a Best Supporting Actor for his role opposite John Wayne in The Quiet Man (1952). He continued to be in demand as a support actor in action films: Fair Wind to Java (1953) with Fred MacMurray and Prince Valiant (1954) with James Mason and Robert Wagner. He went to Britain for Trouble in the Glen (1954), an unsuccessful attempt to do for Scotland what The Quiet Man did for Ireland. Back in Hollywood, he was in Many Rivers to Cross (1955) at MGM with Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker.

Later career McLaglen had a rare late-career lead role in City of Shadows (1955) at Republic with Patricia Crowley, and he was second-billed in Bengazi (1955), but he went back to supports with Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955). He had a cameo in Around the World in 80 Days (1956) with David Niven and Cantinflas, then had another lead in The Abductors (1957), directed by his son, Andrew V. McLaglen.

Toward the end of his career, McLaglen made several guest appearances on television, particularly in Western series such as Have Gun, Will Travel and Rawhide. The episodes in which McLaglen guest-starred were both directed by his son, Andrew, who later became a film director, frequently directing John Wayne.

He went to Italy for Gli Italiani sono matti, and had a good part in Sea Fury (1958) with Stanley Baker.

Activism In 1933, he founded the California Light Horse Regiment, which included a "riding parade club, a polo-playing group and a precision motorcycle contingent". He described it in a press interview as promoting "Americanism". He said it was organized to fight communists and others "opposed to the American ideal", both inside and outside the country. McLaglen was attacked by some on the left as fascist, which he denied. He said he was a "patriot of the good old-fashioned American kind".

Personal life and death

In 1935, McLaglen spent a reported $40,000 (equal to $ today) to build his own stadium near Riverside Drive and Hyperion Avenue, near Griffith Park and the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. The stadium was used for football and many other activities. The Los Angeles River flood of 1938 seriously damaged the stadium, and it fell into disuse thereafter. In 1941, he was selected as the grand marshal of the Clovis Rodeo parade in Clovis, California.

McLaglen was married three times. He first married Enid Lamont in 1919. The couple had two sons, Andrew and Walter, and one daughter, Sheila. Andrew McLaglen was a television and film director who worked on several film projects with John Wayne. Andrew's children, Mary and Josh McLaglen, are both film producers and directors. Sheila's daughter, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, is a television director. Enid Lamont McLaglen died in 1942 as a result of a horse-riding accident.

His second marriage was to Suzanne M. Brueggeman. That marriage lasted from 1943 until 1948. His third and final marriage was to divorcée Margaret McNichols Pumphrey, a Seattle socialite he married in 1948. They remained married until his death from congestive heart failure in 1959.

He had by that time become a naturalized U.S. citizen. His cremated remains are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, in the Garden of Memory, Columbarium of Eternal Light.

On 8 February 1960, McLaglen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1735 Vine Street, for his contributions to the motion-picture industry.

McLaglen spoke five languages, including Arabic.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes 1920 Alf Truscott Lost film 1921 Carnival Baron Lost film 1921 Corinthian Jack Jack Halstead Lost film 1921 Brett 'Dragon' Mercer Lost film 1921 Frank Rosedale Lost film 1922 Bulfinch 1922 Miski Lost film 1922 Little Brother of God King Kennidy Lost film 1922 Lost film 1922 Lost film 1923 Lost film 1923 Heartstrings Frank Wilson Lost film 1923 Woman to Woman Nubian slave Uncredited Lost film 1923 M'Lord of the White Road Lord Annerley / John Lost film 1923 In the Blood Tony Crabtree Lost film 1924 Ned Travers Lost film 1924 Women and Diamonds Brian Owen Lost film 1924 Squire Hardcastle Lost film 1924 Herb Harris Lost film 1924 Charles Hinges 1925 Quade Lost film 1925 Percy Reedy Jenkins Lost film 1925 Hercules, the strongman 1925 Winds of Chance Poleon Doret 1925 Soapy Williams Lost film 1926 Doomsdorf Lost film 1926 Men of Steel Pete MasarickLost film 1926 Beau Geste Hank 1926 What Price Glory? Capt. Flagg 1927 The Loves of Carmen Escamillo 1928 Mother Machree With John Ford & John Wayne. Incomplete film 1928 Spike Madden 1928 Hangman's House Citizen Denis Hogan With John Ford & John Wayne. 1928 Sailor Fritz 1929 Captain Lash Captain Lash 1929 Strong Boy Strong Boy Lost film 1929 Capt. Donald Gordon King With John Ford & John Wayne. 1929 Happy Days Minstrel Show Performer #1 Lost film 1929 Top Sergeant Flagg 1929 Hot for Paris John Patrick Duke Lost film 1930 On the Level Biff Williams 1930 Jerry Maxton 1931 Dishonored Col. Kranau 1931 Not Exactly Gentlemen Bull Stanley 1931 Sergeant Flagg 1931 Women of All Nations Captain Jim Flagg 1931 Annabelle's Affairs John Rawson / Hefly Jack Lost film 1931 Wicked Scott Burrows 1932 The Gay Caballero Don Bob Harkness / El Coyote 1932 Devil's Lottery Jem Meech 1932 While Paris Sleeps Jacques Costaud 1932 Guilty as Hell Detective Capt. T.R. McKinley 1932 Rackety Rax 'Knucks' McGloin 1933 Hot Pepper Jim Flagg 1933 Laughing at Life Dennis P. McHale / Burke / Captain Hale 1934 1934 No More Women Forty-Fathoms 1934 Wharf Angel Turk 1934 Dick Turpin Dick Turpin 1934 Murder at the Vanities Police Lt. Bill Murdock 1934 Junius P. Schulte 1935 Under Pressure Jumbo Smith 1935 Andrew W. 'Andy' McCabe 1935 Gypo Nolan Academy Award for Best ActorNominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor 1935 Professional Soldier Michael Donovan 1936 Klondike Annie Bull Brackett 1936 Under Two Flags J.C. Doyle 1936 The Magnificent Brute 'Big Steve' Andrews as Victor McLaglen – Academy Award Winner 1937 Sea Devils CPO William 'Medals' Malone 1937 Nancy Steele Is Missing! Dannie O'Neill 1937 This Is My Affair Jock Ramsay 1937 Wee Willie Winkie Sgt. Donald MacDuff 1937 Ali Baba Goes to Town Himself Uncredited 1938 Battle of Broadway Big Ben Wheeler 1938 The Devil's Party Marty Malone 1938 We're Going to Be Rich Dobbie 1939 Pacific Liner J.B. 'Crusher' McKay, Chief Engineer 1939 Gunga Din Sgt. 'Mac' MacChesney 1939 Let Freedom Ring Chris Mulligan 1939 Ex-Champ Tom 'Gunner' Grey 1939 Captain Fury Jerry Black aka Blackie 1939 Full Confession Patt McGinnis 1939 Rio Dirk 1939 Warden Bill Whitlock 1940 South of Pago Pago Bucko Larson 1940 Diamond Frontier Terrence Regan 1941 Broadway Limited Maurice 'Mike' Monohan 1942 Call Out the Marines Sgt. Jimmy McGinnis 1942 Powder Town Jeems O'Shea 1942 China Girl Major Bull Weed 1943 Forever and a Day Archibald Spavin (hotel doorman) 1944 Tampico Fred Adamson 1944 Roger Touhy, Gangster Herman 'Owl' Banghart 1944 Captain Barrett ak The Hook 1945 Rough, Tough and Ready Owen McCare 1945 Love, Honor and Goodbye Terry O'Farrell 1946 Whistle Stop Gitlo 1947 Calendar Girl Matthew O'Neil 1947 Curley Davis 1947 Captain Mike Farrell 1948 Fort Apache Sgt. Festus Mulcahy With John Ford & John Wayne. 1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Top Sgt. Quincannon With John Ford & John Wayne. 1950 Rio Grande Sgt. Maj. Timothy Quincannon With John Ford & John Wayne. 1952 Squire 'Red' Will Danaher With John Ford & John WayneNominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1953 Fair Wind to Java O'Brien 1953 This Is Your Life Himself episode: Victor McLaglen 1954 Prince Valiant Boltar 1954 Trouble in the Glen Parlan 1955 Many Rivers to Cross Mr. Cadmus Cherne 1955 City of Shadows Big Tim Channing 1955 Bengazi Robert Emmett Donovan 1955 Lady Godiva of Coventry Grimald 1956 Around the World in 80 Days Helmsman of the SS Henrietta 1957 Tom Muldoon 1958 Have Gun – Will Travel Mike O'Hare Episode: "The O'Hare Story" 1958 The Italians They Are Crazy Sergente O'Riley 1958 Sea Fury Captain Bellew 1959 Rawhide Harry Wittman Episode: "Incident of the Shambling Man", (final appearance)