Glenn Strange

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George Glenn Strange (born August 16, 1899 in Weed , New Mexico , † September 20, 1973 in Los Angeles ) was an American actor , singer and film composer .

Life

Glenn Strange was born to Irish and Indian ancestors. At first he worked as a farmer and police officer and was the star of a rodeo show before he and his cousin founded a singing group called the Arizona Wranglers , with which he roamed the country with country-style songs in the late 1920s . In this way he attracted the attention of the film industry. During the 1930s and 1940s he appeared in a variety of western films as a “singing cowboy”, composed many of the songs he interpreted himself and was at least partially responsible for a whole series of film scores.

Strange made his first film appearance in 1930 in a tiny supporting role in The Mounted Stranger . From then on, Strange turned incessantly and was mainly seen in westerns until he appeared in his first two horror films in 1942 : The Mummy's Tomb ( Universal ) and The Mad Monster (Producers Releasing Corporation). The horror genre would have a decisive influence on his career in the years that followed.

Since the actor Boris Karloff refused to continue playing his famous role of the monster in the Frankenstein films of Universal since 1940 for fear of too large a role definition, the film company looked for a suitable successor for Karloff. From 1944 the casting department chose Strange after the mask specialist Jack P. Pierce , who created Karloff's legendary make-up, had campaigned for him. Strange took on the role of the Frankenstein monster in three major universal horror films, namely in Frankenstein's House (1944), Dracula's House (1945) and the parody Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein ( Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein , 1948); The latter film was not least thanks to its cast with Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr. as a wolf man at the time one of Universal's biggest box office hits, paradoxically it also meant the end of the horror film era of this production company.

While Boris Karloff was also the much better-known Frankenstein actor, Universal's advertising products for this film character usually wore (and still wear) the strikingly wrinkled facial features of Glenn Strange.

In the 1950s, Strange turned primarily for television and appeared there in all imaginable roles and genres. He was remembered by younger audiences for his role in The Smoking Guns as bartender Sam. For the film The Creature from the Black Lagoon ( The Secret of the Amazon , 1954) by director Jack Arnold , Strange was once again under discussion for a leading role in a horror film; the "Gill Man" then played a swimmer whose specialty was holding his breath for several minutes, which is why he and not the actor Strange was preferred for this underwater role.

Glenn Strange starred in more than 300 films until his death from lung cancer in the late summer of 1973 at the age of 74.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Forrest J. Ackermann: Famous Monsters of Filmland ( souvenir tape ), Los Angeles 1990

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Strange, Glenn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Strange, George Glenn (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, singer and film composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Weed , New Mexico
DATE OF DEATH 20th September 1973
Place of death los Angeles