Ian Wolfe

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Ian Wolfe (born November 4, 1896 in Canton , Illinois , † January 23, 1992 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor . Wolfe's film career as a supporting actor began in the 1930s and extended until 1990. He played in around 300 film and television programs, including numerous classics.

life and career

Born in Illinois Wolfe volunteered for the First World War and was there as a medic. After the war ended, he decided to become an actor and, among other things, took a course at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts . In 1921 he made his acting debut on Broadway , playing a bouncer on the side of Lionel Barrymore . Wolfe starred in around a dozen plays on Broadway over the next several decades. Irving Thalberg piloted Wolfe to Hollywood in 1934 for a supporting role in The Barretts of Wimpole Street . In the following decades he was often cast in the role of a friendly doctor, minister or butler. From the very beginning of his film career, Wolfe only played character roles , as he looked older than he actually was with his bald head and wrinkled face.

He grew to be one of the busiest supporting actors in Hollywood, although many of his roles remained relatively small. Over the course of his long career, Wolfe played in classic films such as Mutiny on the Bounty , Life Artists , Saboteurs , ... because they don't know what they are doing and THX 1138 , where he played the old prisoner PTO. He was also a regular actor in many B-productions such as several films in the Sherlock Holmes series with Basil Rathbone . Although he was actually an American from birth, he often played British on screen, for example in his role as the loyal butler of Charles Laughton in the court classic Witness for the Prosecution , one of his relatively larger roles. Wolfe was also regularly seen on television from the 1950s onwards. He has guest roles on television series such as Bonanza , Hawaii Five-Zero, and Agent with a Heart . Wolfe had perhaps his best-known television roles in the series Spaceship Enterprise , in the episode All Our Yesterdays he played the librarian Mr. Atoz and in Bread and Circuses the Roman Septimus. He also had supporting roles in many television films.

In total, Wolfe starred in around 200 films and over 100 different television shows over the course of his career. Warren Beatty used Wolfe in his old age in his films Reds and Dick Tracy . With his brief appearance in Dick Tracy from 1990, the then 93-year-old Wolfe ended his acting career. He died of natural causes two years later. He had a wife and two daughters.

Filmography (selection)

Films (selection)

Television (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-26/news/mn-1349_1_ian-wolfe
  2. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ian_wolfe/biography/
  3. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-26/news/mn-1349_1_ian-wolfe

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wolfe, Ian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Canton , Illinois , USA
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1992
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA