Victor McLaglen

[Steven Broomfield]

9 hours ago, IPT said:

 

 

(Having said that, i'm beginning to lose track)

 

Try and catch up. There will be a quiz next period.

[David Filsell]

Not a bad filmography 

Year & Title

1920The Call of the RoadAlf Truscott

1921CarnivalBaron

1921Corinthian JackJack Halstead

1921The Prey of the DragonBrett 'Dragon' Mercer

1921The Sport of KingsFrank Rosedale

1922The Glorious AdventureBulfinch

1922A Romance of Old BaghdadMiski

1922Little Brother of GodKing Kennidy

1922A Sailor TrampThe Sailor Tramp

1922The Crimson Circle

1923The RomanyThe Chief

1923HeartstringsFrank Wilson

1923Woman to WomanNubian slaveUncredited

1923M'Lord of the White RoadLord Annerley / John

1923In the BloodTony Crabtree

1924The Boatswain's MateNed Travers

1924Women and DiamondsBrian Owen

1924The Gay CorinthianSquire Hardcastle

1924The Passionate AdventureHerb Harris

1924The Beloved BruteCharles Hinges

1925The Hunted WomanQuade

1925PercyReedy Jenkins

1925The Unholy ThreeHercules, the strongman

1925Winds of ChancePoleon Doret

1925The Fighting HeartSoapy Williams

1926The Isle of RetributionDoomsdorf

1926Men of SteelPete Masarick

1926Beau GesteHank

1926What Price Glory?Capt. Flagg

1927The Loves of CarmenEscamillo

1928Mother MachreeThe Giant of Kilkenny (Terence O'Dowd)With John Ford & John Wayne.

1928A Girl in Every PortSpike Madden

1928Hangman's HouseCitizen Denis HoganWith John Ford & John Wayne.

1928The River PirateSailor Fritz

1929Captain LashCaptain Lash

1929Strong BoyStrong Boy

1929The Black WatchCapt. Donald Gordon KingWith John Ford & John Wayne.

1929Happy DaysMinstrel Show Performer

1929The Cock-Eyed WorldTop Sergeant Flagg

1929Hot for ParisJohn Patrick Duke

1930On the LevelBiff Williams

1930A Devil with WomenJerry Maxton

1931DishonoredCol. Kranau

1931Not Exactly GentlemenBull Stanley

1931The Stolen JoolsSergeant Flagg

1931Women of All NationsCaptain Jim Flagg

1931Annabelle's AffairsJohn Rawson / Hefly Jack

1931WickedScott Burrows

1932The Gay CaballeroDon Bob Harkness / El Coyote

1932Devil's LotteryJem Meech

1932While Paris SleepsJacques Costaud

1932Guilty as HellDetective Capt. T.R. McKinley

1932Rackety Rax'Knucks' McGloin

1933Hot PepperJim Flagg

1933Laughing at LifeDennis P. McHale / Burke / Captain Hale

1934The Lost PatrolThe Sergeant

1934No More WomenForty-Fathoms

1934Wharf AngelTurk

1934Dick TurpinDick Turpin

1934Murder at the VanitiesPolice Lt. Bill Murdock

1934The Captain Hates the SeaJunius P. Schulte

1935Under PressureJumbo Smith

1935The Great Hotel MurderAndrew W. 'Andy' McCabe

1935The InformerGypo NolanAcademy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

1935Professional SoldierMichael Donovan

1936Klondike AnnieBull Brackett

1936Under Two FlagsJ.C. Doyle

1936Magnificent Brute'Big Steve' Andrewsas Victor McLaglen - Academy Award Winner

1937Sea DevilsCPO William 'Medals' Malone

1937Nancy Steele Is Missing!Dannie O'Neill

1937This Is My AffairJock Ramsay

1937Wee Willie WinkieSgt. Donald MacDuff

1937Ali Baba Goes to TownHimselfUncredited

1938Battle of BroadwayBig Ben Wheeler

1938The Devil's PartyMarty Malone

1938We're Going to Be RichDobbie

1939Pacific LinerJ.B. 'Crusher' McKay, Chief Engineer

1939Gunga DinSgt. 'Mac' MacChesney

1939Let Freedom RingChris Mulligan

1939Ex-ChampTom 'Gunner' Grey

1939Captain FuryJerry Black aka Blackie

1939Full ConfessionPatt McGinnis

1939RioDirk

1939The Big GuyWarden Bill Whitlock

1940South of Pago PagoBucko Larson

1940Diamond FrontierTerrence Regan

1941Broadway LimitedMaurice 'Mike' Monohan

1942Call Out the MarinesSgt. Jimmy McGinnis

1942Powder TownJeems O'Shea

1942China GirlMajor Bull Weed

1943Forever and a DayArchibald Spavin (hotel doorman)

1944TampicoFred Adamson

1944Roger Touhy, GangsterHerman 'Owl' Banghart

1944The Princess and the PirateCaptain Barrett ak The Hook

1945Rough, Tough and ReadyOwen McCare

1945Love, Honor and GoodbyeTerry O'Farrell

1946Whistle StopGitlo

1947Calendar GirlMatthew O'Neil

1947The Michigan KidCurley Davis

1947The Foxes of HarrowCaptain Mike Farrell

1948Fort ApacheSgt. Festus MulcahyWith John Ford & John Wayne.

1949She Wore a Yellow RibbonTop Sgt. QuincannonWith John Ford & John Wayne.

1950Rio GrandeSgt. Maj. Timothy QuincannonWith John Ford & John Wayne.

1952The Quiet ManSquire 'Red' Will DanaherWith John Ford & John Wayne
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

1953Fair Wind to JavaO'Brien

1953This Is Your LifeHimselfepisode: Victor McLaglen

1954Prince ValiantBoltar

1954Trouble in the GlenParlan

1955Many Rivers to CrossMr. Cadmus Cherne

1955City of ShadowsBig Tim Channing

1955BengaziRobert Emmett Donovan

1955Lady Godiva of CoventryGrimald

1956Around the World in 80 DaysHelmsman of the SS Henrietta

1957The AbductorsTom Muldoon

1958Have Gun - Will TravelMike O'Hareepisode: The O'Hare Story

1958The Italians They Are CrazySergente O'Riley

1958Sea FuryCaptain Bellew

1959RawhideHarry Wittmanepisode: Incident of the Shambling Man, (final appearance)

Edited 5 September , 2019 by David Filsell

[IPT]

Enough messing around. We all know what we want...

 

 

[593jones]

9 hours ago, Toby Brayley said:

 

ahh yes of course, the different initial should have alerted me! Thank you. 

 

The picture of Leo in in the manual, in his Middlesex Uniform, he is well decorated and has a wound stripe so there might be something in it!

 

As he's a captain with staff officers tabs, presumably that's when he was Military Landing Officer at Calais.  Are the medal ribbons from South Africa, I wonder?  It's intriguing, though, how he transferred from Squadron Leader RAF to Lieutenant RNVR; he didn't explain to Gritten, just saying that he wanted to get to grips with the Japs.

[Guest]

On 26/09/2005 at 10:12, domsim said:

As domsim said, Victor Mcglaglen was in Bagdhad in 1918, as was my Great grandfather, John Costello, a gunner in the Royal Artillery. Also being a prize fighter, he taught Mcglaglen a thing or two about boxing. Unfortunaately, my Gt. Grandfather did not take his training seriously enough and was caught by an unlucky punch that resulted in a fatal brain haemourage. (See top right of attached file). Victor Mcglaglen returned my Great Grandfather’s personal effects to his widow in Small Heath, Birmingham, before departing for the U.S.A.

Edited 12 October , 2020 by Guest

[FROGSMILE]

13 hours ago, Duncan Costello said:

As domsim said, Victor Mcglaglen was in Bagdhad in 1918, as was my Great grandfather, John Costello, a gunner in the Royal Artillery. Also being a prize fighter, he taught Mcglaglen a thing or two about boxing. Unfortunaately, my Gt. Grandfather did not take his training seriously enough and was caught by an unlucky punch that resulted in a fatal brain haemourage. (See top right of attached file). Victor Mcglaglen returned my Great Grandfather’s personal effects to his widow in Small Heath, Birmingham, before departing for the U.S.A.

Are you saying it was Victor McLaglen who struck the fatal blow? Apparently he finished the war as British Army Middle East champion at his weight.  It must have been relatively unusual for an officer to box throughout the war, and it rather explains to me how he was selected for the role of Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal, who would have been working at the most intimate level of military policing, organising town patrols, supervising brothels frequented by the local garrison, and visiting bars to ensure that discipline was imposed where necessary.  This was a role for a commissioned bruiser and most certainly not an office job.

Edited 13 October , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[FROGSMILE]

On 05/09/2019 at 19:34, 593jones said:

 

As he's a captain with staff officers tabs, presumably that's when he was Military Landing Officer at Calais.  Are the medal ribbons from South Africa, I wonder?  It's intriguing, though, how he transferred from Squadron Leader RAF to Lieutenant RNVR; he didn't explain to Gritten, just saying that he wanted to get to grips with the Japs.

It doesn’t seem likely that both men, Victor and Leo, were in the Middlesex Regiment, and yet if the photo is from inside the Jiu-Jit-Su manual..?

 

Afternote:  it seems that the brothers were indeed both in the Middlesex Regiment and that Leopold was arguably even more of an extraordinary character than Victor.  The following biography is an extract from:  https://frontiersmenhistorian.info/2015/08/11/the-fighting-macks-an-extraordinary-family-of-brothers/

 

“Capt. Leopold McLaglen, who although only seconded to the Frontiersmen [25th battalion Royal Fusiliers] while still wearing the cap badge of his parent regiment [Middlesex], was an extraordinary character who lived an extraordinary life, as did most of his seven brothers. He was good friends with another officer seconded to the Frontiersmen, the unusually named Athelstan Popkess, later to become the controversial Chief Constable of Nottingham.
 

Leo McLaglen was the second son of six feet seven inches tall “Bishop” Andrew McLaglen. Every one of the sons was reported to be at least six feet four inches and even the one sister, Lily, was six feet three inches. According to Popkess, Leo was “not far short of seven feet”, although that was an exaggeration, as was the story that all the brothers were at least six feet four inches. Other sources give Leopold’s height as six feet six inches. When the fourth son, Arthur, enlisted in the R.A.S.C., age 26, his height was registered as six feet two and a half inches..

 

The father had been a missionary in South Africa for the Free Protestant Episcopal Church. Because of the large areas for which they were responsible they often tended on return to England to call themselves “Bishop”. The Bishop was known to the Metropolitan Police and was the subject of a confidential police report as a suspected fraud and numerous complaints had been received respecting his conduct. His name appeared on the cautionary card of the Charity Organisations Society (long before the Charity Commissioners) and his methods of fund-raising were severely criticised in the 29thSeptember 1915 issue of “Truth”.

 

The Police were able to confirm that the Bishop did have eight sons serving and there is supposed to have been a recruiting poster made of them as “The Fighting Macks”, one being presented to King George V, although a copy of this has not been traced. The eight “Fighting Macks” were soon reduced to six, as the youngest brothers, Cyril and Kenneth, proved to be well under age. They had taken advantage of their large size for their age, but were soon discharged back to their mother. The two eldest brothers, Fred and Leopold, both served in the Boer War and the most famous son, Hollywood actor Victor McLaglen (1886-1959), keen to follow his brothers to South Africa, signed up in the Irish Guards. Although only fourteen, he also took advantage of his big size to lie about his age. When his father discovered this he secured the boy’s release, but not before the lad had gained considerable boxing skills and the ability to defend himself. The eldest son, Frederick, also served in East Africa in the First War, but on the administrative staff as Acting Captain, where he appears to have contracted severe amoebic dysentery. He was invalided home but died in hospital in May 1917.

 

Leo McLaglen

Leopold McLaglen (Sydney Temple Leopold McLaglen) was a rogue and a constant liar. He was also under age when he served in the Boer War. When he married 23 year-old Gladys Rose in June 1905, he claimed to be 21. Gladys had a baby daughter in March 1906, but in April she filed for divorce claiming cruelty. Reading the divorce papers, one gets the impression that Leo had thought he was marrying into money, but found himself supporting a wife and a rather promptly arriving daughter. He denied cruelty, but the divorce was granted on the basis of Leo’s adultery.

 

Although his marriage certificate gives his profession as “secretary” he claimed to have set up after the Boer War as an instructor in Jiu Jitsu. He turned up at the end of 1911 in America working in a Milwaukee theatre as a doorman, while claiming to be an expert with sword and bayonet who had boxed against Jack Johnson, although that was actually his brother Victor. Leopold also used the names “Victor Fred”, borrowed from two of his brothers. Victor found out about him and denounced him as an imposter. The brothers fell out and the dispute was apparently never resolved. The British Army seems to have believed in his skills in unarmed combat as he was commissioned as a Lieutenant. In March 1914 he was in Shanghai lecturing on Jiu Jitsu and in 1915 he was in New Zealand instructing soldiers in a new form of bayonet fighting incorporating Jiu Jitsu throws.
 

The Army List shows him promoted to Captain in the Middlesex Regt. with seniority from January 1916. No reason has been found for his posting to East Africa, where he found himself attached to the 25thBn Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen). He contrived to impress Popkess greatly regarding his skills and strength, claiming that he was the World Jiu Jitsu Champion. Popkess wrote that Leo could:

…tear three packs of playing cards across or bend an inch-thick iron poker and snap it straight again. Before the war, when he was appearing at a music-hall in Johannesburg billed as ‘The Jiu Jitsu King’, the Japanese Jiu Jitsu Champion, Osaka, was appearing at the opposition hall down the street and was offering five sovereigns to anybody who could remain on his feet with him for one minute. McLaglan took up the challenge. Osaka tried to call it off but he was seized by the slack of his pants and was thrown into the big drum of the orchestra.

This is absolute rubbish. Leopold McLaglen was a consummate showman. In fact he appeared with a wrestler, Van Diggelen, who said that McLaglen had a “magnetic personality” and stupendous aplomb and agreed to act basically as McLaglen’s stooge. They set up a stage act which purported to show that Jiu Jitsu was a self-defence system that would overcome any attack. It was all nonsense, but made a great show until a handy middleweight boxer called Robbie Roberts came on to the stage to challenge “Leopold the Mighty” and gave him a terrible beating and chased him off the stage. There was no mention of any Japanese Jiu Jitsu champion being there.

Also appearing on the stage was McLaglen’s “wife”, known as “The Georgia Magnet” who challenged anyone in the audience to lift her off her feet. In spite of weighing only 110lbs., nobody could lift her.

 

In 1924 he again sailed for New Zealand, accompanied by Dr. Eleanor McLaglen. He gives the impression that, similar to many other early Frontiersmen, he was popular with the ladies and acquired a number of “wives” over the years.

When returning to camp one evening with Popkess, a giant S.A. Veterinary Corps officer made unpleasant remarks about these two officers only on attachment to the Frontiersmen. Instead of challenging the South African himself, “Leopold the Mighty” persuaded Popkess to challenge him. Fortunately, Popkess was a very handy boxer and made quick work of the giant South African.10In 1918 Captain Leopold McLaglen wrote a highly popular book “Jiu-Jitsu: A Manual of the Science.” This can actually be considered as a precursor to W.E. Fairbairn’s system. Although himself not very skilful in action, Leopold had obviously made a considerable study of the subject, although his claims to have defeated many named Japanese Jiu Jitsu champions are probably the false claims of a showman. He also published “Bayonet Fighting for War”, “Infantry Pocket Book, a Concise Guide for Infantry Officers and NCOs” and “Police Jiu Jitsu” Two later books came out around the time of the Second World War, “Capt. Leopold McLaglen’s Modernised Jiu Jitsu Lessons” (1939), and “Unarmed Attack and Defence for Commandos, Home Guards and Civilians” (1943).

 

By 1937, Leopold was in America and apparently living in Los Angeles on duty as a Royal Naval Reserve officer with the rank of Lieutenant, although the truth about that is somewhat unclear. In October 1937, he found himself in gaol being prosecuted for “subornation of perjury and soliciting a commission of a crime.” Released on bond he was arrested again in March 1938 and charged with attempted extortion. He was charged with demanding $20,000 from Philip Chancellor, a millionaire sportsman. His defence was that he had been employed as a secret agent to spread anti-semitic propaganda and to spy on communists. He said that both British and German consular authorities knew of his espionage and approved.

 

Although War Office files show him as Lieutenant McLaglen, he was charged as Captain Leopold McLaglen, a British army officer, and was sentenced to five years in prison. On the intervention of his brother Victor, by then well-known as a Hollywood actor and much respected, this was suspended on the condition that he left America immediately and did not return for at least five years. It appears that Victor was hoping to see the last of his brother. In 1946, Leopold asked the War Office to re-open the case with the Americans and get the conviction reversed. Leopold sent them a long document attempting to prove that he was carrying out espionage on the Japanese on behalf of Britain and that Chancellor had been a German spy. The War Office did not believe him and the Americans said that he had been involved with the American Fascists, the Silver Shirts, and had his headquarters at the Bund, where he frequently spoke for the Bund. This could, of course, have been a cloak for espionage activities but the Americans could find no evidence. In fact: “He led a naval officer into a trap in quest of certain documents that he had told the officer existed and cached away in an office in Hollywood. He then blackmailed the officer and extorted him for this act.”

 

They held a report that McLaglen had made efforts to organize a united front of extreme rightist groups. This information, added to his earlier admitted anti-semitism, meant that the War Office dismissed his request. The last mention of Leopold we have found is from 1948, when he was in South Africa looking very ill and accompanied by a doctor. He had lost part of his tongue and claimed to have been captured and tortured by the Japanese. He finally moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where he died. One comment in the War Office file about Leopold was: “The best thing they [the Americans] can say in his favour is that he is probably a little mad.” It is difficult to disagree with this assessment of the strange but fascinating Captain Leopold McLaglen.“

 

NB. Interestingly all three line battalions of the 10th Middlesex (Territorial Force) were deployed to overseas theatres during the war; the 1/10th to India where they remained, the 2/10th to Gallipoli and then Egypt, where they also remained, and in 1917 the 3/10th deployed to France, where they were for a while attached to the South Africans.  It’s easy to see how the establishment of officers perhaps became fragmented to a degree.

Edited 13 October , 2020 by FROGSMILE