Thank You For Your Support: Great Supporting Players from Hollywood's Golden Age

John Qualen (right) in Grapes of Wrath

All hail the screenwriter without whom there would be no story to film. All hail the producers who assemble and lead all the people necessary to create the film. All hail the director whose vision and leadership and coaxing is the crucial component in any picture. All hail the leading actors and actresses who embody the characters and make us laugh or cry or think. While we are in the midst of all these hosannahs let us not forget the many supporting players who add color, steal scenes and provide the foils, villains, comic relief and extra depth a picture needs. 

It seems to me that the heyday of the supporting player in Hollywood was in what has been billed as Hollywood’s Golden Age (the 1930's through '50s). There was a group of stock players and characters actors who were forever showing up in films, in roles both small and significant. Our familiarity with them added to the pleasure of seeing them show up in our favorite films. Among the most notable were Grant Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Jane Darwell, Una O’Connor, Eric Blore, Joan Blondell, Eugene Pallette, Charles Coburn, Beulah Bondi, Una Merkel (two Unas!), Franklin Pangborn, Guy Kibbee, James Gleason, Billie Burke, Gladys George and Spring Byington. But the most prominent for my money — what little there is of it — are the four gentleman listed below.

Pat Flaherty, left.

Pat Flaherty. It’s very likely that readers (both of us) don’t recognize this name. I barely do myself and I’m writing about him. Mr. Flaherty had an amazing 207 credits from 1934 to 1955. Many of the parts were so small that you dare not wink for fear of missing him. Pat was with the U.S. army during the Pancho Villa Expedition and was a fighter pilot during the First World War. He later played both professional football for the Chicago Bears and professional baseball for the New York Giants. In the early thirties he moved to Hollywood where he worked as a producer and technical advisor and later as a supporting actor. Pat played tough guys, construction workers, fighters, cops. I always associate him with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre where he sets Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt straight about the crooked boss they’ve been had by. Here are a list of some of the more prominent films he popped up in.

Twentieth Century

The Thin Man

Modern Times

My Man Godfrey

A Day at the Races

His Girl Friday

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Dictator

Meet John Doe

Ball of Fire

The Best Years of Our Lives

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Key Largo

The Asphalt Jungle

From 1931 and the pre-code era through 1974 and the birth of cable TV John Qualen had 222 acting credits. Born in Canada of Norwegian ancestry, John often played Scandanavians. Mr. Qualen was a student at the university of Toronto when he left school to join an acting troupe. He eventually reached New York where he got a part in a Broadway Production of Street Scenes. He reprised the role in the film version two years later. John had notable roles in three John Ford films, The Grapes of Wrath, The Long Voyage Home and The Searchers. He also had a key role in Casablanca as Berger, Victor Lazlo’s first underground contact. He was also the prisoner scheduled of execution in His Girl Friday. Here are all of his appearances in noted films. 

Counsellor at Law

Our Daily Bread

Nothing Sacred

His Girl Friday

The Grapes of Wrath

The Long Voyage Home

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Casablanca

The Searchers

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Ward Bond with John Wayne in the Searchers

Ward Bond would be familiar to anyone who’s a fan of film from the thirties through the fifties and especially devotees of John Ford. However he may be best known as Bert the cop in It’s a Wonderful Life. He totaled a staggering 278 credits starting in 1928 and culminating with a regular gig on the TV show, Wagon Train, ending with his death in 1960. Bond was born in the wonderfully named town of Benkelman, Nebraska. Bond was a football teammate and good friend of John Wayne at the University of Southern California. It was there that they and their entire team were hired to appear in a Ford film, Salute. Bond and Wayne and befriended the director and were thereafter regulars in his movies. While Bond had many short appearances he had meaty roles in Young Mr. Lincoln, The Maltese Falcon, the aforementioned It’s a Wonderful Life and notably in The Searchers. Here are his most noteworthy films.

The Big Trail

Heroes For Sale

Wild Boys of the Road

It Happened One Night

The Informer

Topper

Bringing Up Baby

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

Young Mr. Lincoln

The Grapes of Wrath

The Long Voyage Home

The Maltese Falcon

My Darling Clementine

It’s A Wonderful Life

Fort Apache

Mister Roberts

The Searchers

Starting in 1927 William Demarest had 165 credits the last in 1978. Besides his extensive TV work which included 215 appearances on My Three Sons, Bill was a familiar face on the silver screen. He’s most recognizable for being a regular for Preston Sturges in the early 1940s, notably his scene-stealing performance in The Lady Eve (“positively the same dame”) and his hilarious role as Constable Kockenlocker in Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. Demarest came to movies as a two-decade veteran of vaudeville. Demarest, who served in the army during World War I, lived to the ripe old age of 91. Here are his best films.

Easy Living

The Great Man Votes

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

All Through the Night

The Devil and Miss Jones

Christmas in July

The Great McGinty

The Lady Eve

Sullivan’s Travels

The Palm Beach Story

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

Hail the Conquering Hero

James Gleason in Meet John Doe

Here are my ten favorite supporting actor performances from Hollywood’s Golden Age:

James Gleason in Meet John Doe

William Demarest in Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

Franklin Pangborn in Hail the Conquering Hero

Edward Everett Horton in Holiday

Roland Young in Philadelphia Story

Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach

Robert Benchley in Foreign Correspondent

John Qualen in The Long Voyage Home

Ward Bond in The Searchers

S.Z Sakal in Christmas in Connecticut

Here are my ten favorite supporting actress performances from the same period:

 

Ruth Hussey in The Philadelphia Story

Virginia Weidler in The Philadelphia Story

Gail Patrick in My Man Godfrey

Margaret Dumont in Duck Soup

Jane Darwell in Grapes of Wrath

Aline McMahon in Heroes for Sale

Joan Blondell Gold Diggers of 1933

May Robson in Bringing Up Baby

Linda Darnell in My Darling Clementine

Helen Broderick in Top Hat