John Qualen

Acting · 1.4 popularity

Age

126

Movies

135

Born: December 6, 1899 – September 12, 1987
From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles. Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of immigrants from Norway; his father was a Lutheran minister and changed the family's original surname, "Kvalen", to "Qualen" – though some sources give Oleson, later Oleson Kvalen as Qualen's earlier surnames. His father's ministering meant many moves and John was 20 when he graduated from Elgin High School in 1920. Though he was awarded a scholarship to Northwestern University after he won an oratory contest he never attended college. In a Milwaukee Journal interview he said he needed to start working and did so with the Chattaqua Circuit. Eventually reaching Broadway, he gained his big break as the Swedish janitor in Elmer Rice's Street Scene. His movie career began when he recreated the role in the film version. This was followed by his appearance in John Ford's Arrowsmith (1931) which began a more than thirty year membership in the director's "stock company", with important supporting roles in The Searchers (1956), Two Rode Together (1961), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). Appearing in well over one hundred films, and acting extensively on television into the 1970s, Qualen performed many of his roles with various accents, usually Scandinavian, often intended for comic effect. Three of his more memorable roles showcase his versatility. Qualen assumed a Midwestern dialect as Muley, who recounts the destruction of his farm by the bank in Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and as the confused killer Earl Williams in Howard Hawks' classic comedy His Girl Friday (also 1940). As Berger, the jewelry-selling Norwegian resistance member in Michael Curtiz' Casablanca (1942), he essayed a light Scandinavian accent, but put on a thicker Mediterranean accent as the homeward-bound fisherman Locota in William Wellman's The High and the Mighty (1954) Qualen was treasurer of The Authors Club and historian of The Masquers, Hollywood's social group for actors. John Qualen was blind in his later years. He died of heart failure in 1987 in Torrance, California, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. He was survived by his three daughters.

Works

135 films

Casablanca

19438.1

The Searchers

19567.7

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

19627.8

Anatomy of a Murder

19597.8

His Girl Friday

19407.4

The Grapes of Wrath

19407.8

The Sons of Katie Elder

19657.0

North to Alaska

19606.5

The High and the Mighty

19545.9

Donovan's Reef

19636.2

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

19667.1

Jungle Book

19426.4

Elmer Gantry

19607.3

Two Rode Together

19616.4

Knute Rockne All American

19406.2

Those Calloways

19646.4

The Prize

19636.7

Cheyenne Autumn

19646.7

Wife vs. Secretary

19366.7

Passion

19545.4

A Patch of Blue

19657.6

Firecreek

19686.3

The Long Voyage Home

19406.6

The Sea Chase

19556.3

Breakdowns of 1942

19426.0

Hollow Triumph

19486.6

Hi, Nellie!

19346.7

Arabian Nights

19426.0

Hans Christian Andersen

19526.2

I'll Take Sweden

19655.2

Captain Kidd

19456.3

The Shepherd of the Hills

19416.6

All That Money Can Buy

19417.0

Nothing Sacred

19376.3

La Classe américaine

19937.6

The Fugitive

19476.0

Counsellor at Law

19336.5

The Gun Runners

19586.1

Black Fury

19356.3

Our Daily Bread

19346.7

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

19647.0

P.J.

19685.7

Ambush at Tomahawk Gap

19536.6

I, the Jury

19535.9

Woman on the Run

19506.8

Buccaneer's Girl

19505.8

The Country Doctor

19366.5

Hell Bent for Leather

19606.3

Charlie Chan in Paris

19356.6

Larceny, Inc.

19427.1

Girls' Dormitory

19366.6

Doc

19698.0

Goodbye, My Fancy

19516.4

Model Wife

19416.5

The Mad Miss Manton

19386.4

The Big Steal

19496.6

Seventh Heaven

19376.4

Swing Shift Maisie

19436.8

The Bad Man of Brimstone

19376.7

The Big Land

19576.5

Tortilla Flat

19425.8

Ring Around the Moon

19364.8

Four Wives

19395.5

At Gunpoint

19556.7

The Jackpot

19507.0

The Road to Glory

19366.5

An American Romance

19446.1

Captain China

19505.5

Million Dollar Baby

19416.3

Let Us Live

19396.8

Adventure

19456.4

Hail, Hero!

19696.5

The Three Musketeers

19356.9

Five of a Kind

19384.8

Street Scene

19316.8

He Was Her Man

19346.5

Joy of Living

19385.9

Stand Up and Fight

19396.0

Reaching from Heaven

19488.0

Out of the Fog

19416.3

Meet Nero Wolfe

19366.7

My Girl Tisa

19489.0

Johnny Concho

19564.5

Dark Waters

19446.0

Fifty Roads to Town

193710.0

Getting Away from It All

197210.0

Thunder Afloat

19396.1

Fit for a King

19376.0

Babies for Sale

19406.3

Unchained

19557.0

Arrowsmith

19316.6

The Flying Missile

19505.3

Whipsaw

19356.4

Song of Scheherazade

19476.6

Honeymoon in Bali

19397.5

Revolt in the Big House

19586.3

The Farmer Takes a Wife

19356.2

Upperworld

19346.1

Saturday's Children

19406.9

Let's Fall in Love

19338.0

The Great Hotel Murder

19356.0

Angel's Holiday

19376.0

Sing and Like It

19345.0

My World Dies Screaming

19586.2

Frasier, the Sensuous Lion

19736.5

One More Spring

19356.2

The Impostor

19446.4

Servants' Entrance

19348.0

Blondie on a Budget

19406.2

Roughly Speaking

19456.8

The Chaser

19388.0

Angels Over Broadway

19405.9

The Strange Case of Dr. Meade

19386.5

Man on a Bus

19555.5

Straight Is the Way

19346.3

Chasing Yesterday

19355.8

Alias a Gentleman

19486.8

River Gang

19459.0

Ski Patrol

19404.6

On Their Own

19408.0

Man of Iron

19357.0

Thunder in the Night

19356.0

16 Fathoms Deep

19485.6

Doubting Thomas

19357.5

365 Nights in Hollywood

19349.0

She Had to Eat

19375.6

Reunion

19367.0

Youth Will Be Served

19404.0

Silk Hat Kid

19356.5

Mickey the Kid

19399.0

Orchids to You

19356.0

High Conquest

1947

New Wine

194110.0

The Other Woman

19545.2

Belle Le Grand

19515.3