John Qualen
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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.
Known for
Credits
Casablanca (1943)
as Berger
The Searchers (1956)
as Lars Jorgensen
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
as Peter Ericson
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
as Deputy Sheriff Sulo Kangas
His Girl Friday (1940)
as Earl Williams
North to Alaska (1960)
as Logger
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
as Muley Graves
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
as Charlie Biller
Elmer Gantry (1960)
as Sam - Storekeeper
Firecreek (1968)
as Hall
Donovan's Reef (1963)
as Deckhand Who Cries 'Man Overboard' (uncredited)
A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
as Jesse Buford
The High and the Mighty (1954)
as Jose Locota
A Patch of Blue (1965)
as Mr. Faber
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
as Svenson (uncredited)
Jungle Book (1942)
as The Barber
The Fugitive (1947)
as A Refugee Doctor
Arrowsmith (1931)
as Henry Novak (uncredited)
Two Rode Together (1961)
as Ole Knudsen
P.J. (1968)
as Poppa
La Classe américaine (1993)
as V12 (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Prize (1963)
as Oscar
7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
as Luther Lindquist
Arabian Nights (1942)
as Aladdin
All That Money Can Buy (1941)
as Miser Stevens
Let Us Live (1939)
as Dan (uncredited)
The Sea Chase (1955)
as Chief Engineer Schmitt
Hail, Hero! (1969)
as Billy Hurd
Breakdowns of 1942 (1942)
as Self
Hell Bent for Leather (1960)
as Old Ben
Nothing Sacred (1937)
as Fireman (uncredited)
Captain Kidd (1945)
as Bart Blivens
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
as Axel
Passion (1954)
as Gaspar Melo
Buccaneer's Girl (1950)
as Vegetable Seller
Ring Around the Moon (1936)
as Bill Harvey
Street Scene (1931)
as Karl Olsen (as John M. Qualen)
Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
as Burgomaster
The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)
as Coot Royal
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
as Night Watchman at Subway Construction Site
The Jackpot (1950)
as Mr. Ferguson (uncredited)
Woman on the Run (1950)
as Maibus
Hi, Nellie! (1934)
as Steve (uncredited)
I, the Jury (1953)
as Dr. R.H. Vickers, Veterinarian
Those Calloways (1964)
as Ernie Evans
The Big Steal (1949)
as Julius Seton
I'll Take Sweden (1965)
as Olaf
The Big Land (1957)
as Sven Johnson
Hollow Triumph (1948)
as Swangron
Tortilla Flat (1942)
as Jose Maria Corcoran
Knute Rockne All American (1940)
as Lars Knutson Rockne
The Road to Glory (1936)
as Duflous
Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
as Mr. Jenkins (uncredited)
Doc (1969)
as Luke
Blondie on a Budget (1940)
as Ed Fuddle
Four Wives (1939)
as Frank
Dark Waters (1944)
as Uncle Norbert
Girls' Dormitory (1936)
as Toni
Seventh Heaven (1937)
as Sewer Rat
Captain China (1950)
as Geech
The Flying Missile (1950)
as Lars Hansen
Reaching from Heaven (1948)
as The Stranger
My Girl Tisa (1948)
as Svenson
Whipsaw (1935)
as Will Dabson
Unchained (1955)
as Leonard Haskins
Our Daily Bread (1934)
as Chris (as John T. Qualen)
The Three Musketeers (1935)
as Planchet
Larceny, Inc. (1942)
as Sam Bachrach
Black Fury (1935)
as Mike Shemanski
The Impostor (1944)
as Monge
The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937)
as Loco
Stand Up and Fight (1939)
as Davy
Goodbye, My Fancy (1951)
as Professor Dingley
Out of the Fog (1941)
as Olaf Johnson
The Gun Runners (1958)
as Pop
Thunder Afloat (1939)
as Milo
An American Romance (1944)
as Anton Dubechek
Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)
as Olaf
Counsellor at Law (1933)
as Breitstein
Five of a Kind (1938)
as Asa Wyatt
At Gunpoint (1955)
as Livingstone
Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)
as Concierge, Dufresne's Hotel (bit)
Adventure (1945)
as Model T
Fit for a King (1937)
as Otto
He Was Her Man (1934)
as Dutch, Santa Avila's Cabbie
Swing Shift Maisie (1943)
as Horatio Curley
Song of Scheherazade (1947)
as Lorenzo
Doubting Thomas (1935)
as Von Blitzen
High Conquest (1947)
as Peter Oberwalder Sr.
Model Wife (1941)
as The Janitor
Million Dollar Baby (1941)
as Dr. Patterson
Getting Away from It All (1972)
as Charlie Erickson
Upperworld (1934)
as Janitor
One More Spring (1935)
as Auctioneer
Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
as Jonas P. Travis
Man of Iron (1935)
as Collins
Joy of Living (1938)
as Oswego
Thunder in the Night (1935)
as Hotel Porter
The Chaser (1938)
as Lars
Man on a Bus (1955)
as Second Prisoner
New Wine (1941)
as Hasslinger's Clerk
The Strange Case of Dr. Meade (1938)
as Stoner
Mickey the Kid (1939)
as Mailman
Reunion (1936)
as Asa Wyatt
Roughly Speaking (1945)
as Svend Olsen
Youth Will Be Served (1940)
as Clem Howie
Angel's Holiday (1937)
as Waldo Everett
Saturday's Children (1940)
as First Carpenter (uncredited)
Ski Patrol (1940)
as Gustaf
The Country Doctor (1936)
as Asa Wyatt
She Had to Eat (1937)
as Sleepy
Angels Over Broadway (1940)
as Charles Engle
Honeymoon in Bali (1939)
as Meek Man (uncredited)
16 Fathoms Deep (1948)
as Capt. Athos
Belle Le Grand (1951)
as Corky McGee
Let's Fall in Love (1933)
as Bjorkman
My World Dies Screaming (1958)
as Jonah Snell
The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
as Sol Tinker
The Other Woman (1954)
as Papasha
Johnny Concho (1956)
as Jake
Babies for Sale (1940)
as Howard Anderson
Sing and Like It (1934)
as Oswald (as John M. Qualen)
Orchids to You (1935)
as Smith
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion (1973)
as Old Man on Porch
Chasing Yesterday (1935)
as Coccoz
River Gang (1945)
as Uncle Bill
On Their Own (1940)
as Peters
Silk Hat Kid (1935)
as Mr. Fossbender
Servants' Entrance (1934)
as Detective
Alias a Gentleman (1948)
as No End
Straight Is the Way (1934)
as Mr. Clapman (uncredited)
Fifty Roads to Town (1937)
as Sheriff Dow
365 Nights in Hollywood (1934)
as Prof. Herman Ellenbogen
The Great Hotel Murder (1935)
as Ole
Revolt in the Big House (1958)
as Doc