John Qualen
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John Qualen (December 8, 1899 - September 12, 1987) was a film character actor.
Qualen was born Johan Mandt Kvalen 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".[link] Qualen grew up in Elgin, Illinois.
His acting career began when he was at Northwestern University which he attended on a scholarship from having won an oratory contest. Eventually making it to Broadway, he got 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 which began a four-decade membership in the famed director's "stock company."
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. As Berger, the jewelry-selling Norwegian Resistance member in Michael Curtiz' Casablanca', 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.
Qualen was treasurer of The Authors Club and historian of The Masquers, Hollywood's famed social group for actors.
John Qualen 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.
A small sampling of his many films includes:
- Street Scene (1931)
- Arrowsmith (1931)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- Knute Rockne All American (1940)
- Tortilla Flat (1942)
- Casablanca' (1942)
- Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
- The High and the Mighty (1954)
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
- Elmer Gantry (1960)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
- Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
- A Patch of Blue (1965)
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