Charles B. Middleton (October 3, 1874 â€" April 22, 1949) was an
American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age
46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well
as numerous plays. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as the
villainous emperor Ming the Merciless in the three Flash Gordon
serials made between 1936 and 1940.Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky,
Middleton worked in a traveling circus, in vaudeville, and acted in
live theatre before he turned to motion pictures in 1920. Middleton's
success as a character actor, however, did not become firmly
established until the sound era in films. His ominous baritone voice
proved ideal for villainous roles, and he became an ideal foil for
comedy stars Harold Lloyd, Eddie Cantor, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Laurel
and Hardy.Middleton was cast in Warner Bros.' 1931 film Safe in Hell
as well as in Warners' 1932 hit The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
opposite Ann Dvorak and Richard Cromwell. In Pack Up Your Troubles, he
portrays a villainous welfare association officer, the foil of Laurel
& Hardy. He is also the district attorney in Cecil B. DeMille's 1933
film This Day and Age; and he appears opposite The Marx Brothers in
Duck Soup (also 1933), performing as the stern prosecutor of
Freedonia. In Universal Pictures' classic 1936 screen version of the
musical Show Boat, he is Sheriff Ike Vallon, the official who tries to
arrest Julie La Verne (Helen Morgan) and her husband for being
illegally married.Since Middleton's facial features generally
resembled those of Abraham Lincoln, he was cast to portray Lincoln in
the 1933 public-service short The Road Is Open Again. Four years
later, in an uncredited role in the comedy Stand-In, he appears as an
actor dressed as Lincoln who complains of being typecast as the former
president. Middleton's association with Lincoln did not end there,
although in the 1940 feature film Abe Lincoln in Illinois, he performs
not as Abe but as Thomas, Lincoln's father.
American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age
46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well
as numerous plays. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as the
villainous emperor Ming the Merciless in the three Flash Gordon
serials made between 1936 and 1940.Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky,
Middleton worked in a traveling circus, in vaudeville, and acted in
live theatre before he turned to motion pictures in 1920. Middleton's
success as a character actor, however, did not become firmly
established until the sound era in films. His ominous baritone voice
proved ideal for villainous roles, and he became an ideal foil for
comedy stars Harold Lloyd, Eddie Cantor, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Laurel
and Hardy.Middleton was cast in Warner Bros.' 1931 film Safe in Hell
as well as in Warners' 1932 hit The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
opposite Ann Dvorak and Richard Cromwell. In Pack Up Your Troubles, he
portrays a villainous welfare association officer, the foil of Laurel
& Hardy. He is also the district attorney in Cecil B. DeMille's 1933
film This Day and Age; and he appears opposite The Marx Brothers in
Duck Soup (also 1933), performing as the stern prosecutor of
Freedonia. In Universal Pictures' classic 1936 screen version of the
musical Show Boat, he is Sheriff Ike Vallon, the official who tries to
arrest Julie La Verne (Helen Morgan) and her husband for being
illegally married.Since Middleton's facial features generally
resembled those of Abraham Lincoln, he was cast to portray Lincoln in
the 1933 public-service short The Road Is Open Again. Four years
later, in an uncredited role in the comedy Stand-In, he appears as an
actor dressed as Lincoln who complains of being typecast as the former
president. Middleton's association with Lincoln did not end there,
although in the 1940 feature film Abe Lincoln in Illinois, he performs
not as Abe but as Thomas, Lincoln's father.
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