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TürkçeCharles Wagenheim
Biography
Newark, New Jersey, USA
Initially drawn to an acting career to counterbalance an acute case of shyness, diminutive character actor Charles Wagenheim's career comprised hundreds upon hundreds of minor but atmospheric parts on stage, film and TV. Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1896, he was the son of immigrant parents. Enlisting in the military during World War I, he was compensated for an education by the government and chose to study dramatics at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, graduating in 1923. Read more...
In films from 1929, the character player scored well when Alfred Hitchcock chose him to play the assassin in Foreign Correspondent (1940). He went on to enact a number of seedy, unappetizing roles (tramps, drunks, thieves) over the years but never found the one juicy part that could have put him at the top of the character ranks. Usually billed tenth or lower, Wagenheim was more filler than anything else which his blue-collar gallery of cabbies, waiters, deputies, clerks, morgue attendants, junkmen, etc., will attest. Some of his better delineated roles came with Two Girls on Broadway (1940); Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940); Half Way to Shanghai (1942); the cliffhangers Don Winslow of the Navy (1942) and Raiders of Ghost City (1944); The House on 92nd Street (1945); A Lady Without Passport (1950); Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953); and Canyon Crossroads (1955). One of his more promising roles came as "The Runt" in Meet Boston Blackie (1941), which started Chester Morris off in the popular 1940s "B" series as the thief-cum-crimefighter, but the sidekick role was subsequently taken over by George E. Stone.
Of his latter films it might be noted that Wagenheim was cast in the very small but pivotal role of the thief who breaks into the storefront in which the Frank family is hiding above in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). TV took up much of his time in later years and he kept fairly busy throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Wagenheim played the recurring role of Halligan on Gunsmoke (1955) (from 1967-1975) and performed until the very end on such shows as All in the Family (1971) and Baretta (1975). On March 6, 1979, the 83-year-old Wagenheim was bludgeoned to death in his Hollywood apartment following a grocery shopping trip when he surprised a thief in his home. By sheer horrific coincidence, elderly character actor Victor Kilian, of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) fame, was found beaten to death by burglars in his Los Angeles-area apartment just a few days later (March 11th).
In films from 1929, the character player scored well when Alfred Hitchcock chose him to play the assassin in Foreign Correspondent (1940). He went on to enact a number of seedy, unappetizing roles (tramps, drunks, thieves) over the years but never found the one juicy part that could have put him at the top of the character ranks. Usually billed tenth or lower, Wagenheim was more filler than anything else which his blue-collar gallery of cabbies, waiters, deputies, clerks, morgue attendants, junkmen, etc., will attest. Some of his better delineated roles came with Two Girls on Broadway (1940); Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940); Half Way to Shanghai (1942); the cliffhangers Don Winslow of the Navy (1942) and Raiders of Ghost City (1944); The House on 92nd Street (1945); A Lady Without Passport (1950); Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953); and Canyon Crossroads (1955). One of his more promising roles came as "The Runt" in Meet Boston Blackie (1941), which started Chester Morris off in the popular 1940s "B" series as the thief-cum-crimefighter, but the sidekick role was subsequently taken over by George E. Stone.
Of his latter films it might be noted that Wagenheim was cast in the very small but pivotal role of the thief who breaks into the storefront in which the Frank family is hiding above in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). TV took up much of his time in later years and he kept fairly busy throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Wagenheim played the recurring role of Halligan on Gunsmoke (1955) (from 1967-1975) and performed until the very end on such shows as All in the Family (1971) and Baretta (1975). On March 6, 1979, the 83-year-old Wagenheim was bludgeoned to death in his Hollywood apartment following a grocery shopping trip when he surprised a thief in his home. By sheer horrific coincidence, elderly character actor Victor Kilian, of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) fame, was found beaten to death by burglars in his Los Angeles-area apartment just a few days later (March 11th).
Actor
Character:
Arresting Officer
The Smiling Lieutenant 1931
8
Character:
Customer
Jezebel 1938
8
Character:
Assassin
Foreign Correspondent 1940
4
Character:
Malavinksy - Fingerprint Man
I Love You Again 1940
2
Character:
Waiter
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante 1940
2
Character:
Bartell's Assistant
Two Girls on Broadway 1940
5
Character:
Man at Race Track
Sporting Blood 1940
1
Character:
Reed's Composer
Babes on Broadway 1941
20
Character:
The Runt
Meet Boston Blackie 1941
3
Character:
French Waiter
Paris Calling 1941
1
Character:
Fred Bixley
Fingers at the Window 1942
1
Character:
Mussanti
Don Winslow of the Coast Guard 1943
1
Character:
Melvin
Frontier Badmen 1943
11
Character:
Jailer
House of Frankenstein 1944
1
Character:
Shoe Salesman
An American Romance 1944
8
Character:
Barber
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves 1944
1
Character:
Frustrated Man
Storm Over Lisbon 1944
1
Character:
Desk Clerk
The Spiral Staircase 1945
1
Character:
Gustav Hausmann
The House on 92nd Street 1945
2
Character:
Waiter
A Song to Remember 1945
1
Character:
Telegrapher
Salome Where She Danced 1945
3
Character:
The Real Fred Foss
The Dark Corner 1946
9
Character:
Deputy
Whistle Stop 1946
5
Character:
Pawnbroker
The Brute Man 1946
1
Character:
Man at Town Meeting
Colonel Effingham's Raid 1946
8
Character:
Hoffman
From This Day Forward 1946
1
Character:
Mr. Cohn
The Hoodlum Saint 1946
2
Character:
Employment Man
Merton of the Movies 1947
6
Character:
Counterman
Cry of the City 1948
3
Character:
Townsman
Samson and Delilah 1949
2
Character:
Waiter
Criss Cross 1949
1
Character:
Hamburger Man
The Set-Up 1949
6
Character:
Passerby
A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
19
Character:
Man At Accident
The House on Telegraph Hill 1951
1
Character:
Mr. Alpine
The Sniper 1952
2
Character:
Townsman
Lure of the Wilderness 1952
4
Character:
Sam
The Story of Will Rogers 1952
17
Character:
Paul
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef 1953
1
Character:
Seedy Movie House Patron
Vicki 1953
4
Character:
Junkman
The Girl Next Door 1953
29
Character:
Luigi Cassoni
Executive Suite 1954
1
Character:
Hymie - The Timekeeper
The Boy from Oklahoma 1954
1
Character:
Lazarus
Day of Triumph 1954
1
Character:
Beggar
Kismet 1955
12
Character:
American Reporter
The Sea Chase 1955
4
Character:
Mike - Bartender
This Could Be the Night 1957
14
Character:
Sneak Thief
The Diary of Anne Frank 1959
8
Character:
Hotel Clerk
Inherit the Wind 1960
3
Character:
Man Yelling News
A Tiger Walks 1964
1
Character:
James
Cat Ballou 1965
2
Character:
Old Man
The Cincinnati Kid 1965
2
Character:
Charlie, Court Bailiff
Follow Me, Boys! 1966
3
1
Character:
Pushcart Man
Hello, Dolly! 1969
37
Character:
Painter #1
Hail, Hero! 1969
2
Character:
Beach Scavenger
Mod Squad 1968
0
Character:
Bum
All in the Family 1971
2
Character:
Las Mesas Citizen
How the West Was Won 1977
0
Character:
Farmer
The Six Million Dollar Man 1974
0
Character:
Hal Gordon
Harry O 1973
0
Character:
Farmer #1
Run for Your Life 1965
0
Character:
Painter
Leave It to Beaver 1957
0
Character:
Bit Role
Damn Yankees! 1958
12
Character:
Villager
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima 1952
0
Character:
Man at Soup Kitchen
The Untouchables 1959
0
Character:
Baggage Clerk
Mystery Street 1950
3
Character:
Jacques Rousseau - Carpenter
The Song of Bernadette 1943
0
Character:
Drunk Veteran at Party
McMillan & Wife 1971
0
Character:
George Markle
Peter Gunn 1958
38
Character:
Eddie
Baretta 1975
1
Character:
Skid Row Bum
The Streets of San Francisco 1972
0
Character:
Murray
James at 16 1977
0
Character:
Shukie Summers
The Wild Wild West 1965
0
Character:
Vendor
The Donna Reed Show 1958
0
Character:
Poker Player
The 20th Century-Fox Hour 1955
0
Character:
Calot
Joan of Arc 1948
0
Character:
Fisherman
The Fugitive 1963
0
Character:
Johnny the Waiter
Three Little Words 1950
16
Character:
Desk Clerk
Honey West 1965
0
Character:
Day Motel Man
The Tunnel of Love 1958
10
Character:
Mr. Boswell
The Addams Family 1964
0
Character:
Hotel Clerk
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers 1969
0
Character:
Bill Barlow
Adam-12 1968
0
Character:
Lefty
What's Happening!! 1976
0
Character:
Man at Lakehurst
The Hindenburg 1975
1
Character:
Vagrant Convict
Lonely Are the Brave 1962
0
Character:
Okie
Checkmate 1960
0
Character:
Bank Manager's Friend
Monsieur Verdoux 1947
0
Character:
Baggage Man
The Big Valley 1965
0
Character:
Jim
Time Out of Mind 1947
2
Character:
Joe
Lonelyhearts 1958
0
Character:
Charley
Mr. Lucky 1959
0
Character:
William
Lancer 1968
0