John Qualen
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
187
Gender
Male
Birthday
1899-12-06
Day of death
1987-09-12 (87 years old)
Place of Birth
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
John Qualen
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.
Known For
The Andy Griffith Show
The Philco Television Playhouse
The Virginian
The Donna Reed Show
Maverick
Maverick
Father Knows Best
Cheyenne
Climax!
December Bride
Dr. Kildare
Dragnet
The Real McCoys
Ben Casey
Lawman
Burke's Law
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
Thriller
Green Acres
Green Acres
Mister Ed
Mister Ed
Sugarfoot
The Streets of San Francisco
The Millionaire
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Sea Hunt
Bronco
The Partridge Family
My Favorite Martian
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Racket Squad
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
Lux Video Theatre
Public Defender
The Third Man
The Alaskans
The Grapes of Wrath
Anatomy of a Murder
Yancy Derringer
The Big Land
Hell Bent for Leather
Casablanca
Tightrope
The Sons of Katie Elder
The Big Steal
Donovan's Reef
North to Alaska
Nothing Sacred
Ring Around the Moon
The Flying Missile
The Gun Runners
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
His Girl Friday
An American Romance
A Patch of Blue
Mickey the Kid
High Conquest
Million Dollar Baby
The Impostor
River Gang
Youth Will Be Served
Dark Waters
The Mad Miss Manton
The Jackpot
Our Daily Bread
Shane
Revolt in the Big House
Swing Shift Maisie
Saturday's Children
Let's Fall in Love
Let's Fall in Love
Getting Away from It All
The Searchers
Honeymoon in Bali
Tortilla Flat
Whipsaw
Reaching from Heaven
Johnny Concho
At Gunpoint
The Prize
On Their Own
Jericho
One More Spring
Chasing Yesterday
The High and the Mighty
Sing and Like It
The Long Voyage Home
Two Rode Together
Captain China
Woman on the Run
Elmer Gantry
The Sea Chase
The Shepherd of the Hills
Meet Nero Wolfe
Hail, Hero!
Hans Christian Andersen
Man of Iron
Tate
Alias a Gentleman
The Great Hotel Murder
16 Fathoms Deep
Servants' Entrance
La Classe américaine
No Time for Sergeants
Belle Le Grand
Firecreek
I, the Jury
Seventh Heaven
Angels Over Broadway
Four Wives
Straight Is the Way
Girls' Dormitory
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
She Had to Eat
Fit for a King
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Song of Scheherazade
Arrowsmith
Buccaneer's Girl
Doc
Adventure
Goodbye, My Fancy
The Other Woman
Joy of Living
The Three Musketeers
Captain Kidd
Silk Hat Kid
Reunion
General Electric Theater
Cheyenne Autumn
Unchained
Fifty Roads to Town
Breakdowns of 1942
New Wine
Doubting Thomas
Hollow Triumph
Frasier, the Sensuous Lion
The Fugitive
Out of the Fog
The Bad Man of Brimstone
Black Fury
My World Dies Screaming
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Thunder Afloat
Jungle Book
He Was Her Man
Upperworld
All That Money Can Buy
Thunder in the Night
Blondie on a Budget
The Farmer Takes a Wife
The Road to Glory
Street Scene
Ambush at Tomahawk Gap
Charlie Chan in Paris
Man on a Bus
Passion
Orchids to You
Hi, Nellie!
Ski Patrol
Wife vs. Secretary
Roughly Speaking
P.J.
Arabian Nights
Babies for Sale
Knute Rockne All American
Model Wife
Stand Up and Fight
My Girl Tisa
Five of a Kind
Angel's Holiday
Let Us Live
The Country Doctor
Larceny, Inc.
I'll Take Sweden
365 Nights in Hollywood
Those Calloways
Counsellor at Law
The Chaser
The Strange Case of Dr. Meade
