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