Ralf Harolde

Biography

Brown-haired American character actor, a former bank clerk. Harolde first appeared on stage with a Pittsburgh stock company at the age of 16, though with little formal training. His first paychecks amounted to $15 a week. After a year's absence serving in the Marine Corps near the end of World War I, he returned to the theatre with another troupe of Pennsylvania players and in due course portrayed just about any type of personage, from youngsters to old timers. Having eventually worked his way up to leading man, Harolde seized an offer by noted impresario David Belasco to act in a Pacific Coast touring production of 'The Front Page'. The success of the play led to interest from various film studios, including Warner Brothers. Throughout the 30s and 40's, Harolde was to be much in demand as a small part supporting actor with an uncanny penchant for playing assorted sleazebags, odious lounge lizards, convicts, junkies, stool pigeons and henchmen -- all with notable conviction. Needless to say, his characters rarely ended well. Harolde himself remarked in 1936: "I don't mind dying in a picture but I'd like to be given the opportunity to die just once under circumstances which would permit the audience to be at least indifferent about my death, instead of being glad about it." In 1937, Harolde was involved in a traffic accident which ultimately resulted in the death of fellow actor Monroe Owsley and led to a two-year absence from the screen. Looking rather more haggard, he was back in 1939, albeit working rather more often in Poverty Row productions. In his private life, Harolde was an avid collector of firearms. His hobbies included horse riding, boxing and pistol shooting.