Henry Brandon
(1912-1990)
I saw Brandon in many movies in the fifties, when he became one of my favourits. What I
didnīt know then was that he had a long career behind him, beginning in the classic
Laurel & Hardy "Babes in Toyland " 1934. (Some sources say that he had a
bitpart in "Sign of the Cross " already 1932, I have the video but can not
confirme that he is in it). He had varied roles during the years, sometimes very small
parts, nearly bitparts, but also bigger ones and a few times in the lead. I think his best
parts were in "Babes ... ", "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (1936),
"Marshal of Mesa City" (1940), "Drums of Fu Manchu" (serial, 1940),
"Edge of Darkness" (1943), "The Golden Horde" (1951), "Vera
Cruz" (1954), "The Searchers" (1956), "The Land Unknown" (1957),
"Two Rode Together" (1961) and "When the North Wind Blows" (1974)
Brandon made around 105 movies, including 4 serials, 4 TV-movies and 2 shorts. There are one movie often mentioned in Brandon-filmographies that I canīt find him in: "Florian" (1940) named in IMDb (Internet Movie Database). On the other hand I think he can be in one never mentioned: "Samson and Delila" (1949). About 25 minutes into the movie there is this scene: a man standing at a staircase, drinking, and saying "Who saw him kill a lion, You saw him kill Garmiskar!" Thats all he says - and the person looks and sounds like Brandon. Please, can anyone who read this comment my wonder!!
You can find all Henry Brandonīs movies and some of his TV-parts on Internet Movie Database: http://www.us.imdb.com/Name?Brandon,+Henry
I have most of Brandons movies on video but are missing five: "Metropolitan Nocturne" (1935, short), "The Last Express" (1938), "Silent Fear" (1954), "Ballad of Hector, the Stowaway dog" (1964, TV) and "So Long, Blue Boy" (1973). If You who are reading this have any of these please let me know!!
Brandon made many TV-guest appearances, I have found around 75 parts, notable in six "Wagon Train" and two "Gunsmoke" episodes. But I still have to identify which episode of "The George Burns Show" he was in. He had a lead, playing Jason,opposite Judith Anderson in a TV-production of "Medea" 1959, available on video.He is also in "Images of Indians" (2003), a documentary about how Hollywood stereotyped the Indians in movies.
You can read about Henry Brandon in "Classic Images" ( # 143, 186 and 210), "Big Reel" (# 262) and "Cliffhanger" (# 10 and 15). William Witney is talking about Brandon and "Drums of Fu Manchu" in his book "In a door, into a fight, out a door, into a chase" (1996). Serial World # 28 and 29 contains episodes of "Drums of Fu Manchu". Brandon is interviewed in three books by Scott Allen Nollen: "Boris Karloff" (1991), "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Cinema" (1996, in part dedicated to Brandons memory) and a second book about Karloff, written in collaboration with Karloffīs daughter Sara Jane, "Boris Karloff: A Gentlemanīs Life". Brandon is also interviewed in Randy Skretvedtīs "Laurel and Hardy" (1987) and he is one interesting source in Joseph McBrideīs book about John Ford (Searching for John Ford: A Life).He is in "Best of the Badmen", a book I highly recommend. There are panels- and TV-interviews with him from Memphis filmfestival 1983, Buck Jones filmfestival 1986 and about serials 1989.There are also a video from a Sons of the Desert meeting where Brandon sings the Mae Busch song.
Henry Brandon died on my birthday - febr 15. 
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"Babes in Toyland", "When the northwind blows" ,
"Drums of Fu Manchu".
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