Monte Blue
- Highest Rated: The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
- Lowest Rated: Humoresque (1946)
- Birthday: Jan 11, 1887
- Birthplace: Not Available
-
A product of the Indiana orphanage system, the part-Cherokee-Indian Monte Blue held down jobs ranging from stevedore to reporter before offering his services as a movie-studio handyman in the early 1910s. Pressed into service as an extra and stunt man, Blue graduated to featured parts in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915). Thanks to his work with Griffith and (especially) Cecil B. DeMille, Blue became a dependable box-office attraction of the 1920s, playing everything from lawyers to baseball players. He was a mainstay of the fledgling Warner Bros. studios, where the profits from his films frequently compensated for the expensive failures starring John Barrymore. In 1928 he was cast in his finest silent role, as the drink-sodden doctor in White Shadows on the South Seas. After making a successful transition to talkies, Blue decided to retire from filmmaking, taking a tour around the world to celebrate his freedom. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1931, Blue found that he had lost his fortune through bad investments, and that the public at large had forgotten him. By now too heavy-set to play romantic leads, Blue rebuilt his career from the bottom up, playing bits in "A" pictures and supporting roles in "B"s. He was busiest in the bread-and-butter westerns produced by such minor studios as Republic, Monogram and PRC; he also showed up in several serials, notably as "Ming the Merciless" clone Unga Khan in 1936's Undersea Kingdom. Movie mogul Jack Warner, out of gratitude for Blue's moneymaking vehicles of the 1920s, saw to it that Monte was steadily employed at Warner Bros., and that his name would appear prominently in the studio's advertising copy. While many of his talkie roles at Warners were bits, Blue was given choice supporting roles in such films as Across the Pacific (1942), Mask of Dimitrios (1944) and especially Key Largo (1948). Extending his activities into TV, Blue continued accepting character roles until retiring from acting in 1954. During the last years of his life, Monte Blue was the advance man for the Hamid-Morton Shrine Circus; it was while making his annual appearance in this capacity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that Blue suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 73.
Highest Rated Movies
-
-
My Favorite Blonde
100% -
Gentleman Jim
100% -
Sullivan's Travels
100%
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
78% | Apache | Geronimo | — | 1954 |
Adventure of the Texas Kid: Border Ambush | Actor | — | 1954 | |
The Last Posse | Kane | — | 1953 | |
Hangman's Knot | Maxwell | — | 1952 | |
Rose of Cimarron | Lone Eagle | — | 1952 | |
The Story of Will Rogers | Oklahoma Delegate (uncredited) | — | 1952 | |
Gold Raiders | Sawyer | — | 1951 | |
Warpath | 1st Emigrant | — | 1951 | |
Dallas | The Sheriff | — | 1950 | |
Backfire | Detective Sgt. Pluther | — | 1950 | |
Montana | Charlie Penrose | — | 1950 | |
South of St. Louis | Capt. Jeffrey | — | 1949 | |
Colorado Territory | U.S. marshal | — | 1949 | |
The Younger Brothers | Joe | — | 1949 | |
Flaxy Martin | Detective | — | 1949 | |
Homicide | Sheriff | — | 1949 | |
Look for the Silver Lining | St. Clair | — | 1949 | |
Adventures of Don Juan | Turnkey | — | 1948 | |
89% | Johnny Belinda | Ben | — | 1948 |
Two Guys from Texas | Pete Nash | — | 1948 | |
Speed to Spare | Actor | — | 1948 | |
97% | Key Largo | Sheriff Ben Wade | — | 1948 |
Silver River | Buck Chevigee | — | 1948 | |
Wyoming Kid | Timberline | — | 1947 | |
89% | Possessed | Caretaker | — | 1947 |
The Unfaithful | Businessman | — | 1947 | |
Stallion Road | Rancher | — | 1947 | |
That Way with Women | MacPherson | — | 1947 | |
Bells of San Fernando | Governor | — | 1947 | |
The Man I Love | Cop | — | 1947 | |
91% | Life With Father | Policeman | — | 1947 |
My Wild Irish Rose | Barman | — | 1947 | |
60% | Humoresque | Furniture Moving Man | — | 1946 |
Never Say Goodbye | Policeman | — | 1946 | |
Shadow of a Woman | Police Lieutenant | — | 1946 | |
Easy to Wed | Actor | — | 1946 | |
A Stolen Life | Mr. Lippencott | — | 1946 | |
Janie Gets Married | Drapery Man | — | 1946 | |
Two Sisters From Boston | Actor | — | 1946 | |
Saratoga Trunk | Fireman on Train | — | 1946 | |
San Antonio | Cleve Andrews | — | 1945 | |
Danger Signal | Policeman | — | 1945 | |
89% | The Horn Blows at Midnight | The Chef | — | 1945 |
Janie | Policeman | — | 1944 | |
The Adventures of Mark Twain | Captain | — | 1944 | |
100% | The Mask of Dimitrios | Dhris Abdul | — | 1944 |
Passage to Marseille | 2nd Mate | — | 1944 | |
The Conspirators | Jennings | — | 1944 | |
Thank Your Lucky Stars | Bartender | — | 1943 | |
Thousands Cheer | Actor | — | 1943 | |
Mission to Moscow | Heckler | — | 1943 | |
Edge of Darkness | Petersen | — | 1943 | |
Northern Pursuit | Jean | — | 1943 | |
98% | Casablanca | American | — | 1942 |
97% | The Palm Beach Story | Doorman | — | 1942 |
The Hidden Hand | Matthews, the Undertaker (uncredited) | — | 1942 | |
95% | I Married a Witch | Doorman | — | 1942 |
100% | My Favorite Blonde | Cops at Union Hall | — | 1942 |
100% | Gentleman Jim | Man | — | 1942 |
Across the Pacific | Dan Morton | — | 1942 | |
The Remarkable Andrew | Policeman | — | 1942 | |
Panama Hattie | Actor | — | 1942 | |
92% | Road to Morocco | Aides to Mullay Kasim | — | 1942 |
78% | Reap the Wild Wind | Officer at tea | — | 1942 |
The Great Man's Lady | Man at Hoyt City | — | 1942 | |
100% | Sullivan's Travels | Cop in slums | — | 1941 |
Bad Man of Deadwood | Sheriff Jordan | — | 1941 | |
Sunset in Wyoming | Jim Hayes | — | 1941 | |
Young Bill Hickok | Marshal Evans | — | 1940 | |
100% | Road to Singapore | High Priest | — | 1940 |
Texas Rangers Ride Again | Slide Along | — | 1940 | |
A Little Bit of Heaven | Uncle Pat | — | 1940 | |
North West Mounted Police | Indian | — | 1940 | |
Days of Jesse James | Fields | — | 1939 | |
Geronimo | Interpreter | — | 1939 | |
Juarez | Lerdo de Tejada | — | 1939 | |
Union Pacific | Indian | — | 1939 | |
100% | Dodge City | Barlow, the Indian Agent | — | 1939 |
Frontier Pony Express | Cherokee | — | 1939 | |
Mysterious Rider | Cap. Folsom | — | 1938 | |
Spawn of the North | Cannam/Official | — | 1938 | |
Rebellious Daughters | Charlie/Clint Houston | — | 1938 | |
Hawk of the Wilderness | Yellow Weasel | — | 1938 | |
Hell Town | Hammond | — | 1937 | |
Sky Racket | Benjamin Arnold | — | 1937 | |
Souls at Sea | Mate of the 'William Brown' | — | 1937 | |
Wild and Woolly | Actor | — | 1937 | |
Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm | Joe Stafford | — | 1937 | |
High, Wide and Handsome | Actor | — | 1937 | |
A Million to One | John Kent | — | 1937 | |
Amateur Crook | Crone | — | 1937 | |
Helltown | Actor | — | 1937 | |
Thunder Trail | Jeff Graves | — | 1937 | |
Secret Agent X-9 | Baron Michael Karston | — | 1937 | |
The Big Broadcast of 1938 | Actor | — | 1937 | |
Song of the Gringo | Sheriff | — | 1936 | |
Ride, Ranger, Ride | Tavibo/Duval | — | 1936 | |
Mary of Scotland | Messenger | — | 1936 | |
Undersea Kingdom | '''Unga Khan''' | — | 1936 | |
Treachery Rides the Range | Colonel Drummond | — | 1936 | |
The Lawless Nineties | Outlaw | — | 1936 | |
Desert Gold | Chetley Kasedon | — | 1936 | |
Prison Shadows | Bert McNamee | — | 1936 | |
The Test | Pepite La Joie | — | 1935 | |
G-Men | Analyst | — | 1935 | |
100% | The Lives of a Bengal Lancer | Hamzulia Khan | — | 1935 |
Social Error | Actor | — | 1935 | |
On Probation | Al Murray | — | 1935 | |
Wagon Wheels | Murdock | — | 1934 | |
Student Tour | Jeff | — | 1934 | |
Thundering Herd | Actor | — | 1933 | |
Buffalo Stampede | Joe | — | 1933 | |
Officer 13 | Tom Burke | — | 1933 | |
The Stoker | Dick Martin | — | 1932 | |
Forgotten Terrors | Actor | — | 1931 | |
White Shadows in the South Seas | Dr. Matthew Lloyd | — | 1928 | |
So This Is Paris | Dr. Paul Giraud | — | 1926 | |
100% | The Marriage Circle | Dr. Franz Braun | — | 1924 |
Lover of Camille | Jean Gaspard Deburau | — | 1924 | |
Daddies | Actor | — | 1924 | |
Mademoiselle Midnight | Owen Burke | — | 1924 | |
Main Street | Dr. Will Kennicott | — | 1923 | |
92% | Orphans of the Storm | Danton | — | 1921 |
The Affairs of Anatol | Abner Elliott | — | 1921 | |
Something to Think About | Jim Dirk | — | 1920 | |
Desert Gold | Actor | — | 1919 | |
The Man from Painted Post | Slim Carter | — | 1917 | |
97% | Intolerance | Strike Leader | — | 1916 |
The Matrimaniac | Actor | — | 1916 | |
98% | The Birth of a Nation | Actor | — | 1915 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
---|---|---|---|
Rawhide
1959-1965
|
Wanakawa |
|
QUOTES FROM Monte Blue CHARACTERS
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