Barton MacLane

Barton MacLane graduated from Wesleyan University, where he displayed a notable aptitude for sports, in particular football and basketball. Not surprisingly, his physical prowess led to an early role in The Quarterback (1926) with Richard Dix. MacLane once commented that, as an actor, he needed to have the physical strength to tear the bad guys "from limb to limb", if necessary. Ironically, it was usually Barton himself who was destined to be at the end of a hiding (when not getting shot, instead), typically as snarling henchmen, outlaws and other assorted dubious or abrasive types throughout most of his 40-year acting career. In fact, Barton became so typecast that his name was for a time used proverbially, to generally describe a shouting, hard-nosed ruffian. After training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, MacLane joined a stock company in Brooklyn. In 1927 he had his first part on Broadway, a brief moment as an assistant district attorney, in the melodrama "The Trial of Mary Dugan". He then played a small featured role as a police officer in "Subway Express" (1929-30), a drama enacted in the interior of a subway car. In mid-1932 MacLane tried his hand at writing his own starring vehicle for the stage, entitled "Rendezvous". While the play closed after just 21 performances, it led to a contract with Warner Brothers. Barton had already appeared in bit roles for Paramount at their Astoria Studios, including The Marx Brothers' debut film The Cocoanuts (1929). He portrayed mobster Brad Collins in 'G' Men (1935) (with James Cagney), which set the tone for most of his future assignments. Brawny, with squinty eyes and a rasping voice, MacLane was the ideal surly tough guy, particularly suitable for westerns and the type of films noir Warner Brothers excelled at. He was often cast as cops, be they bent or honest. Some of his most representative performances include gangster Al Kruger in Bullets or Ballots (1936), which won him some of the best critical notices of his career; outlaw Jack Slade in Western Union (1941); crooked construction boss Pat McCormick, who gets beaten up by Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt over past-due wages in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); hard-nosed cops Detective Dundy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Lt. Reece in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). MacLane, on loan to Universal, also had a starring role in Prison Break (1938) as an innocent tuna fisherman who is framed for murder. He was prominent as a tough but sympathetic cop, foil to sleuthing girl reporter Glenda Farrell in the "Torchy Blaine" series of the mid- to late 1930s. In the 1960s Barton began to cultivate a good-guy image as Marshal Frank Caine in the NBC western series Outlaws (1960) as well as showing up in a small recurring role as Air Force Gen. Martin Peterson in I Dream of Jeannie (1965). Barton was married to the actress Charlotte Wynters, who appeared with him in six of his films. When not on the set, the couple spent time on their 2000-acre cattle ranch in Madera County, California. For his work in television, Barton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Known For: Acting

Born: Columbia, South Carolina, USA, 1902-12-25

Died: 1969-01-01

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1926	The Quarterback	Football Player (uncredited)	60
2	1929	The Cocoanuts	Bather	64
3	1930	Politics		0
4	1931	Crimes Square	Detective with Handcuffs	0
5	1931	The Gigolo Racket	Cafe Customer	0
6	1931	His Woman	Crewman	35
7	1932	Naughty-Cal	Sailor	0
8	1932	The Acid Test		0
9	1933	Buffalo Stampede	Henchman Pruitt	33
10	1933	Let's Dance		70
11	1933	Man of the Forest	Mulvey	55
12	1933	To the Last Man	Neil Stanley	57
13	1933	Tillie and Gus	Commissioner McLennan	76
14	1933	Big Executive	Harry the Guide	0
15	1933	Lone Cowboy	Policeman Baxter	35
16	1934	All of Me	First Cop (uncredited)	60
17	1934	The Last Round-up	Charley Benson	0
18	1935	The Case of the Curious Bride	Detective Lucas	60
19	1935	Go Into Your Dance	Duke Hutchinson	68
20	1935	'G' Men	Collins	65
21	1935	Black Fury	McGee	65
22	1935	Stranded	Sharkey	58
23	1935	Page Miss Glory	Blackie	63
24	1935	The Case of the Lucky Legs	Bisonette	60
25	1935	Dr. Socrates	Red Bastian	64
26	1935	I Found Stella Parish	Clifton Jeffords	70
27	1935	Frisco Kid	Spider Burke	68
28	1935	Man of Iron	Chris Bennett	60
29	1935	A Dream Comes True	Himself (uncredited)	55
30	1936	Ceiling Zero	Al Stone	56
31	1936	The Walking Dead	Loder	62
32	1936	Times Square Playboy	Casey (Vic's Butler/Trainer)	48
33	1936	Bullets or Ballots	Al Kruger	66
34	1936	Bengal Tiger	Cliff Ballenger	45
35	1936	Jailbreak	Detective Captain Rourke	64
36	1936	Breakdowns of 1936	Self	0
37	1937	Smart Blonde	Steve McBride	61
38	1937	God's Country and the Woman	Bullhead	42
39	1937	You Only Live Once	Stephen Whitney	71
40	1937	The Prince and the Pauper	John Canty	68
41	1937	Draegerman Courage	Andrew Beaupre	65
42	1937	San Quentin	Lt. Druggin	65
43	1937	Fly Away Baby	Steve McBride	62
44	1937	Born Reckless	Jim Barnes	55
45	1937	Ever Since Eve	Al McCoy	58
46	1937	Wine, Women and Horses	Jim Turner	40
47	1937	The Adventurous Blonde	Det. Lt. Steve McBride	54
48	1937	Breakdowns of 1937	Self	60
49	1938	Blondes at Work	Lt. Steve McBride	61
50	1938	Gold Is Where You Find It	Slag Martin	69
51	1938	The Kid Comes Back	Gunner Malone	53
52	1938	You and Me	Mickey	67
53	1938	Prison Break	Joaquin Shannon	52
54	1938	The Storm	Captain Cogswell	0
55	1938	Torchy Gets Her Man	Detective Steve McBride	59
56	1939	Stand Up and Fight	Crowder	58
57	1939	Torchy Blane in Chinatown	Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride	60
58	1939	I Was a Convict	Ace King	50
59	1939	Big Town Czar	Phil Daley	0
60	1939	Torchy Runs for Mayor	Steve McBride	58
61	1939	Mutiny in the Big House	Red Manson	44
62	1939	Breakdowns of 1939	Self	70
63	1940	Gangs of Chicago	Jim Ramsey	53
64	1940	Men Without Souls	Blackie Drew	60
65	1940	The Secret Seven	Sam O'Donnell	0
66	1940	Melody Ranch	Mark Wildhack	58
67	1941	High Sierra	Jake Kranmer	71
68	1941	Come Live with Me	Barney Grogan	70
69	1941	Western Union	Jack Slade	60
70	1941	Barnacle Bill	John Kelly	77
71	1941	Hit the Road	James J. Ryan	0
72	1941	Manpower	Smiley Quinn	67
73	1941	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Sam Higgins	64
74	1941	Wild Geese Calling	Pirate Kelly	58
75	1941	The Maltese Falcon	Lt. of Detectives Dundy	77
76	1942	All Through the Night	Marty Callahan	70
77	1942	The Big Street	Case Ables	58
78	1942	Highways by Night	Leo Bronson	60
79	1943	Man of Courage	John Wallace	48
80	1943	Bombardier	Archie Dixon	55
81	1943	Song of Texas	Jim Calvert	50
82	1943	The Underdog	John Tate	0
83	1943	The Crime Doctor’s Strangest Case	Detective Rief	48
84	1944	Nabonga	Carl Hurst	43
85	1944	The Mummy's Ghost	Inspector Walgreen	57
86	1944	Marine Raiders	Sgt. Maguire	68
87	1944	Secret Command	Red Kelly	68
88	1944	Cry of the Werewolf	Lt. Barry Lane	46
89	1944	Gentle Annie	Sheriff Tatum	52
90	1945	Tarzan and the Amazons	Ballister	63
91	1945	Scared Stiff	George 'Deacon' Markham	40
92	1945	The Spanish Main	Capt. Benjamin Black	63
93	1946	Mysterious Intruder	Detective Taggart	59
94	1946	Santa Fe Uprising	Crawford	0
95	1946	San Quentin	Nick Taylor	63
96	1947	Tarzan and the Huntress	Paul Weir	57
97	1947	Cheyenne	Webb Yancey	68
98	1947	Jungle Flight	Case Hagin	59
99	1948	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	Pat McCormick	80
100	1948	Silver River	'Banjo' Sweeney	59
101	1948	The Dude Goes West	Texas Jack Barton	58
102	1948	Relentless	Tex Brandow	62
103	1948	Unknown Island	Capt. Tarnowski	52
104	1948	Angel in Exile	Max Giorgio	52
105	1948	The Walls of Jericho	Rufus J. "Gotch" McCurdy	57
106	1949	Red Light	Detective Strecker	58
107	1950	Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye	Lieutenant John Reece	68
108	1950	Let's Dance	Larry Channock	55
109	1950	The Bandit Queen	Sheriff Jim Harden	44
110	1951	Best of the Badmen	Joad	65
111	1951	Drums in the Deep South	Sgt. Mac McCardle	54
112	1952	Bugles in the Afternoon	Capt. Myles Moylan	51
113	1952	The Half-Breed	Marshal Cassidy	50
114	1952	Thunderbirds	Sgt. Durkee	57
115	1953	Kansas Pacific	Cal Bruce	48
116	1953	Cow Country	Marvin Parker	44
117	1953	Captain Scarface	Captain Scarface	43
118	1953	Sea of Lost Ships	Capt. Jack Matthews	0
119	1953	Jack Slade	Jules Reni	64
120	1954	The Glenn Miller Story	General Arnold	69
121	1954	Rails Into Laramie	Lee Graham	63
122	1954	Jubilee Trail	Deacon Bartlett	48
123	1954	Hell's Outpost	Sheriff Olson	50
124	1955	Treasure of Ruby Hills	Chalk Reynolds	35
125	1955	The Silver Star	Henry 'Tiny' Longtree	50
126	1955	Foxfire	Jim Mablett	60
127	1955	Jail Busters	Captain Jenkins	60
128	1955	Last of the Desperados	Mosby, Gang Leader	60
129	1956	Jaguar	Steve Bailey	70
130	1956	Backlash	Sergeant George Lake	64
131	1956	Wetbacks	Karl Shanks	54
132	1956	The Man Is Armed	Det. Lt. Dan Coster	48
133	1956	Naked Gun	Joe Barnum	68
134	1956	Three Violent People	Yates	61
135	1957	Hell's Crossroads	Clyde O'Connell	54
136	1957	Sierra Stranger	Lem Gotch	50
137	1957	Naked In The Sun	Wilson	67
138	1958	Girl in the Woods	Big Jim	0
139	1958	Girl on the Run	Francis J. Brannigan	0
140	1958	Frontier Gun	Simon Crayle	60
141	1958	The Geisha Boy	Major Ridgley	64
142	1960	Gunfighters of Abilene	Seth	50
143	1960	Noose for a Gunman	Carl Avery	53
144	1961	Pocketful of Miracles	Police Commissioner	73
145	1964	Law of the Lawless	Big Tom Stone	61
146	1965	The Rounders	Tanner	56
147	1965	Town Tamer	James Fell	64
148	1968	Arizona Bushwhackers	Sheriff Grover	28
149	1968	Buckskin	Dr. H. 'Doc' Raymond	53
150	1976	It's Showtime	Self (archive footage)	70
151	1983	Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	65
152	1997	Bogart: The Untold Story	Self (archive footage)	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Steve	63
2	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Marvin Platt	63
3	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Chief Brooks	73
4	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Milo	63
5	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Capt. Webber	63
6	1954	The Whistler		0
7	1954	Studio 57		0
8	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Rawls Kettrick	78
9	1955	Gunsmoke	Herkimer Crawford	66
10	1955	Gunsmoke	Willard Kerner	66
11	1955	Cheyenne		58
12	1956	Telephone Time		63
13	1956	Wire Service	Gen. Bailey	0
14	1957	Perry Mason	Senator Harriman Baylor	77
15	1957	Perry Mason	Sheriff Eugene Norris	77
16	1957	Perry Mason	Harold Minter	77
17	1957	Perry Mason	Archer Osmond	77
18	1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse		58
19	1958	77 Sunset Strip		67
20	1959	Black Saddle	General Fowler	60
21	1959	Tightrope		55
22	1960	Outlaws	Marshal Frank Caine	62
23	1964	The Munsters		79
24	1965	I Dream of Jeannie	General Peterson	78
25	1966	The Monkees		65
26	1967	Hondo		65

Barton MacLane

Film

Television