Of Mice and Men is a 1939 American drama film based on the 1937 play of the same name, which itself was based on the novella of the same name by author John Steinbeck. The film stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, and Lon Chaney Jr., and features Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele, and Noah Beery Jr. The film tells the story of two men, George and his intellectually disabled partner Lennie, trying to survive during the dustbowl of the 1930s and pursuing a dream of owning their own ranch instead of always working for others. Starring in the lead roles were relative Hollywood newcomer Burgess Meredith as George and veteran actor Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie. Chaney had appeared in more than 50 films by that point in his career, but Of Mice and Men was his first major role. Betty Field's role as Mae was her breakthrough role in film.
Creighton Tull Chaney, known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard in Son of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films, including six films in their 1940s Inner Sanctum series, making him a horror icon. He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies, including High Noon (1952), The Defiant Ones (1958), and numerous Westerns, musicals, comedies and dramas.
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Nicholas Beery enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
Tom Forman was an American motion picture actor, director, writer, and producer of the early 1920s.
The Three Musketeers is a 1933 American pre-Code film serial directed by Armand Schaeffer and Colbert Clark, and produced by Nat Levine for Mascot Pictures. The film serial was very loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel The Three Musketeers, with the musketeers changed into three soldiers in the French Foreign Legion, and d'Artagnan being reconfigured as Lt. Tom Wayne, a pilot in the United States military.
Marguerite De La Motte was an American film actress, most notably of the silent film era.
Ace Drummond is a Universal Pictures 1936 film serial based on the comic strip "Ace Drummond" written by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and drawn by Clayton Knight. The serial's cast features John King, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr. and Jackie Morrow, with Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role.
The Galloping Ghost is a 1931 American pre-Code Mascot serial film co-directed by B. Reeves Eason and Benjamin H. Kline. The title is the nickname of the star, real life American football player Red Grange. Serial historian Raymond William Stedman lists Lon Chaney Jr. as appearing in Ghost in a small uncredited part as a henchman, but this has never been verified.
Fighting with Kit Carson is a 1933 American pre-Code Mascot Pictures film serial. It was edited into a feature film by Al Dezel Productions in 1946 and released to theaters as a movie. Johnny Mack Brown starred as Kit Carson, and Betsy King Ross played his love interest, Joan Fargo. The film also starred Tully Marshall and both Noah Beery Sr. and Noah Beery Jr.
Heroes of the West (1932) is a Universal Pre-Code movie serial that depicts the dangers and thrills of building a transcontinental railroad. This was the 82nd serial to be released by Universal. It was remade in 1938 as Flaming Frontiers (serial).
Flaming Frontiers (1938) is a Universal movie serial starring Johnny Mack Brown. It was a remake of Heroes of the West (1932). It was re-edited into a TV series in 1966. Much of the material was reused in Lon Chaney Jr.'s 1942 serial Overland Mail.
Riders of Death Valley is a 1941 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures. It was a high budget serial with an all-star cast led by Dick Foran and Buck Jones. Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor directed. It also features Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role as a villainous henchman as well as Noah Beery Jr., Charles Bickford, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Monte Blue, Roy Barcroft, Richard Alexander and Glenn Strange.
Bits of Life is a 1921 American film produced and directed by Marshall Neilan. The cast included Lon Chaney and Noah Beery, Sr. For her performance in this film, Anna May Wong received her first screen credit. It is notable as an early anthology film, comprising four short stories: “The Bad Samaritan” by Thomas McMorrow, “The Man Who Heard Everything” by Walter Trumbull, “Hop” by Hugh Wiley, and “The Intrigue” by Marshall Neilan. The four stories were unrelated, shot with different casts, by different directors, and at different times. The poster called the format "The Magazine Idea brought to the screen". The film's tagline was "The Social World! The Underworld! and San Francisco's Chinatown!".
Treasure Island is a 1920 silent film adaptation of the 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, directed by Maurice Tourneur, and released by Paramount Pictures. Lon Chaney played two different pirate roles in this production, "Blind Pew" and "Merry", and stills exist showing him in both makeups. Charles Ogle, who had played Frankenstein's Monster in the first filmed version of Frankenstein a decade earlier at Edison Studios, portrayed Long John Silver. Wallace Beery was supposed to play Israel Hands, but that role went to Joseph Singleton instead. The film was chosen as one of the Top Forty Pictures of the Year by the National Board of Review.
Flesh and Blood is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Lon Chaney, Noah Beery, Edith Roberts and De Witt Jennings. The film originally had a color flashback scene with Chinese actors, but the color footage is no longer in any of the available prints. The film's working titles were Prison and Fires of Vengeance. Interior scenes were shot at Universal Studios.
Frontier Badmen is a 1943 American Western film directed by Ford Beebe and starring Robert Paige, Anne Gwynne and Diana Barrymore. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Several members of the cast are offspring of silent screen stars including Noah Beery Jr., Lon Chaney Jr. and Diana Barrymore.
The Daltons Ride Again is a 1945 American Western film directed by Ray Taylor starring Alan Curtis, Lon Chaney Jr., Kent Taylor and Noah Beery Jr. The movie was made by Universal Pictures and the supporting cast features Milburn Stone and Douglas Dumbrille.
