John Carradine – Second Best Dracula

John Carradine is a fantastic American actor that had 321 television and film credits. He was very tall and slim and had a wonderfully deep voice that made him ideal for playing horror roles.

John Carradine was born on February 5, 1906, in New York City. When Carradine was two years old his father died. When his mother remarried they moved to Philidelphia. Apparently, his new stepfather treated him brutally. Carradine ran away from home when he was 14 but later returned. For a time he attended Philadelphia’s Graphic Arts Institute. Later he moved to New York and lived with his uncle Peter Richmond. At some point, he studied under a sculptor in Richmond, Virginia. For a time, he worked as a painter and sketch artist. He eventually ended up in New Orleans in 1925. Remember, Lugosi showed up there in late 1920. I believe this is where you go to learn to be a vampire, and I think I turned into on one Maudlin Monday night myself. During this travel period, he was arrested for vagrancy and had his nose broken while in jail.

John Carradine made his stage debut in New Orleans in 1925. He worked in theater until 1927, when a banana shipping job took him to Los Angles. He began working in theater in LA and was eventually hired to work on sets for Cecil B. DeMille. He lasted around two weeks until DeMille heard him reciting lines. DeMille hired him for voice-over work, and he became a member of DeMille’s stock company.

Carradine’s first credited movie was Tol’able David (1930), but he claimed 70 more pictures before getting billing. He also said that he tested for the role of Dracula that went to Bela Lugosi. However, this cannot be supported with documentation. Carradine continued to take small parts but he showed a talent for horror from the very beginning with films like The Invisible Man (1933), The Black Cat Cult (1934), and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

This is not to say that he was not successful with other genres. By 1936, he was part of Director John Ford‘s stock company. He turned in performances in movies such as Mary of Scotland (1936), The Garden of Allah (1936 ), The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936),  White Fang (1936 ), Captains Courageous (1936 ), Captain Fury (1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939 ), Jesse James (1939), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), The Three Musketeers (1939), Stagecoach (1939), Brigham Young (1940), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Return of Frank James (1940), and Western Union (1941).

The 1940s saw Carradine turn in horror performances for Universal Studios Dracula sequels House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945). Wartime dramas include Hitler’s Madman (1943) and I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943). Other horrors in this period include Revenge of the Zombies 1943, Bluebeard 1944, Return of the Ape Man (1944), The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), Voodoo Man (1944), and House of Frankenstein (1944).

Carradine has a small but powerful role in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) as Maj. Cassius Starbuckle. He was also appearing in junkers to pay his bills like Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) where he again played Count Dracula. Late in life, Carradine played melancholy werewolf Erle Kenton in The Howling (1981). The character name was a nod to John’s House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) director Erle C. Kenton.

Carradine continued to work in film and television through 1988 but his material was released as late as 1995. With four wives, Carradine managed to father five sons.  Four of these, David, Robert, Keith, and Bruce are actors. David Carradine is best known for several successful movies such as Bound for Glory (1976), Circle of Iron (1978), The Long Riders (1980), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). However, he is best known for his hugely popular television show “Kung Fu” 1972-1975.  Brother Robert Carradine is known for the Revenge of the Nerds (1984), The Big Red One (1980), and most recently for Django Unchained (2012). Keith Carradine is known for The Duellist (1977), The Long Riders (1980), and Southern Comfort (1981).

In his first year of retirement, John Carradine passed away from multiple organ failures while traveling in Milan, Italy on November 27, 1988.

Reviewed John Carradine Films

John Carradine on iMDB