Victor Andrew de Bier Everly McLagen is a British-American film actor. He gained wide popularity as a character actor, especially in westerns. In this genre, he played roles in 7 films with John Ford and John Wayne. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1935 for his role in Informer. McLagen spoke 5 languages fluently, including Arabic.
Biography
Born December 10, 1886 in Stepney in the East End of London. The McLagen family is of South African descent, despite the fact that the surname is spelled in the Dutch manner. Victor's father was Bishop of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England.
The McLagen family had 10 children: 8 boys and 2 girls. Victor's four brothers later became actors: Arthur (1888-1972), actor and sculptor Clifford (1892-1978), Cyril (1899-1987) and Kenneth (1901-1979). Another of the brothers Leopold (1884-1951) played a role in one film, but before the First World War he was known as a showman, and after that as a self-proclaimed world champion in ju-jutsu, a book about which he later wrote.
In addition to England, as a child, he lived for some time in South Africa, where his father was Bishop of Claremont.
Sports career
Victor McLagen left home at age 14 to join the British army with the intention of taking part in the Second Boer War. However, the young man was placed in the Life Guards of Windsor Castle and was soon expelled from service as soon as his real age was revealed.
At 18, he moved to Winnipeg, Canada, where he became a local celebrity, competing for money as a wrestler and heavyweight boxer. He won many times in the ring and on the carpet, for some time he worked as a constable in the Winnipeg police.
One of McLagen's most famous fights was the fight with heavyweight champion Jack Jackson in a 6-round exhibition bout in Vancouver on March 10, 1909. But Victor's usual earnings were circus fights, in which spectators were offered $ 25 to anyone who could stand at least three rounds against McLagen.
In 1913, McLagen returned to Great Britain and joined the British army. During World War I, he served as a captain in the 10th Battalion of the Mildsex Regiment. For a time he served as Assistant Military Marshal in Baghdad, India. In the army, he continued to box and in 1918 became the British heavyweight champion.
After the war, he continued his career as a boxer, but began to lose fights more often. As a result, Victor ended his professional boxing career in 1920. His personal account as a professional was a record for those years - 16 wins, 8 defeats and 1 draw.
Actor career
During one of his visits to the sports club, Victor was noticed by the producer and invited to the main role of the boxer in the British film Call of the Road (1920). Although McLagen had no acting experience, after auditions he landed the role.
Subsequently, Victor starred in British adventure films "Jack of Corinth" (1921), "Plunder of the Dragon" (1921), "Sports of Kings" (1921), "Glorious Adventure" (1922), "A Novel of Old Baghdad" (1922), " The Little Brother of God (1922), The Tramp Sailor (1922), The Crimson Circle (1922), The Gypsy (1922) and The Strings of the Heart (1922).
Since 1923, McLagen began to play the main roles. In this capacity, he appeared in the British films Lord of the White Road (1923), In the Blood (1923), Boatswain's Mate (1923), Women and Diamonds (1924), Gay Corinthian (1924), The Passionate Adventure (1924) by Alfred Hitchcock, The Favorite Cattle (1924), The Hunting Woman (1925) and Percy (1925).
In 1925, McLagen moved to Hollywood and became a popular character who excelled in drunken roles. He was also good at the role of the Irish, which is why many fans mistakenly believed that he was Irish and not English. Victor played a major role in the silent crime drama The Unholy Three (1925).
McLagen also had supporting roles in The Wind of the Wind (1925) directed by Frank Lloyd and in the film Heart of Battle (1925) directed by John Ford. Subsequently, Ford would have a major impact on McLagen's career, offering him roles in the films "Isle of Vengeance" (1925), "Steel Men" (1926) and "Bo Guest" (1926), in the latter of which he played Hank.
McLagen became the highest paid actor in the Raoul Walsh film about World War I in the classic film, What's the Price of Fame? (1926) with Edmund Lowe and Dolores del Rio. The film was a huge success, grossing over $ 2 million, and Fox Films signed a long-term contract with McLagen.
He began to receive the highest royalties for roles in films such as:
- Carmen Love (1927), directed by Walsh;
- Mahri's Mother (1926), directed by Ford;
- A Girl in Every Port (1928) with Robert Armstrong and Louise Brooks;
- the romantic drama filmed in Ireland, The Executioner's House (1928);
- River Pirate (1928);
- Captain Lash (1929);
- Strong Boy (1929);
- Black Watch (1929).
In the same 1929, McLagen starred in the musical "Happy Days" and in the sequel to the film "What's the Price of Fame?", Which became another box office success.
In the 1930s, Victor began acting in sound films. These were the films Hot for Paris (1930), On the Level (1930) and the fellow comedy with Humphrey Bogart The Devil with Women (1931). For Paramount Pictures, he starred in Dishonored (1931) with Marlene Dietrich and in Not Quite Gentlemen (1931).
In 1931, he played a cameo role in the short film Stolen Jokes and in the second sequel to What Is The Price of Fame? He also played roles in the films Women of All Nations (1931), Affairs of Annabelle (1931), Evil (1931), Gay Caballero (1932), Devil's Lottery (1932) and Guilty as Hell. (1932).
In 1932, he starred in the third sequel to the film What is the Price of Fame ?, as well as in the film Rackety Rax. In 1933 he played roles in Hot Pepper, Laughing at Life and in the British film Dick Turpin.
In 1934 he appeared in such films as "More Women", "Angel's Wharf", "Murder in the Busy" and in the Colombian motion picture "The Captain Hates the Sea". One of McLagen's best works of 1934 was his role in the film Lost Patrol directed by Ford, about the mad religious fanatic Boris Karloff and the soldiers who gradually go crazy fighting the Arabs in what is now Iraq.
In 1935, Victor starred in the films The Fox Under Pressure, The Great Hotel Murder, and The Professional Soldier with Freddie Bartholomew. But the most important event for McLagen in 1935 was the shooting in "Informer" directed by John Ford. For this role, Victor received his first Academy Award for Best Leading Actor.
In 1936, for 20th Century Fox, he starred in Under Two Flags with Rosalind Russell and Ronald Coleman, and for Paramount Pictures in Klondike Annie with Mae West. In 1937 he worked for Universal Studios in The Magnificent Beast and The Sea Devils, as well as in the film Nancy Steele Lost for the 20th Century Fox.
At the request of John Ford and Robert Taylor, he starred in the films This Is My Business (1937), Shirley Temple (1937), Wee Willie Winky (1937), as well as a cameo in Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937).
In 1938 he starred in the comedy Battle on Broadway with Brian Donlevy for 20th Century Fox and in The Devil's Party for Universal Studios. In the same year, he travels to the UK to film We Are Going to Get Rich opposite Gracie Fields.
In 1939, in Hollywood, McLagen starred in the films Pacific Liner and Gunga Din. The latest film with Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks was an epic adventure that would later serve as a model for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) decades later.
In the same year, Victor appeared in the films Let Freedom Ring with Nelson Eddie for Metro Goldwyn Meyer, Ex-Champion, Captain Fury with Brian Ahern and Full Confession directed by John Farrow. The last film was a partial remake of Informer. For Universal Studios he worked on Rio with Basil Rathbone and Big Guy with Jackie Cooper.
In 1940, as a highly paid actor, he starred in the films South of Pago Pago, Diamond Frontier and Broadway Limited. During World War II, he took part in the filming of the films Calling the Marines (1942), Powder Town (1942), Chinese Girl (1942), Forever and One Day (1943), Tampico (1943)), "Roger Touhey" and "Gangster" (both 1944). He played the role of villains in the films "The Princess and the Pirate" (1944) and "Rough, Tough and Ready" by Bob Hope of the same year.
After World War II, McLagen became an exclusively supporting actor. In this capacity, he starred in Love, Honor and Goodbye (1945), Whistle Stop (1946), Calendar Girl (1947) and Harrow Fox (1947). In 1948-1950 he starred in the supporting role of a cavalry sergeant in John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy: Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).
In 1952, McLagen won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar in The Quiet Man opposite John Wayne. He also continued to be in demand in supporting roles in Tailwind to Java (1953), Prince Valiant (1954). In the UK he starred in Trouble in the Glen (1954), for Hollywood in Crossing Many Rivers (1955).
In 1955, McLagen starred for the last time as the main character in the French film City of Shadows, and as a supporting actor in Benghazi and Lady Godiva of Coventry. In 1956, Bliss had a cameo role in Around the World in 80 Days. In 1957, he starred in The Kidnappers, directed by his son Andrew.
Towards the end of his career, McLagen made several guest appearances on television on the westerns Guns, Let's Travel and Raw Skin. The episodes in which Victor participated were also filmed by his son Andrew.
In 1958 he played his last two roles: in the Italian film Gli Italiani sono matti and in the English film Sea Fury.
Personal life
Victor McLagen has been married three times.
The first wife is Enida Lamonte, who was married in 1919. They had two sons: Andrew (born 1920), Walter (born 1921) and daughter Sheila. Andrew went on to become a television and film director and gave Victor the grandchildren Andrew, Mary and Josh, who also became producers and directors. Sheila's daughter, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, became a television director. Enida Lamonte died in 1942 as a result of an unfortunate fall from her horse.
Suzanne Brueggemann became Victor's second wife. Their marriage lasted from 1943 to 1948. Victor's third and last wife was Margaret Pumphrey. They married in 1948 and lived together until Victor's death.
On November 7, 1959, Victor McLagen died of a heart attack. His body was cremated and buried at Forest Lawn Glendale Memorial Park in the Garden of Remembrance, Columbarium of Eternal Light.
In 1960, McLagen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Grape Street, 1735 for his contributions to the film industry.
