SUPERMAN IN TV (1952-1958)

THE GREAT TV HEROES: "SUPERMAN"

by Kirk Hastings
The Adventures of Superman was produced from 1951 to 1957, and was the
first filmed adventure series with special effects ever attempted for TV. The two
major forces behind the series were a pair of very remarkable, creative men --
producer Robert Maxwell, and actor George Reeves. Maxwell had produced the
Superman radio series in the 1940s. For the TV series he wanted something
more adult and more dramatic than the recent Columbia movie serials with Kirk
Alyn, and something more realistic than the previous cartoon or comic book
renditions. He wanted an evening time slot for his series, and in order to
achieve that he knew he must make his Superman appeal to adults, as well as
to children.
The Superman that Robert Maxwell brought to television was tough, realistic,
and totally committed to the all-out obliteration of crime, organized or otherwise.
By the time he reached the screen there were no reminders whatsoever (except
perhaps for his costume) that the character's roots lay in cartoons and comic
magazines. Realized by classically-trained actor George Reeves, Maxwell’s
flesh-and-blood Superman was a determined crime-buster who lived in the real
world, got involved with real people, and fought real criminals. Some people
complain that Reeves’s Superman bears little resemblance to the comic book
character. But Maxwell knew the difference between the comic pages and film,
and that characters and stories that might work well on the comic page simply
wouldn't translate successfully to the more realistic medium of film. Maxwell
knew the limits of what a 1950s adult TV audience would tolerate. So, realism
and a heightened sense of drama permeated every aspect of his Superman.
Maxwell's unique concept of the character resembled a hard-boiled 1940s
gangster movie more than a comic book superhero story. Many early episodes
of the series were representative of the tough, realistic style that comprised
Maxwell's vision: both "The Monkey Mystery" and "Double Trouble" featured
Nazis left over from World War II as the heavies. "A Night of Terror" featured
Frank Richards as a ruthless, squinty-eyed, scar-faced hoodlum right out of a
1930s film noir gangster film. "Mystery In Wax" resembles an old Universal
horror movie, with its wax museum setting and the museum's insane proprietor
(realized in spine-chilling fashion by actress Myra McKinney). "Crime Wave" is a
non-stop collage of Superman flying, fighting, punching and strong-arming
crooks in his attempt to aid the police in rounding up the ten most wanted crime
bosses in Metropolis. And who can ever forget those marvelous brawls that took
place practically every other episode, where Superman would forcefully fight off
anywhere from 3 to 6 hoods at one time, littering the set with inert, unconscious
bodies?
True to the original character as conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster,
Maxwell's Superman was incredibly strong, but not unbelievably so. He could
support a small, two-seater airplane on his back (as in the episode "The Mind
Machine"), but he had to noticeably strain to do it. Such limitations in his powers
served to make him more believable to adult viewers. And it created more
drama as well. Maxwell's Superman had to work harder in order to achieve his
purposes. But this just made us admire him all the more!
And Maxwell's TV dialogue fairly crackled. Can any viewer of the Superman
movies imagine Christopher Reeve's Superman delivering a line like: "Tell me
where they are or I'll break every bone in your body!"? (George Reeves did, in
the TV episode "The Evil Three" -- and we believed he meant it!) Or can anyone
picture Dean Cain (of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman)
delivering a response like: "I'm going to make you eat those words, doctor!"
after being threatened by a law-breaking Nazi physician? (Again, Reeves did –
convincingly -- in the episode "Double Trouble".) This guy was serious! He
meant business. God help any evildoer that got on his hit list. But isn't that just
the type of guy we'd all like to have around when we're in a jam?
Maxwell's "rugged" approach was also evident in the other characters in the
series. His Lois Lane, as personified by Phyllis Coates, was tough, realistic and
daring. She could give any hardened bruiser in the series as good as she got --
and often did.
Likewise, Maxwell/Reeves's Clark Kent is no timid soul – he’s cut from the same
dynamic cloth as any of the other "crusading journalist" characters of the 1940s
and 50s. Some critics charge that George Reeves's portrayal of Clark Kent is
too close to his Superman; that there isn't enough contrast between the two.
But after all, they are the same person! Would anyone in the real world be able
to act like a completely different person for half the day and then be himself the
rest of the time? That kind of Jekyll/Hyde behavior would get old awful fast.
Both Maxwell and Reeves knew that their Clark Kent had to be as realistic as
any of the other characters in the TV program, or he just wouldn't be accepted
by the audience (especially adults) on a weekly basis.
Robert Maxwell and George Reeves studiously tried to avoid a "comic book"
come to life. They wanted to create something that was completely different in
tone and style to what had come before. They wanted to take a flat "cartoon"
character that appealed mainly to children out of the realm of the two-
dimensional comic book page and totally recreate him in three-dimensional
flesh and blood -- and in the process subject him to the same laws of traditional
drama and adult realism that any other filmed adventure character would be
answerable to. And they succeeded. Yes, the Adventures of Superman
operated on a ridiculously low budget, even for a 1950s TV series. But Robert
Maxwell made the most out of every single penny he was allowed to spend, and
it showed in the performances. "Our TV work looked alive!" veteran film director
Tommy Carr (who worked on the series) once said. Phyllis Coates echoed his
sentiment: "We brought life to the character. You have to agree with that."
Did Maxwell and Reeves come up with something truly compelling in their
unique interpretation of the Superman character? The fact that The Adventures
of Superman still has a large and very loyal fan following after more than 60
years should certainly answer that question!
©Kirk Hastings
I saw some news today that makes me think that the S on Superman's chest
really does stand for hope.
20TH CENTURY FOX SUPERMAN MOVIES

In 1954, 20th Century Fox released five separate Superman theatrical

packages for distribution in movie theaters. The movies were made in 1953
from 15 episodes of Adventures of Superman, staring George Reeves. Each
movie contained two one-minute "bridges" for the transition of episodes. These
were filmed at the end of the 1953 season. This footage was only seen in the
movies, which are:
"Superman's Peril" ("The Golden Vulture", "Semi-Private Eye", "Defeat Of
Superman");
Directed by George Blair, Thomas Carr
1954 - 77 minutes - Black & White
"Superman Flies Again" ("Jet Ace", "The Dog Who Knew Superman", "The
Clown Who Cried").
Directed by George Blair, Thomas Carr
1954 - 77 minutes - Black & White
"Superman In Exile" ("Superman In Exile", "The Face And The Voice", "The
Whistling Bird");
Directed by George Blair, Thomas Carr
1954 - 77 minutes - Black & White
"Superman And Scotland Yard" ("A Ghost For Scotland Yard", "The Lady In
Black", "Panic In The Sky");
Directed by George Blair, Thomas Carr
1954 - 77 minutes - Black & White
and "Superman And The Jungle Devil" ("Jungle Devil", "The Machine That
Could Plot Crimes", "Shot In The Dark").
Directed by George Blair, Thomas Carr
1954 - 77 minutes - Black & White
The movie versions have never been released on home video, so the new
footage in them remains unseen by most fans.
— con Jim Beaver.
On April 20, 1953, Whit Ellsworth was named producer of the Adventures of
Superman, and second season production began in June.
Onto Part 3 and finale:
18 - This is the home of Eddie Mannix and Toni. The address was detailed in a
newspaper article. I'm thinking the house in this picture underwent a complete
renovation and during the Mannix occupation years it looked much different. I
note that my assumption is not based on any information. It is also my thought
this is not the home previous to the house owned and located on El Retiro Way.
According to a discussion (if you can call it that) I had with Phyllis Coates in
May 2008 in NYC, she stated that the Mannix house had an elevator. Obviously
the house in this picture is one a one story structure.
19 & 19a - The two images were taken by me. I want to mention that El Retiro
Way is a very narrow street and luckily there are at best three properties located
so hopefully it is rare an automobile will have to makeway for the other. It's a
beautiful area of Beverly Hills. The first image is of a wonderful gateway to the
property. Since then the entire gateway has been change and in my strong
opinion it was not for the better. First of all, this is the gateway of a high profile
Hollywood studio executive by the name of Edgar J. Mannix. Second, it is as
seen in the image a work of art when it comes to gateways. Yes, a bit dated
perhaps, but the newer version has little life to it. You can glimpse at the old and
new by entering the address at Google Maps and see the change over, even
men working on the new. The second image was taken by me by reaching over
the hedges to the right of the gateway. This was at best the view I could take
without being a silly tourist, or seemingly like an uncouth paparazzi. The 6,000
square-foot ranch home was built in 1958 and led Toni to suggest to George
they build another new larger home further North on Benedict Canyon Dr. The
idea would be this would be their house together that she would fully move into
when the time came that Eddie passed away. This was the moment when
George finally ended his part in the "Sophisticated Arrangement." Since the
Mannix days, the home had an interior remodeling makeover as detailed in an
Los Angeles Times article titled Hollywood glam, his way," dated Sept. 28,
2006. Based on the timing of "Hollywoodland," the editor of the paper must
have dispatched his staff writer David A. Keeps to the dwelling for copy. The
owner did the modif in a 1940's decoreum style which is most appropriate. So
that's a good thing.
20 - The Pasadena Playhouse, where George Bessolo and a girl from
Cincinnati met and fell in love. Ellanora Needles, a beauty queen studied
Applied Arts at the University of Cincinnati having leading roles in "The Amazing
Dr. Clitterhouse," "Since You've been Gone" and "Promenade." She enrolled at
the Playhouse sometime around Nov. 1938. Her brother John was a 4th
generation opperator of the famous Robinson Circus, a family business that
toured the country. My by assessment, Ellanora would mostly give up acting for
a family. One she couldn't create with George Reeves, one she could with
prominent attorney Ed Rose.
21 - When George returned from New York City where he performed on live
television, he rented an apartment on the lower floor of this house. If I were
writing a life story of George Reeves, I would story-arc that it was his agent Gus
Dembling who had secured the residence for him. Oh yeah, I did that with
"Mister Reeves." There are images that exist of George in this apartment, one is
him sitting on the floor by the fireplace reading a script and another of him
holding a fencing sword, again near the fireplace. Thanks to Amy Sapp who
linked me to a real estate site that shows modern images of the apartment's
inside rooms. Interesting is the kitchen stove, which appears to go back to at
least the 50's. Great find Amy.
22 - In 1953, George Reeves bought 1579 BCDr. with the assistance of Toni
Mannix. It is often told Toni bought the house for George and/or in the same
mythical narrative owned it. By my speculative mind, at best she provided the
down payment of $2,000. In the "Last Will and Testament of George Reeves,"
the home is bequethed to Toni Mannix. No need for the detail in the document if
she owned the house. No speculation there. It seemed George loved this home
he shared with his pooch Sam. Life was good. Neighborhood children were
welcome for Peanut Butter sandwiches, excercise workouts in the backyard,
maybe find an autograph picture card of "Superman" waiting for them in the
mailbox if his stock wasn't depleted. But the promise was there. If a neighbor's
cat was found up in a tree, who did they call? George Reeves.
23 - "Death and Taxes," two elements of life that is guaranteed. Since there are
no scandalous accounts of George evading his annual requirement, it's safe to
say all was neat and tidy in that department. The former of the two did create a
scandal in the form of a mystery that has plagued the minds of many for sixty
(60) plus years. Rest in peace "Mister Reeves." No matter what, regardless of it
all and with a wink to you, we got your back.

Moving along into "Places in George Reeves History."

Image 10 - This the first home Mr. Frank Bessolo and his wife Helen bought.
Photos exist of young George with his (step) father were taken in this front yard.
A vintage newspaper article a story of little George taking an umbrella and
jumping off the roof to see if he could float to the ground. Most likely it took
place in the back of the house where a deck and overhead wooden awning
stood. Oh, George's landing wasn't a soft one.
Image 11 - This is the more commonly known house George Reeves grew up
in. In the book by Gary Grossman, "Superman, Serial to Cereal," there is an
image of George Reeves striking a boxing pose. That would be on the left side
of the house. In 2007, with a GR fan group that included Alfred Walker, Steve
Kirk, Jeff Germane and his wife, Steve Randisi, Armand Vaquer, Mike Goldman
Jim Nolt, and the one and only Carl Glass took a field trip to see this incredibly
beautiful home. Off to the side, at the approximate same spot I struck an
unimposing version of George's boxing pose. Carl took quick notice and
secured the moment on camera film. Thank you Carl.
Image 12 - After Helen and Frank divorced, Mr. Bessolo bought this home, just
a very small walk to the ocean. Prior to the divorce, Frank had inherited a great
deal sum of money when he father Ferdinand passed away. An insecure Helen
had been complaining to Frank that she wanted to hold the money in the bank
under her name in the event that Frank should pass away suddenly. Helen felt
that he did die suddenly the Bessolo family would not allow her to have the
money. Frank, the good man he was appeased Helen and allowed her to hold
the money valued at $87,000. Somehow, Helen would not allow Frank access
to it and in all likelyhood, this lead to the divorce. The case went to the courts
and the judge ruled in Helen's favor. A few years later, a California swindler
named Harvey Overgaard married Helen and thankfully he didn't get his mits
too much into Helen. Mr. Bessolo lived the rest of his life at this address,
passing away on March 4, 1944 of a brain embolism.
13 & 14 - The homes of Don Brewer and Helen Shultz. they had two children,
Don Jr. and Mary. It is unknown if George knew of his half-siblings. Don Jr.
having returned to the States from a military stint in Germany had left a
message with the answering service that he was going to be in Los Angeles
and wanted to meet. But because of George's death that meeting never took
place, or is it known he got the message.
15 - The home of Ellanora (Needles Reeves) and her husband Ed Rose. They
had two children, Leonore "Lee" and Deborah. George's name was not allowed
to be mentioned under the roof of Ed Rose. It seemed perhaps Ellanora still had
feelings for George, as she and Helen remained in contact for years after the
divorce. Ellanora and her daughter Deborah wrote a manuscript about her
marraige with George that unfortunately has not found a publisher. I strongly
believe when George died, Helen called Ellanora asking if her husband, an
attorney would help her. Mr. Rose would have declined this request and then
suggested Jerry Giesler to Helen.
16 - This is the church where George and Ellanora performed their marraige
vows in Sept. 1940. The reception took place at 1447 Michigan Ave. It should
be noted that the couple had already tied the knot on May 19, 1940 in Yuma,
Arizona.
17 - In the initial year of Ellanora's and George's marraige they resided at 1447
Michigan Ave. They then found a home elsewhere. Unknown if it was rented or
owned, but it is here George's cesspool digging career started giving him that
"chiselled" physique, as actor Robert Mitchem once described him as.
I want to note that there is a location not included in this narrative because I
could not find the home on Google Maps. The address is 8 Bath St, Ashland,
Kentucky. I found the street, but the home doesn't present itself. This is the
home of the McKenzies where Helen's sister lived. It was this address Helen
first took baby George when she left Don Brewer and Woolstock. Ashland is
often the city stated to be George's birthplace. By my assessment, it would be
Helen who provided this information to the studios in an opportunity to separate
her and George's connection to Don Brewer. Also, not included is the Chase
home in Whittier, California. I have to double back in my files to see if I have
that address. It was during Helen's stay with the Chase family, again the home
of another sister, she met and married Mr. Frank Bessolo. This helped Helen
make a further identity break from her Brewer past.
More tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Lou
In the next couple of days I'm going to present 23 locations that are related to
George Reeves life and those who are principle people connected to him either
by relative or friend. Tonight is Part 1:
1 - This building is the church where Rev. John W. Lescher (1817 - 1875) was
an important figure in the Millersburg, Pa. community. He is the great-
grandfather of George Reeves. The red arrow points to his granite monument,
as noted in the Northumberland Public Press, dated April 26, 1912.
2 - The bare lot you see is the once location of the Lescher home, with George
Christian Lescher the head of the household.
3 - As we know Helen Lescher Bessolo owned the home in Pasadena where
her son George grew up. When not in Pasadena, she often went back to
Galesburg, Illinios. The red arrow points to the second florr apartment. She
owned up to 6 buildings in public square. In early Nov. 1958 a fire broke out in
the supermarket below. Barney McKay the proprietor of Barney's Lunch next
door help Helen escape uninjured out the side window to the adjoining rooftop.
4 - Lake Rice is the closest lake to Galesburg and the most logical place Helen
Lescher (age 16) and Don Brewer were intimate in April 1913, giving birth to a
son George Keefer Brewer on January 5, 1914. It was during a drive to the
family cemetary that Alma Lescher - Archer - Fox has verbally explained the
story to Greg McCollum in 1977.
5 & 5a - The known birthplace of George Keefer Brewer. I do not know the
address and when I had asked Veronica Guyeyer of Woolstock for the
information, she was protective of giving it out. And that's fine and I respect her
for whatever her reasons are. I also want to mention that Veronica has done an
amazing effort to date back the Brewer family to 1850 and the log cabin Wilson
Brewer build. That's Veronica's find and I respectfully leave that as her focus.
So therefore I have not included an image of the cabin herein.
6 - This a second home and information obtain by Rick Spector and presented
in "The Adventures Continue" issue No. 3 (1989) was owned by the parents of
Marie Claude, rented the house to Helen. Ms. Claude recalled that her parents
were not happy knowing Helen washing George's diapers in the kitchen sink.
Interesting to note is that the information provided by Rick Spector stated this is
the home (in which George saw the light of day). I don't know what to make of
this since the home shown in image 5 claims to be the birthplace of George.
7 - In the many Census I have, which helped me with many of these addresses,
I could not find one that detailed the Mannix home in Ft. Lee, New Jersey.
However, I do have a census giving a Bronx address of Eddie Mannix, which
coinsides with when he worked with LOEWS theaters.
8 - Froomess home in Rochester, NY. Froomess is the maiden name of Camille
Antoniette, A.K.A. Toni Lanier (Ziegfeld Follies stage name) who became Toni
Mannix on March 31, 1951 when she married Eddie Mannix.
9 - The Leonori building in New York City. This is the address of Lenore
Lemmon's apartment. Several years ago I had a conversation with Eddie Caro
about this address. One evening Eddie called me saying he is at the location
and having a discussion with the doorman about the significance of this
building. The doorman had no knowledge of Lenore Lemmon. I'm not surprised
since Lenore's name has no real celebrity status meaning with the modern
general public. While she was often quoted in contemporary newspapers of the
time due to her charming & tough witted comments, she barely registered to the
general public. No stage name required.
That's all for tonight. More to come.

About 5 years ago I presented a 1959 Los Angeles street map which detailed a
Benedict Canyon Dr. disconnect in the road below the home of George Reeves.
I had not been able to determine of this disconnect was actually accurate. If
accurate and disallowed drivers to cross, then on the night of June 15, 1959,
George Reeves would have had to take an alternate route home from Paul's
Steakhouse than directly North on BCDr. Only recently I reached out to
members of Facebook's "California History," a fascinating site. Three member
offered their memories to help me understand the roads at that time. Up to this
point and based on the 1959 map, I had hypothesized that if the break in the
road truly existed then George likely travelled North on Coldwater Canyon Dr. to
Mulholland Dr, to BCDr and travelled South to his home. At "California History"
it was recalled the disconnect existed as unaccessable to cross, and that a
lessor number of miles route existed, which does not appear on the original
route. Based on the recollection, I inserted the roads from the current day
Google Maps.
The reason for this assessment is to establish a best time George Reeves
arrived home. The first time established is 10:10 pm, told by Merrill Sparks to
Jan Alan Henderson for the 2nd edition book of "Speeeding Bullet." Mr. Sparks
altered his time to Bill Ritter of Downtown 20/20 several years later, but I don't
believe his time 11:45 pm seeing George and LL outside the restaurant is valid.
I think he followed the timeline that George died sometime after midnight and
simply thought what he told Jan was wrong. In changing his time, he preserved
his distiction of being the last person to see George Reeves in public. But I
believe his original 10:10 pm is right, and his distiction still remains and
unchallenged. If you follow what I wrote in "Mister Reeves," it is my theory that
George Reeves died prior to midnight and the delay in time it took to call the
police was longer than learned years later. So what happened during that
delay?
1 - LL made a phone call to Polly Adler to help her with Carol and Bill. Which
Polly could not help. I also believe after the heard "one shot" by the next door
neighbor and Jan Bliss, neighbors started milling around across the street and
therefore no one was leaving the premises.
2 - LL called her high profile attorney, as told inaccurately on another day in the
book by Evan Thomas, "The Man to See."
3 - The crime scene was altered to make the death appear as a suicide.
Collaborative accounts were discussed.
The time of death is reported in the LA Police report as 1:20 am, June 16, 1959.
Untrue, by my estimate. This is the time the police arrived.
Posted on September 27, 2016

hans_schnabelIn 1940 a man by the name of Masked Superman took the Allen
Athletic Club in Louisville by storm. His dirty tactics and roughhousing drew the
ire of the fans who hated him so much, they turned up in larger and larger
numbers every week, hoping to see him unmasked.

In early 1941 Masked Superman was unmasked by Orville Brown. The man
beneath the mask was Hans Schnabel, the son of German immigrants, and a
native of New York state. Schnabel was no stranger to the Louisville fans. He
had made numerous appearances for the Allen Athletic Club beginning back in
1935. But the run he had in 1940 and 1941 was so successful, he launched a
steady parade of masked wrestlers that would continue throughout the Allen
Club’s history

Schnabel was born Herbert Moeller in Rye, New York in 1908. His parents had
two sons, Fritz and Otto, who were both born in Germany. Their mother died
shortly after young Herbert was born, a victim of the flu epidemic that struck
New York in 1910. The family moved to Connecticut not long after Herbert’s
mother passed.

Herbert contracted Polio at age 8. The disease affected both his legs, but his
right leg suffered the worst. It was a long recovery for the young man, and
brothers Fritz and Otto would pull him around town in a wagon for the next two
years. Herbert slowly learned to talk again, but he was left with a club foot. He
eventually fully from the disease and his right leg returned to a normal position,
but he was always self-conscious about his legs. He wore sweats throughout
his career as a result.

Herbert took a job in a factory as a teenager before embarking on a new career

as an auto mechanic with his brother Fritz. They opened a garage in
Connecticut and were very successful, but Herbert dreamed of two things:
seeing the country, and wrestling. When Fritz saw the money that was possible
in pro wrestling, he too took an interest, and the brothers decided to leave the
garage for what they hoped would be a more lucrative future.

When the time came to choose a ring name, Fritz and Herbert decided to honor
their mother by adopting her maiden name, Schnabel. Herbert chose to work
under his childhood nickname Hans, and together, the Schnabel brothers broke
into the wrestling world.

During the early 1930s the Schnabels worked for promoter Jack Pfefer,
wrestling mainly in New York and Ohio. In 1936, Hans was offered his first shot
at the World Heavyweight Championship, but shortly before the match, Hans
became so ill, he had to withdraw. Dave Levin took his place and won the Title
on a disqualification.

Later that same year, Fritz and Hans left for a tour of South Africa. When they
returned to the United States, they were joined on the road by brother Otto. Otto
had a tag partner from Denver who wrestled under the name of George
Schnabel, but was no relation.

Schnabel worked in Louisville during the late 1930s and had his highly
successful run as Masked Superman during 1940 and 1941. By the late 1940s
Hans and Fritz were working for promoter Fred Kohler in Chicago as well as
several promoters on the West Coast.
By the early 1950s Fritz was ready to get out of the business. He was 45 years
old and didn’t have the desire Hans had to continue. Fritz came to Louisville
before hanging up the trunks in 1951 for a one night stand as a masked wrestler
named Big Red. He appeared once more in a tag match with Bill Longson,
looking for revenge against the man who unmasked him, the mysterious “Mr.
X.”

With his brother gone, Hans teamed up with his long time friend Lou Newman
and wrestled as the Iron Russians. He also worked with another famous mask,
“The Zebra Kid” George Bollas.

In 1952 the Masked Superman story came full circle for Schnabel in an
interesting way when he appeared on television with TV’s Superman, George
Reeves. Schnabel appeared in the episode “No Holds Barred” playing a
wrestler working for a crooked promoter. The life long heel did the job at the end
of the show for the Man of Steel.

Hans Schnabel’s final match, according to his son Phil Moeller, was in May
1960. Hans Schnabel retired at the age of 52 after a career spanning 26 years.
He wrestled all across the United States, Hawaii, South Africa, and Japan. The
young boy who suffered a devastating bout with Polio overcome life’s hard
knocks and become one of professional wrestling’s greatest heels.

Hans Schnabel passed away on July 2, 1980. He is buried in Chatsworth,

California.

LEONARD MUDIE
On this date April 11, 1883 Leonard Mudie was born in Cheetham Hill,
Manchester, Lancashire, England.
Mudie was an English character actor whose career lasted for nearly fifty years.
After a successful start as a stage actor in England, he appeared regularly in
the US, and made his home there from 1932. He appeared in character roles on
Broadway and in Hollywood films.
Mudie made his film debut in a Boris Karloff film, The Mummy in 1932. He
moved to Hollywood in that year, and lived there for the rest of his life. He
played a range of screen parts, some substantial, and others short cameos.
Among the bigger roles were Dr Pearson in The Mummy, Porthinos in
Cleopatra (1934), Maitland in Mary of Scotland (1936), and De Bourenne in
Anthony Adverse (1936). His small roles, according to The New York Times,
were typically "a bewigged, gimlet-eyed British judge".
Mudie made the postwar transition into television, and appeared in several
shows such as Science Fiction Theatre (1956), Sea Hunt (1958), Alfred
Hitchcock Presents (1959) and The Untouchables (1959).
Mudie was on the Adventures of Superman four times, begining in1953 as Dr.
Leland Masters in "Drums of Death" then also in 1953 as Brockhurst the
Magician in "A Ghost for Scotland Yard" followed in 1955 as Professor Jody in
"The Magic Necklace" and finally in 1956 he was Captain Blood in "The Jolly
Roger".
For the postwar cinema he played the regular character Commander Barnes in
the series of Bomba, the Jungle Boy films.
Mudie's final television appearance was as the Second Survivor in the pilot
episode of Star Trek (1966).