✎ About John Qualen

Who is it?: Actor, Soundtrack, Music Department

Birth Day: December 08, 1899

Birth Place: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Died On: September 12, 1987(1987-09-12) (aged 87)\nTorrance, California

Birth Sign: Capricorn

Resting place: Forest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale, California Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Reliance, Crypt 9632

Other names: John M. Qualen John T. Qualen

Occupation: Actor

Years active: 1931–1974

Spouse(s): Pearle Larson (1924–1987) 3 daughters

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John Qualen Net Worth

John Qualen was born on December 08, 1899 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is Actor, Soundtrack, Music Department. One of the best and most familiar character actors of the first four decades of sound films, although few who knew his face also knew his name, John Qualen was born in Canada to Norwegian parents. His father was a minister. The family moved to the United States and Qualen (whose real name was Kvalen) grew up in Elgin, Illinois. He won an oratory contest and was given a scholarship to Northwestern University. His interest in acting was piqued there, and he began appearing in tent shows on the Lyceum-Chautauqua circuit and in stock. He went to New York in 1929 and got his big break as the Swedish janitor in Elmer Rice's Street Scene. He repeated the role two years later in the film version. That same year he first worked for director John Ford in Arrowsmith (1931). He became a member of Ford's famed stock company and had prominent roles for Ford for the next thirty-five years. He became a most familiar character player, specializing in Scandinavians of various nationalities, but frequently playing a wide variety of other ethnicities. Perhaps his greatest work among many memorable roles was as the pitiful Muley, who recounts the destruction of his farm by the bank in Ford's masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Although plagued in his later years by failing eyesight, he continued to work steadily into his final years. He was treasurer of The Authors Club and historian of The Masquers, Hollywood's famed social group for actors. He had three children, Elizabeth, Kathleen, and Meredith. Qualen died in 1987.
John Qualen is a member of Actor

💰John Qualen Net worth: $20 Million

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Biography/Timeline

1970

Appearing in well over one hundred films, and acting extensively on television into the 1970s, Qualen performed many of his roles with various accents, usually Scandinavian, often intended for comic effect. Three of his more memorable roles showcase his versatility. Qualen assumed a Midwestern dialect as Muley, who recounts the destruction of his farm by the bank in Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and as the confused killer Earl Williams in Howard Hawks' classic comedy His Girl Friday (also 1940). As Berger, the jewelry-selling Norwegian resistance member in Michael Curtiz' Casablanca (1942), he essayed a light Scandinavian accent, but put on a thicker Mediterranean accent as the homeward-bound Fisherman Locota in william Wellman's The High and the Mighty (1954)

1987

John Qualen was blind in his later years. He died of heart failure in 1987 in Torrance, California, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. He was survived by his three daughters.

2013

Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of immigrants from Norway; his father was a Lutheran minister and changed the family's original surname, "Kvalen", to "Qualen" – though some sources give Oleson, later Oleson Kvalen as Qualen's earlier Surnames. His father's ministering meant many moves and John was 20 when he graduated from Elgin High School in 1920. Though he was awarded a scholarship to Northwestern University after he won an oratory contest he never attended college. In a Milwaukee Journal interview he said he needed to start working and did so with the Chattaqua Circuit. Eventually reaching Broadway, he gained his big break as the Swedish janitor in Elmer Rice's Street Scene. His movie career began when he recreated the role in the film version. This was followed by his appearance in John Ford's Arrowsmith (1931) which began a more than thirty year membership in the director's "stock company", with important supporting roles in The Searchers (1956), Two Rode Together (1961), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964).

Tags:

1899 births 1987 deaths American male film actors American male television actors American people of Norwegian descent Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian Lutherans Canadian people of Norwegian descent Male actors from Vancouver Northwestern University alumni People from Elgin, Illinois 20th-century American male actors 20th-century Canadian male actors

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