
John Qualen
Born December 6, 1899 · Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles. 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). 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) Qualen was treasurer of The Authors Club and historian of The Masquers, Hollywood's social group for actors. 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.
Notable Appearances
Movies

Casablanca

The Searchers

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Anatomy of a Murder

The Grapes of Wrath

The Fugitive

The Sons of Katie Elder

His Girl Friday

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

Cheyenne Autumn

The High and the Mighty

Adventure

A Patch of Blue

The Shepherd of the Hills

Woman on the Run

Elmer Gantry

The Sea Chase

Hell Bent for Leather

North to Alaska

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

Two Rode Together

The Long Voyage Home

Those Calloways

The Mad Miss Manton

I'll Take Sweden

Donovan's Reef

Knute Rockne All American

Hollow Triumph

Arabian Nights

All That Money Can Buy

Firecreek

Jungle Book

The Prize

Captain Kidd

Ambush at Tomahawk Gap

Buccaneer's Girl

Out of the Fog

Passion

La Classe américaine

Hi, Nellie!
TV Shows

Climax!

The Virginian

The Donna Reed Show

Cheyenne

Ben Casey

Dragnet

The Philco Television Playhouse

Burke's Law

Lawman

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Thriller

Green Acres

The Streets of San Francisco

The Odd Couple

Father Knows Best

The Partridge Family

The Real McCoys

Sugarfoot

Sea Hunt

Bronco

The Millionaire

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Hazel

Public Defender

Mister Ed

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

December Bride

Yancy Derringer

My Favorite Martian

The Third Man

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

The Alaskans

Racket Squad

Tightrope

Shane

Jericho

No Time for Sergeants

Tate

General Electric Theater

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
More Movies

Hans Christian Andersen

Wife vs. Secretary

Seventh Heaven

Charlie Chan in Paris

Frasier, the Sensuous Lion

Stand Up and Fight

The Big Land

Nothing Sacred

Getting Away from It All

The Gun Runners

Our Daily Bread

Man on a Bus

P.J.

Fit for a King

The Road to Glory

Five of a Kind

She Had to Eat

I, the Jury

The Farmer Takes a Wife

The Flying Missile

He Was Her Man

Arrowsmith

Blondie on a Budget

Let Us Live

Let's Fall in Love

Tortilla Flat

Joy of Living

Sing and Like It

Revolt in the Big House

Thunder Afloat

Larceny, Inc.

The Big Steal

Fifty Roads to Town

Counsellor at Law

At Gunpoint

Model Wife

Goodbye, My Fancy

Doc

Four Wives

The Bad Man of Brimstone

Million Dollar Baby

The Great Hotel Murder

Swing Shift Maisie

Dark Waters

Black Fury

Hail, Hero!

Ring Around the Moon

Breakdowns of 1942

The Strange Case of Dr. Meade

Johnny Concho

Straight Is the Way

365 Nights in Hollywood

My Girl Tisa

Girls' Dormitory

Youth Will Be Served

Whipsaw

An American Romance

Thunder in the Night

Street Scene

The Jackpot

Angels Over Broadway

Roughly Speaking

My World Dies Screaming

Captain China

The Three Musketeers

The Impostor

Upperworld

Unchained

Reaching from Heaven

Babies for Sale

Meet Nero Wolfe

One More Spring

Servants' Entrance

The Country Doctor

The Chaser

Honeymoon in Bali

Song of Scheherazade

Alias a Gentleman

Saturday's Children

Man of Iron

High Conquest

Mickey the Kid

16 Fathoms Deep

Doubting Thomas

Orchids to You

Ski Patrol

River Gang

Chasing Yesterday

Angel's Holiday

New Wine

Belle Le Grand

Silk Hat Kid

On Their Own

The Other Woman




