John Qualen Trailers
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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.
Most Popular John Qualen Trailers
Total trailers found: 135
24 April 1942
Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers.
15 January 1943
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
25 September 1934
Heiress Hedda Nillson certain that her family is about to lose all its money, takes a job as a maid. After the usual trials and tribulations, Hedda falls in love with humble chauffeur Eric Landstrom.
22 December 1939
In this sequel to Four Daughters, Ann struggles to move on after the death of her husband as she falls in love with Felix, but on the day of her engagement discovers that she carries Mickey's child.
16 May 1956
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
04 September 1936
The story of trench life during World War I through the lives of a French regiment. As men are killed and replaced jaunty Lt.
02 February 1950
The title character, played by John Payne, is a ship's captain whose embittered behavior after losing his lady love seemingly leads to tragedy.
26 December 1933
A carnival girl pretends to be Swedish in order to win a movie role.
20 November 1936
Newspapers around the world proclaim the birth in Moosetown, Canada of the 3,000th baby brought into the world by the doctor, John Luke, known for delivering the famous Wyatt quintuplets.
13 April 1962
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town.
15 December 1938
In this drama, a New York physician takes a much-needed vacation down South. Unfortunately, he encounters a nurse working in the backwoods and ends up helping her to combat an epidemic that rages through the mountain communities.
21 December 1958
A crime boss tries to cause a riot and prison break while behind bars.
24 December 1950
A Navy commander experiments with launching missiles from submarines.
31 January 1945
In the 1920s, enterprising Louise Randall is determined to succeed in a man's world. Despite numerous setbacks, she always picks herself back up and moves forward again.
10 July 1935
A husband makes fun of his wife's theatrical aspirations when she agrees to appear in a local production.
01 July 1959
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her.
01 October 1943
Street-smart Maisie from Brooklyn lands a job at an airplane assembly plant during WWII and falls in love with handsome pilot "Breezy" McLaughlin.
18 January 1940
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife.
21 September 1945
An orphan girl lives with apparently kind uncle who turns out to be a murderer.
15 March 1940
Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure.
29 February 1940
Dagwood wants to join the trout club and Blondie wants a fur coat. Jealousy reigns when Dag's old girlfriend Joan shows up, but nothing else matters when a drawing at the movie theatre provides money for the coat.
03 May 1935
An elderly bachelor, feeling nostalgic for his youth, seeks out his late sweetheart's teenage daughter, now an orphan forced to attend a strict boarding school.
04 October 1969
Carl Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army, even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor.
24 June 1965
The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas for her funeral and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, a corrupt businessman who wants to exploit the area around the town.
14 October 1938
Rival reporters compete to sign the Wyatt Quintuplets to be guests on their radio shows.
18 December 1935
Hot jewels from London make their way to New York, where they are stolen by racketeer Ed Dexter, who hides them with the help of his vivacious girlfriend, Vivian Palmer.
17 May 1940
The Jones family (without father) head for California to open a bungalow court. To increase business they advertise for families with children and pets.
28 July 1969
An aging doctor in a small town decides to pack up his little black bag, but when a young doctor assumes his practice, the older practitioner can't resist butting in with comic results.
08 August 1936
When a busybody teacher in a girls' finishing school finds a love letter from a student to an unknown man, a minor scandal erupts.
28 April 1934
A railroad tycoon, disillusioned with his marriage, starts seeing a showgirl. Things go agreeably until the woman's manager decides to blackmail the millionaire.
10 September 1941
The romantic story of Franz Schubert 's fight for recognition of his music. The 1941 Reinhold Schunzel biographical musical composer melodrama.
10 February 1944
A condemned murderer named Clement is "liberated" when the Nazis bomb the French jail that holds him.
03 July 1954
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.
07 November 1960
After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle.
24 January 1968
A peace-loving, part-time sheriff in the small town of Firecreek must take a stand when a gang of vicious outlaws takes over his town.
04 June 1955
As the Second World War breaks out, German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich is about to leave Sydney, Australia with his vessel, the Ergenstrasse.
24 May 1961
Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
16 November 1940
The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II.
04 May 1940
An inventor and his bride get testy in the city as they try to make ends meet.
07 July 1960
A charismatic charlatan begins a business — and eventually romantic — relationship with a roadside evangelist to sell religion to 1920s America.
15 September 1939
A tugboat captain serves under his rival as a U-boat chaser in World War I.
19 May 1951
Agatha has fond memories of her romance with college president Dr. James Merrill, when she was a student and he was her professor, and wants to see if there is still a spark between them.
15 February 1935
Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.
12 June 1963
After her great aunt's death, a high-society woman arrives on a Hawaiian island in search of the heir - the father she has never met.
12 March 1936
A doctor has a rough time obtaining the money for his services in a lumber town until he delivers quintuplets.
31 December 1993
George Abitbol, the classiest man in the world, dies tragically during a cruise. The director of an American newspaper, wondering about the meaning of these intriguing final words, asks his three best investigators, Dave, Peter and Steven, to solve the mystery.
20 August 1958
A newlywed is terrified when her husband brings her to live in the old house that figures in her recurring nightmare.
01 September 1937
Newspaper reporter "Scoops" is sent out on assignment, to investigate the failed assassination attempts on Archduke Julio.
18 August 1948
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
06 October 1954
In old Spanish California, dashing cattleman Juan Obregon returns to the rancho of his friend Gaspar Melo, to find he's fathered a son on Rosa, one of Gaspar's identical twin daughters.
15 October 1964
A reluctant cavalry Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyenne.
18 January 1972
Two city couples decide to leave the hectic urban life and retreat to the country, but find that rural living isn't quite what they thought it would be.
18 July 1941
Young Matt Matthews, an Ozark Mountains moonshiner, hates the father he has never seen, who apparently deserted Matt's mother and left her to die.
21 December 1935
A construction company foreman's life changes--not necessarily for the better--when he is promoted to an executive position.
01 March 1957
Back home in Texas following the Civil War, former Confederate officer Chad Morgan (Alan Ladd) leads a cattle drive to Missouri, assuring fellow ranchers that their stock will bring $10 a head at auction.
01 February 1960
When Clay Santell stops in the town of Sutterville after having his horse stolen, he is mistaken by townspeople for a murderer named Travers.
22 November 1940
A precocious youngster organizes a show to save a government youth camp from a local entrepreneur.
02 December 1954
Bit player Sherry Stewart gets miffed when director Walter Darman turns her down after she reads for a small part in his picture.
21 January 1935
Charlie's visit to Paris, ostensibly a vacation, is really a mission to investigate a bond-forgery racket.
10 November 1950
Frank Johnson, a sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris, on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation.
