Walter Huntley Long (March 5, 1879 – July 4, 1952) was an American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

in films from the 1910s.

Career

Born in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...

, Long appeared in nearly 200 films. Kick In (1922) 1

Long debuted in films in 1909 with

Broncho Billy Anderson Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson; March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western film genre. He was a founder and star ...

. He disliked the working conditions for making films, so after that project he returned to acting on stage. He appeared in many D. W. Griffith films, notably ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...

'' (1915), where he appeared as Gus, an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

make-up, and ''

Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction or intolerance) refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity. They are usual ...

'' (1916). He also supported Rudolph Valentino in the films '' The Sheik,'' '' Moran of the Lady Letty,'' and '' Blood and Sand.'' He later appeared as a comic villain in four

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

films during the early 1930s. On Broadway, Long appeared in ''Adonis'' (1899), ''Leave It to Me!'' (1938), ''Very Warm for May'' (1939), ''Boys and Girls Together'' (1940), ''Follow the Girls'' (1944), and ''Toplitzky of Notre Dame'' (1946).

Personal life

In 1908, Long married Luray Grace Roblee, a stenographer from Wisconsin who later became an actress at Triangle/Fine Arts. She died in 1919 at age 29, due to the Spanish influenza epidemic. On October 16, 1923, he married Leta Amanda Held in Los Angeles, California. They adopted a son whom they called John Huntley Long. Long served during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, attaining the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

before receiving an honorable discharge at the end of World War II. Although he was often called upon to play antagonists and villains because of his gravel voice and rugged appearance, many people reported that he was actually a warm, kindhearted man off-camera.

Death

Long died of a heart attack on July 4, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, while watching the fireworks display at The Coliseum, during Fourth of July celebrations. Long is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Walter 1879 births 1952 deaths People from Nashua, New Hampshire American male silent film actors United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army personnel of World War II Hal Roach Studios actors Male actors from New Hampshire 20th-century American male actors United States Army colonels American male stage actors Broadway theatre people