John Carradine

(aka John Peter Richmond, Peter Richmond)
February 5, 1906 - November 27, 1988
Born Richmond Reed Carradine in Greenwich Village, New York City, USA

Father of actors David Carradine, Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine

See Internet Movie Database Filmography

A Lot of Favorite Memories of John Carradine — but not nearly his complete filmography!

In small but noticeable roles as a gladiator leader, Christian martyr, and unmistakable crowd voice in Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross (1932).
Suggesting ink to the police as a means of tracking down the unseen menace in James Whale's classic The Invisible Man (1933), starring Claude Rains and Gloria Stuart.
As the organist for the Devil cult in Edgar G. Ulmer's stylish horror classic The Black Cat (1934), starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
As "Enjolras," leader of the students in Les Misérables (1935), based on the great Victor Hugo novel, and starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton.
Very visible in a showy small part as one of the two hunters interfering with the idyllic friendship of the Monster and the Blind Hermit in James Whale's masterpiece Bride of Frankenstein (1935). The dream cast includes Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Dwight Frye, Una O'Connor and E. E. Clive. Fabulous score by Franz Waxman.
As "Sergeant Rankin," who learns to respect his prisoner Dr. Mudd (the physician who treated Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth) in John Ford's The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), starring Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart and O. P. Heggie.
As "David Rizzio," attendant to Katherine Hepburn's doomed Mary of Scotland (1936) in John Ford's film of Maxwell Anderson's play. Starring Fredric March, Florence Eldridge and Ian Keith. John gets to sing in this one, not bad!
As the spooky "Sand Diviner" foretelling disaster in The Garden of Allah (1936), directed by Richard Boleslawski, and starring Charles Boyer, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Schildkraut, Henry Brandon, and exotic dancer Tilly Losch.
As "Simon Girty," the treacherous renegade inciting Indians to attack pioneer settlers in Daniel Boone (1936), starring George O'Brien and Heather Angel.
As immigrant radical "Bartolomeo Romagna, " wrongly executed and avenged by his son (Burgess Meredith) in Winterset (1936), featuring Eduardo Ciannelli, Margo, Stanley Ridges and Mischa Auer.
As the dour fisherman "Long Jack" in Captains Courageous (1937), based on the great Rudyard Kipling novel, directed by Victor Fleming, and starring Spencer Tracy (one of his Best Actor Oscar performances), Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas and Mickey Rooney.
As the brutal Warden who makes simple-hearted islander Terangi's life a living Hell in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), featuring Jon Hall, Dorothy Lamour, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, Thomas Mitchell, C. Aubrey Smith, and special effects that are still impressive.
As "Periera" in Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), starring Peter Lorre (as the wily oriental sleuth),
Unrecognizable under heavy makeup (until he speaks) as "President Abraham Lincoln," chastizing James Stewart for neglecting his mother in the richly human period drama Of Human Hearts (1938), with Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi.
As "Kopelpeck" in I'll Give a Million (1938), starring Warner Baxter and Peter Lorre.
As the dirty little coward "Bob Ford," the man who shot Jesse James (1939) in the big-budget western starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Randolph Scott and Henry Hull.
As "Danforth," aka "Richard Burke" in Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1938), with Peter Lorre and George Sanders.
As "Hatfield," the chivalrous Southern gambler, in John Ford's classic western Stagecoach (1939), starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, Andy Devine and Tom Tyler. Why didn't Ford ever cast Carradine as Doc Holliday?
As "Barryman," the mysterious butler (Barrymore in the Conan Doyle's novel) in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie and Lionel Atwill.
As "Mr. Crimp," one of twelve survivors of an airplane crash in jungle headhunter territory in Five Came Back (1939), directed by John Farrow, featuring Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, and Patric Knowles.
As "Caldwell," a patch-wearing renegade inciting Indians against settlers in John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), starring Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert and Edna May Oliver.
In his best-remembered mainstream role as the simple but deeply-spiritual "Preacher Casy" in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), with a great cast including Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, Russell Simpson, Charles Grapewin, John Qualen, and Zeffie Tilbury.
As cowardly "Bob Ford" again, getting his comeuppance at last in Fritz Lang's The Return of Frank James (1940), starring Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper and Henry Hull.
As "Mr. Jones" in Fritz Lang's Hitler-hunting adventure, Man Hunt (1941), with Walter Pidgeon, George Sanders and Joan Bennett.
As "Jesse Wick" in Jean Renoir's first American film Swamp Water (1941), with Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter and Walter Brennan.
As "Norbert," aka "Long Jack" in the mystery/comedy Whispering Ghosts (1942), with Milton Berle, Brenda Joyce, Willie Best and Milton Parsons.
As Gestapo head "Ulrich Windler," in Reunion in France (1942), starring John Wayne and Joan Crawford.
As mad "Dr. Sigmund Walters," experimenting with were-gorillas in Captive Wild Woman (1943), first of Universal's three "Paula the Ape Girl" films, starring Acquanetta, Milburn Stone, Evelyn Ankers, Martha Vickers, and Ray Corrigan as the gorilla.
As SS Commander "Reinhardt Heydrich," the real-life Nazi whose assassination caused a Czech village to be decimated in Hitler's Madman (1943). Directed by Douglas Sirk, with Patricia Morison, Alan Curtis, Ralph Morgan, Ludwig Stössel, and Elizabeth Russell.
As Nazi scientist "Dr. Max Heinrich von Altermann," experimenting with zombie supermen in Monogram's Revenge of the Zombies (1943), with Gale Storm, Robert Lowery, Bob Steele, Mantan Moreland and Veda Ann Borg.
As "Toby," half-witted assistant to Bela Lugosi's mad scientist in Monogram's entertaining Voodoo Man (1944), with Louise Currie, Wanda McKay, and George Zucco as a voodoo priest ("Ramboona never fails") who moonlights as a gas station attendant!
As "Bret Harte," competing with rival writer Sam Clemens in a frog-jumping contest in the biopic The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), with Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, and Robert Barrat.
As "Dr. Peter Drury," testing his experiments on an escaped fugitive with unseen consequences in The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944), starring Jon Hall, Evelyn Ankers, Gale Sondergaard, and Lester Matthews.
As "Yousef Bey," taking over the "High Priest of Arkan" chores from George Zucco, but unable to control his lust for Ramsay Ames (who can blame him?), in Universal's The Mummy's Ghost (1944). The solid cast includes Lon Chaney Jr. (as Kharis the Mummy), Robert Lowery, Barton MacLane and Frank Reicher.
As "Professor John Gilmore," helping mad doctor Bela Lugosi to revive a prehistoric caveman in Return of the Ape Man (1944). With one-time heavyweight boxing champ Frank Moran as the Ape Man (George Zucco is credited too, but seems to appear only in stills and perhaps a fleeting shot or two), Tod Andrews, Teala Loring and Ernie Adams.
As "Gaston Morrell," the mad, murderous puppeteer in Edgar G. Ulmer's low-budget but effective Bluebeard (1944), with Jean Parker, Nils Asther and Ludwig Stössel.
As the skeletal "Count Dracula," revived by Gustav Niemann in his sideshow coffin, and putting the bite on various victims for an all-too-brief early episode of Universal's wonderful monster rally House of Frankenstein (1944), directed by Erle C. Kenton, and starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Elena Verdugo, J. Carrol Naish, Glenn Strange, George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, Sig Ruman, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe, Frank Reicher and Michael Mark.
Returning to seek a cure from blood disease as "Count Dracula," alias "Baron Latos," in Universal's House of Dracula (1945), directed by Erle C. Kenton. The role call this time includes Lon Chaney Jr., Onslow Stevens, Glenn Strange, Jane Adams, Martha O'Driscoll, Lionel Atwill, Ludwig Stössel and Skelton Knaggs.
As "Dr. Charles Randolph" in Face of Marble (1946), directed by William Beaudine, with Claudia Drake, Robert Shayne, Maris Wrixon and Willie Best.
As "Foressi" in Bob Hope's period comedy Casanova's Big Night (1954), notable for the familiar horror movie faces in the cast, including: Basil Rathbone, Hugh Marlowe, John Hoyt, Lon Chaney Jr., Frieda Inescort, Primo Carnera, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Skelton Knaggs, and Vincent Price!
As "Old Tom" in Nicholas Ray's terrific overwrought western Johnny Guitar (1954), with Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ernest Borgnine and Royal Dano.
As the raving fanatic "Bohemund," just one of the medical oddities locked away in Dr. Cadman's dungeon in The Black Sleep (1956). The incredible cast including Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., Tor Johnson, Akim Tamiroff, and Bela Lugosi.
As Moses' brother "Aaron" in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch and Vincent Price.
As "Colonel Proctor Stamp" in the star-studded Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), based on Jules Verne's novel, and starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton, Shirley MacLaine and a host of other familiar old-time favorites.
As "Count Dracula" in "Dracula" on the TV anthology series Matinee Theater (1957).
As "Dr. Charles Conway," conducting crazed experiments on psychiatric patients in The Unearthly (1957), with Myron Healey, Allison Hayes and Tor Johnson (as "Lobo").
As "Khufu" in The Story of Mankind (1957), with Ronald Colman as the Spirit of Man, Vincent Price as the Devil, and a stellar cast including Peter Lorre (Nero), Cedric Hardwice, Henry Daniell, Leonard Mudie, Angelo Rossitto and the Marx Brothers.
As "Malone" in Hell Ship Mutiny (1957), with Jon Hall, Peter Lorre, Peter Coe and Mike Mazurki.
As "Prof. Millard Wyman" in The Incredible Petrified World (1957).
As "Dr. John Rayburn" in Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman (1957).
As the title character in The Cosmic Man (1959).
As "Dr. Karol Noymann" in Invisible Invaders (1959).
As "Abel Banton," a dangerous hunter in the Gordon Scott jungle flick Tarzan the Magnificent (1960).
As "Brother Jerome" in "The Howling Man" episode of Rod Serling's TV series The Twilight Zone (November 4, 1960).
As "Jed Carta" in the "Masquerade" episode of the TV anthology series Thriller (October 30, 1961), hosted by Boris Karloff.
As "Jason Longfellow" in the "The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk" episode of the TV series Thriller (December 18, 1961), hosted by Boris Karloff.
Narrating the English version of the US/Swedish film The Invasion of the Animal People (1962).
As "Major Cassius Starbuckle," eloquent spokesman for the political opposition of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), one of John Ford's masterpieces, with a wonderful cast including James Stewart, Vera Miles, John Wayne, Woody Strode, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, John Qualen, Jeanette Nolan, Andy Devine, Carleton Young, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef..
As "The Old Drunk" in Curse of the Stone Hand (1964).
As "Gavin Revere" in the "Death Scene" episode of the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Hour (March 8, 1965), hosted by Hitch.
As "Mr. Gateman," Herman's boss at the funeral parlor, in two episodes of the TV series The Munsters: "Herman's Raise" (June 4, 1965) and "The Musician" (March 3, 1966).
As the title character of The Wizard of Mars (1965)
As "Andre Dessard" in House of the Black Death (1965).
As "Marvo the Magnificent" in "The Great Jethro" episode of the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (February 23, 1966).
As "Count Dracula" in Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966).
As "Cruikshank" in Munster, Go Home (1966).
As "Mr. Wilson" in Night Train to Mundo Fine (1966), written and directed by Coleman Francis. John sings the theme song!
As "Narrator / Tristram Halbin" in Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (1966), with Lon Chaney Jr. and Rochelle Hudson.
As "James Rancourt" in the "Alias 'The Scarf'" episode of the TV series The Green Hornet (February 24, 1967).
As "Arcon" in "The Galaxy Gift" episode of the TV series Lost in Space (April 26, 1967).
As "Dr. Favel" in the Mexican film La Señora Muerte (US title Madame Death, 1967).
As "Dr. Himmel" in Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967).
As "Satan" in the Mexican film Autopsia de un fantasma (US title Autopsy of a Ghost, 1968), with Basil Rathbone and Cameron Mitchell.
As "Count Dracula" in the Mexican film Las Vampiras (US title The Vampires, 1968), with wrestling legend Mil Mascaras and Maura Monti.
In the Mexican film Pacto diabólico (US title Diabolical Pact, 1968).
In the Mexican film Enigma de muerte (US title Secret of Death, 1968).
In the Mexican film Antologia del miedo (1968).
As "George, the butler" in Al Adamson's Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969).
As "Mr. Bosch" in Daughter of the Mind (1969), with a refreshingly professional cast including Don Murray, Ray Milland, Gene Tierney, Edward Asner, George Macready and Virginia Christine.
As "Dr. DeMarco" in Ted V. Mikels' entertaining The Astro-Zombies (1969), with Wendell Corey, Tura Satana and Rafael Campos..
As "Profesor Cummings" in The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969).
As "Egor" in the "Comeback" episode of the TV series Land of the Giants (November 23, 1969).
As "Dr. Rynning" in Al Adamson's Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970).
As "Nate Cheever" in the TV movie Crowhaven Farm (1970).
As "Dr. Goolie" in Blood of the Iron Maiden (1970).
As "Sean O'Flanagan" in Russ Meyer's The Seven Minutes (1971).
In Fred Olen Ray's Honey Britches (1971).
As "Christopher Dean" in Blood Legacy (1971).
In Beast of the Yellow Night (1971.
As "Mr. Hawkins" in the "Big Surprise" episode of Rod Serling's TV anthology series Night Gallery (November 10, 1971).
As railroad tycoon "H. Buckram Sartoris," disapproving of David Carradine's radical trainrobbing ways in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha (1972), starring Barbara Hershey.
As slavering "Dr. Bernardo," whose experiments unleash a gigantic, runaway boob in Woody Allen's episodic comedy Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask (1972).
As "Dr. Vanard" in Al Adamson's Blood of Ghastly Horror (1972).
As "Reverend Serenity Johnson" in three episodes of his son David Carradine's highly successful eastern western Kung Fu: "Dark Angel" (November 11, 1972), "The Nature of Evil" (March 21, 1974) and "Ambush" (April 4, 1975).
As "Llewellyn Crossbinder" in the The Night Strangler (1973), second of the spooky TV movies that spawned the great 70's series "The Night Stalker," starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a newspaper reporter specializing in the supernatural.
As a hotel clerk in Curtis Harrington's TV movie The Cat Creature (1973), with a fine cast including David Hedison, Gale Sondergaard, Keye Luke, Milton Parsons, Kent Taylor, John Abbott and Peter Lorre Jr.
As "Claude Dupree" in Terror in the Wax Museum (1973), with Ray Milland, Elsa Lanchester, Broderick Crawford, Louis Hayward and Patric Knowles.
As "Charlie Towman" in Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973).
As "Old gunfighter" in Hex (1973).
As "The Walker" in Moonchild (1974).
As "Edgar Price" in The House of Seven Corpses (1974), with John Ireland and Faith Domergue.
As a drunk in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), joining a spectacular cast of old-timers.
As "Hezekiah Beckum," the undertaker making final arrangements with John Wayne in the Duke's real-life swan song, Don Siegel's The Shootist (1976), with Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Ron Howard, Scatman Crothers, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brien, Bill McKinney and Harry Morgan.
As "Lorne Belasco / Dracula" in the "McCloud Meets Dracula" episode of the TV series McCloud (April 17, 1977) starring Dennis Weaver.
As "Captain Ben" in Shock Waves (1977), with Peter Cushing.
As "The Bum" in Satan's Cheerleaders (1977).
As "Dr. Sigmund Hummel" in The Bees (1978).
As "Gault" in the "Gault's Brain" episode of the TV series Wonder Woman (December 29, 1978).
As "Dracula" in Nocturna (1979).
As "John Peter Richmond" in Vampire Hookers (1979).
As "Priest" in Monster (1979).
As the unseen "TV horror host" introducing classic horror movies in the syndicated television package Haunted Hollywood in the '80's.
As "Dr. Warren" in The Boogeyman (1980).
As "R.Chetwynd-Hayes, Writer" in The Monster Club (1980), with Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence and Britt Eckland.
As "Erle Kenton," an old lone wolf who just wants to die, in Joe Dante's extraordinary werewolf film, The Howling (1981), with Dee Wallace-Stone, Patrick Macee, Kevin McCarthy, Slim Pickens, Elizabeth Brooks, Robert Picardo and Kenneth Tobey.
As "Father Stratten" in Satan's Mistress (1981).
As "Apparition of Dr. Frankenstein" in Jerry Warren's Frankenstein Island (1981), with Robert Clarke, Katherine Victor, Steve Brodie and Cameron Mitchell.
As "Radcliff" in Al Adamson's Doctor Dracula (1981), with Don 'Red' Barry and Regina Carrol.
As "Colonel Lebrun" and narrator of The Nesting (1982).
As "Hubert Salter" in The Scarecrow (1982).
As "Colonel Sartoris" in a short film based on William Faulkner's genuinely horrifying story, Rose for Emily (1982), starring Angelica Huston and narrated by John Houseman.
As "Lord Grisbane" in House of the Long Shadows (1983), one last fling for an astounding gathering of genre giants — Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Carradine and Christopher Lee!
As "Supreme Commander" in The Ice Pirates (1984).
As "The Justice" in Fred Olen Ray's Prison Ship Star Slammer (1984), with Aldo Ray and Dawn Wildsmith.
n Reel Horror (1985) with Donald Pleasence and a lot of other old-timers.
As "Dr. Kozmar" in Evils of the Night (1985), with Aldo Ray, Neville Brand, Tina Louise and Julie Newmar.
As "Professor Alexander Stottel" in the "Still Life" episode of the new version of the TV series The Twilight Zone (January 3, 1986).
As "Leo" in Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), with Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage.
As "Mr. Andoheb" in The Tomb (1986), with Cameron Mitchell, Sybil Danning and Michelle Bauer.
As "Senator Bradford" in Revenge (1986), with Patrick Wayne.
As "Old Joe Shempter" in Troma's Monster in the Closet (1987), with Claude Akins and Howard Duff.
As "Dr. Zeitman" in Evil Spawn (1987).
As "Jacob" in Buried Alive (1990).
As "Walter Machen" in Jack-O (1995).
In Fred Olen Ray's Bikini Drive-In (1995), with Michelle Bauer, David F. Friedman and Conrad Brooks.
As the patriarch of an acting dynasty with many branches still thriving today.

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Last revised May 9 2021 by George "E-gor" Chastain.

Maintained by George "E-gor" Chastain (e-mail: egorschamber@gmail.com)

John Carradine

(aka John Peter Richmond, Peter Richmond)February 5, 1906 - November 27, 1988Born Richmond Reed Carradine in Greenwich Village, New York City, USA

A Lot of Favorite Memories of John Carradine — but not nearly his complete filmography!

(aka John Peter Richmond, Peter Richmond)
February 5, 1906 - November 27, 1988
Born Richmond Reed Carradine in Greenwich Village, New York City, USA