Ralph Morgan

July 6, 1883 - June 11, 1956
Born Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann in New York City, USA

First President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1933; also served as President from 1938-1940

SAG gives annual Ralph Morgan Award in his memory for distinguished service to fellow actors

Older brother of actor Frank Morgan, remembered as "The Wizard of Oz"

Father of actress Claudia Morgan, "Nora Charles" on "The Thin Man" radio show

See Ralph Morgan's Internet Movie Database Filmography

A Lot of Favorite Memories of Ralph Morgan

• As "Barry Kirk" in Charlie Chan's Chance (1932), starring Warner Oland as the Chinese detective, and directed by John G. Blystone.
  
  
• As doomed "Czar Nicholas II" in Rasputin and the Empress (1932), starring Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore, and directed by Richard Boleslawski.
  
  
• As "Raymond Wrede" in the "Philo Vance" detective mystery The Kennel Murder Case (1933), starring William Powell and Mary Astor, and directed by Michael Curtiz.
  
  
• As "Roger Classon" in the stylish mystery Star of Midnight (1935), starring William Powell and Ginger Rogers, and directed by Stephen Roberts.
  
  
• As "Profesor Paul Kristan," a kind-hearted doctor who believes he is afflicted with vampirism, in the Poverty Row thriller Condemned to Live (1935), directed by Frank R. Strayer. Good supporting cast including Maxine Doyle, Pedro de Cordoba, Mischa Auer (as Zan, the hunchback), Russell Gleason, Lucy Beaumont, Carl Stockdale, Edward Cecil, Barbara Bedford, Robert Frazer, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, Ted Billings and Dick Curtis.
  
  
• As "Leroy Hutchins," a racehorse owner in the sophisticated comedy-mystery The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936), starring William Powell and Jean Arthur, and directed by Stephen Roberts.
  
  
• As the "Yankee General" in the "Little Rascals" feature General Spanky (1936), starring George 'Spanky' McFarland, Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas, and Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, with Irving Pichel. Directed by Gordon Douglas.
  
  
• As "John R. Fleming" in the spy drama Crack-Up (1936), starring Peter Lorre, Brian Donlevy, Lester Matthews and J. Carrol Naish. Directed by Malcolm St. Clair.
  
  
• As "Gromar," alias "Mr. Gregory," in an espionage thriller from the "Lone Wolf" series, The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), starring Warren William, Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth. Directed by Peter Godfrey.
  
  
• As "Stephen F. Austin" in a biopic about Sam Houston, the Alamo, and the early days of the Texas Republic, Man of Conquest (1939), starring Richard Dix Directed by George Nichols Jr.
  
  
• As "Dr. Downer" in the suspenseful thriller about a murderer of wealthy women, The Mad Doctor (1941), directed by Tim Whelan. Starring Basil Rathbone as the fiend, Martin Kosleck (as his accomplice), Ellen Drew and John Howard, with Barbara Jo Allen, Kitty Kelly, Hugh O'Connell, Hugh Sothern, George Chandler, Billy Benedict, Edward Earle, Harry Hayden, Douglas Kennedy, Wanda McKay, Sheila Ryan, Norma Varden and Henry Victor.
  
  
• As "J.P. Morton," aka "Metzikoff," in Republic's pulse-pounding fourth and last "Dick Tracy" serial, Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941), directed by William Witney and John English. The villain in this one is "The Ghost," who can make himself invisible. Starring Ralph Byrd as Chester Gould's famous comic strip detective, with a hard-hitting supporting cast including Jan Wiley, Michael Owen, John Davidson (as the memorable henchman "Lucifer"), Kenneth Harlan, John Dilson, Robert Frazer, Jack Mulhall, Hooper Atchley, Anthony Warde, Edmund Cobb, Terry Frost, Bud Geary, Selmer Jackson, Walter McGrail, John Merton, Walter Miller, Eddie Parker, Stanley Price, David Sharpe, C. Montague Shaw, Forrest Taylor, Ken Terrell, Robert J. Wilke and Bud Wolfe. Re-released as Dick Tracy vs. the Phantom Empire.
  
  
• As "Dr. Clayton Maxton," alias "Prof. Mortis," in Universal's crime-fighting cliffhanger Gang Busters (1942), directed by Noel M. Smith and Ray Taylor. With a great cast of familiar faces including Kent Taylor, Irene Hervey, Robert Armstrong, Ralf Harolde, William Haade, Joseph Crehan, George J. Lewis , Stanley Price, Ethan Laidlaw, Dale Van Sickel, Karl Hackett, Stanley Blystone, Grace Cunard, William Desmond, Richard Alexander, Lane Chandler, Edmund Cobb, George Eldredge , Jack Mulhall, Eddie Polo, Tom Steele and Carleton Young.
  
  
• As bedridden, legless "Kurt Ingston," the least likely suspect in a series of grisly murders in Universal's creepy "sleeper" Night Monster (1942), directed by Ford Beebe. With a great cast of suspicious characters including Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Irene Hervey, Don Porter, Nils Asther, Fay Helm, Frank Reicher, Doris Lloyd, Francis Pierlot, Robert Homans, Janet Shaw, Eddy Waller and Cyril Delevanti. Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, put the climax from this film on his list of scariest movie moments in an article published in "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine.
  
  
• As "Jan Hanka," one of the Czech townspeople executed for the assassination of Nazi SS commander Reinhard Heydrich in Hitler's Madman (1943), directed by Douglas Sirk. Starring Patricia Morison and John Carradine (as the monster, Heydrich), with an insuperable cast including Alan Curtis, Howard Freeman, Edgar Kennedy, Ludwig Stössel, Elizabeth Russell, Jimmy Conlin, Ava Gardner, Victor Kilian, Michael Mark Tully Marshall, John Merton, Dennis Moore, Lionel Royce, Hans Schumm , Richard Talmadge and Blanche Yurka.
  
  
• As scientist "Dr. Miller," inventor of a death ray called the Peragron wanted by America's enemies, in the intriguing Universal cliffhanger The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944), directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor. The strong cast includes Milburn Stone, Marjorie Weaver, Edgar Kennedy, Samuel S. Hinds, Martin Kosleck, Joseph Crehan, Fuzzy Knight, Harry Cording, Anthony Warde, Edward Gargan, Jay Novello, Tom Keene, Edmund Cobb and Jack Ingram.
  
  
• As "Professor Millard Sawtelle" in Universal's weirdly enjoyable "Inner Sanctum" programmer Weird Woman (1944), directed by Reginald Le Borg. Starring Lon Chaney Jr., with excellent support from Anne Gwynne, Evelyn Ankers, Elisabeth Risdon, Lois Collier, Harry Hayden, Elizabeth Russell and Phil Brown,
  
  
• As "Anthony Lawrence," a concert pianist intentionally disfigured with a horrible disease by a mad doctor obsessed with his daughter, in PRC's entertaining The Monster Maker (1944), directed by Sam Newfield. With J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Igor Markoff, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay, Terry Frost, Sam Flint and Glenn Strange.
  
  
• As "Professor Franklin Arnold," inventor of a powerful and monstrous-looking robot called "The Metalogen Man," in the thrilling Columbia serial The Monster and the Ape (1945), directed by Howard Bretherton. With Robert Lowery, George Macready (a rival scienist), Carole Mathews, Willie Best, Jack Ingram, Anthony Warde , Ted Mapes and Eddie Parker (small parts and stunt doubles), Stanley Price, Bud Osborne, Charles King, Kenneth MacDonald, and Ray Corrigan in his gorilla suit as "Thor."
  
  
• As "David I. Thayar," one of the many suspects in the last of MGM's "Thin Man" comedy-mystery series, Song of the Thin Man (1947), based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, and directed by Edward Buzzell. Starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the breezy, hard-drinking detectives "Nick and Nora Charles," with a fat cast including Keenan Wynn, Dean Stockwell, Philip Reed, Patricia Morison, Leon Ames, Gloria Grahame, Jayne Meadows, Ralph Morgan, Bess Flowers , Warner Anderson, Marie Windsor, Morris Ankrum, Gregg Barton, Al Bridge, James Burke, James Flavin, Earle Hodgins, Matt McHugh and Asta Jr. (as Asta the dog).
  
  
• As "Dr. Lester Cavigny" in a horror whodunit about a mad scientist with a serum that turns a man into a cat-like killer, The Creeper (1948), directed by Jean Yarbrough. The creepy cast includes Eduardo Ciannelli , Onslow Stevens. June Vincent, Janis Wilson, John Baragrey, Richard Lane, Philip Ahn, Lotte Stein and Ralph Peters.

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

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