Charles Middleton

Charles Middleton was born on October 3, 1874 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He was the son of a millionaire and did not have to work, but apparently went into acting because he needed to find a way to express himself. He worked in a traveling circus, in vaudeville, and acted in live theatre before he turned to motion pictures in 1920. His career as a character actor came into full flower with the advent of sound films. His ominous baritone voice was perfect for villainous roles, and he became an excellent foil for comedy stars Harold Lloyd, Eddie Cantor, Wheeler and Woolsey, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Middleton was then cast in Warner Brothers' Safe in Hell (1931), and in The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932) opposite Ann Dvorak and Richard Cromwell. His other notable performances during this period were both released the very next year from Paramount Pictures: first as the district attorney in This Day and Age (1933) directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and then as the prosecutor opposite The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup (1933). He also played Sheriff Ike Valton, the official who tries to arrest Julie La Verne (Helen Morgan) and her husband for being illegally married in Universal Pictures' version of the musical Show Boat (1936).