Leonard Mudie
Biography
Date of Birth 11 April 1883, Cheetham, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK Date of Death 14 April 1965, Hollywood, California, USA (heart ailment) Birth Name Leonard Mudie Cheetham Mini Biography Leonard Mudie was a stalwart acting veteran who made nearly 150 appearances before the camera. He was from the Midlands of England and began on stage in 1908 at the Gaiety Theater (1884-1959) in Manchester. This was the first regional repertory theater in England and well noted for the spectrum of plays produced and the patronage of new plays by local writers. Mudie was well accomplished when he came to America and Broadway in 1914, where he first appeared in the original play "Consequences". He was active there off and on through 1948 in some twenty-five roles. Later in 1921 Mudie was lured to Hollywood and silent films, sampled two for a year and then returned to Broadway. But after late 1931 Mudie returned to Hollywood, not to return to the Great White Way until his last appearance in 1948. Hollywood sound era could use his efficient, somewhat nasal British intonation and did - profusely. He managed to appear as at least a featured extra - not always with lines - in many of the great and historic films of the mid 1930s. About half his roles to 1946 were uncredited, but his was a steady voice of realism in whatever the part: stiff British official, doctor, lawyer - lots of judges - but also many an everyman role. In 1935 alone he was in thirteen films. And in one of these he was a particularly noteworthy judge. Warner Bros. was gambling on a dashing but relatively untried and unknown Australian (well Tasmanian) actor named Errol Flynn for a hoped hit remake version of the Rafael Sabatini novel Kaptajn Blod (1935). Production was combing Hollywood for character actors for the huge cast, and Mudie was picked for one of the most villainous yet historical characters of the film, Chief Judge George Jeffreys, Baron of Wem, the "Hanging Judge", who presided over the "Bloody Assizes", the wholesale trials of the followers of the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion at the beginning of the film. Flynn's first big dramatic scene is his confrontation with Jeffreys, bewigged and looking ashen with the kidney disease killing him. It is a great scene with great lines for both actors. Mudie was busy with over ten roles per year from 1937 thru 1941 before he began to slow down, age bringing about fewer character roles -- four or so per annum in the ensuing years. He had a somewhat prophetic line playing an old traditional actor Horace Karlos in a Charlie Chan whodunit Fjernsyns-mordene (1945) when he makes a reference to appearing in the still infant television as "Well, it's a living!" Indeed by 1953 Mudie got his feet wet in TV, and by later 1955 he was more a fixture of that medium than film and visiting all the varied series with a full sprinkling of character roles-including judges. In fact in the super cast of Hollywood who's who in the film The Story of Mankind (1957), he was the Chief Inquisitor for the cosmic aliens putting humanity on trial. That bit of fantasy was director by future sci-fi and underwater adventure showman Irwin Allen. He finished off his long, busy life with a few more TV roles at 82 - it certainly was a living. IMDb Mini Biography By: William McPeak Spouse Beatrice Terry (? - ?) Gladys Lennox (? - ?) Trivia At 82, he was the oldest actor to ever appear in "Star Trek" (1966). He played an illusory survivor of the S.S. Columbia in the first pilot "The Cage".
British Intelligence
James Yeats
Sons of Liberty
Accusing British Officer
The Golden Idol
Commissioner Andy Barnes
Bomba and the African Treasure
Andy Barnes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Barrows (scenes deleted)
The Corn Is Green
Station Master (uncredited)
Commissioner Andy Barnes
Don't Gamble with Strangers
Robert Elliot
Conductor
His Brother's Wife
Pete
How to Murder Your Wife
Club Secretary (uncredited)
The Big Fisherman
Ilderan
Timbuktu
Mohomet Adani (uncredited)
The Story of Mankind
Chief Inquisitor
Autumn Leaves
Colonel Hillyer
Kismet
Physician (uncredited)
Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, The
Man in Audience (uncredited)
Kiss Me Deadly
Athletic Club Clerk (uncredited)
Bengal Brigade
Pariah (uncredited)
The Black Shield of Falworth
Friar Edward
King Richard and the Crusaders
Physician (uncredited)
The Golden Idol
Commissioner Andy Barnes
The Magnetic Monster
Howard Denker
Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Capt. Bonney's First Mate (uncredited)
Commissioner Andy Barnes
Limelight
Calvero's Doctor (as Leonard Mudi)
Bomba and the African Treasure
Andy Barnes
The Son of Dr. Jekyll
Pharmacist (uncredited)
When Worlds Collide
British U.N. Representative (uncredited)
Royal Wedding
Singing Doorman (uncredited)
The Earl of Chicago
Mr. Allington (uncredited)
Challenge to Lassie
Constable with Net (uncredited)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mayor's Aide (uncredited)
Conductor
The Locket
Hickson - Air Raid Warden (uncredited)
Don't Gamble with Strangers
Robert Elliot
My Name Is Julia Ross
Peters (uncredited)
The Corn Is Green
Station Master (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in The Scarlet Clue
Horace Karlos (uncredited)
Dragon Seed
Old Peddler Selling Poison (uncredited)
Random Harvest
Old Man Witnessing Accident (uncredited)
Berlin Correspondent
George - English Prisoner
Eheposse
Jewelry Clerk
Rage in Heaven
The Priest (uncredited)
You'll Find Out
Real Karl Fenninger (uncredited)
Letter, The
Fred (uncredited)
A Dispatch from Reuters
Member of Parliament (uncredited)
He Stayed for Breakfast
Communist Secretary (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent
McKenna
The Sea Hawk
Castle Sentry (uncredited)
Brother Orchid
English diamond salesman (uncredited)
Waterloo Bridge
Thomas Parker (uncredited)
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
Gerald Pendleton
Congo Maisie
Farley
British Intelligence
James Yeats
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Barrows (scenes deleted)
Man About Town
Gibson, Arlington's Secretary
Sons of Liberty
Accusing British Officer
Dark Victory
Dr. Driscoll
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
British Officer (uncredited)
Nancy Drew: Reporter
Deputy District Attorney Garrett (uncredited)
Devil's Island
Advocate General
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Richard Gannett
Suez
Campaign Manager
The Mad Miss Manton
Managing Editor (uncredited)
Mysterious Mr. Moto
Monk (uncredited)
Marie Antoinette
Man Yelling 'Have You Proof?' (uncredited)
Damernes Ven
Critic (uncredited)
The Rage of Paris
Uncle Eric (uncredited)
Entführt
Red Fox
A Damsel in Distress
Bit Role (uncredited)
They Won't Forget
Judge Moore
Madame X
Prosecutor Valmorin (uncredited)
Another Dawn
Army Doctor (uncredited)
Conservative Member
Shall We Dance
Room Service Waiter (uncredited)
Lost Horizon
Foreign Secretary with Prime Minister (uncredited)
Lloyds of London
Waiter
His Brother's Wife
Pete
Anthony Adverse
De Bourrienne
Mary of Scotland
Maitland
The Story of Louis Pasteur
Coachman (uncredited)
Magnificent Obsession
Dr. Bardendreight
Captain Blood
Baron Jeffreys
Rendezvous
Roberts
Top Hat
Flower Salesman (uncredited)
Becky Sharp
Tarquin
Sylvia Scarlet
Train Steward (uncredited)
Les Misérables
Priest Counselling Released Prisoners (uncredited)
Clive of India
General Burgoyne
Cleopatra
Pothinos
Viva Villa!
Statesman (uncredited)
The House of Rothschild
Tax Collector in Prussia
The Mystery of Mr. X
Mr. X
Dark Hazard
Birdy--Australian Tout (uncredited)
The Mummy
Professor Pearson
