Fred Kohler
Born: 1888-04-18 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA
Died: 1938-10-28
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor known for his playing heavies. Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. He lost part of his right hand in a mining accident during this time. Eventually he was able to join a touring company, and worked steadily in show business for several years. America's budding film industry drew a 20-something Kohler to Hollywood, where he made his start in silent films. His first role was in the 1911 short The Code of Honor, and he had an uncredited role in Cecil B. DeMille's feature film Joan the Woman (1917), but a steady stream of parts did not begin until The Tiger's Trail (1919). Kohler's stern features earned him a niche playing villains. His role as Bauman in The Iron Horse (1924) is a notable example. With the advent of the talkies, Kohler reprised many of his silent roles in remakes with sound, particularly in Westerns based on novels by Zane Grey. At the beginning of the sound era, he appeared in the Allan Dwan film Tide of Empire (1929) alongside Renée Adorée and Tom Keene. Kohler died of a heart attack on October 28, 1938 at age 50. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Park Cemetery in South Los Angeles community of Inglewood, California. His son Fred Kohler, Jr. (1911–1993) was also an actor in many western films.
Filmography
1994
- Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her as Self (archive footage)
1938
- Gangs of New York as Kruger
- The Buccaneer as Gramby (as Fred Hohler Sr.)
- Billy The Kid Returns as Matson
- Blockade as Pietro
- Forbidden Valley as Matt Rogan
- Lawless Valley as Tom Marsh
- Painted Desert as Hugh Fawcett
1937
- Daughter of Shanghai as Captain Gulner
1936
- The Plainsman as Jake - A Teamster
- The Vigilantes Are Coming as General Jason Burr
- The Texas Rangers as Jess Higgins
- Heart of the West as Barton
- Dangerous Intrigue as Brant
- The Accusing Finger as Curly-haired Convict
- For the Service as Bruce Howard
1935
- Wilderness Mail as Lobo McBain / Landau
- Frisco Kid as Shanghai Duck
- Lightning Triggers as Bull Thompson
- Men of Action as Thorenson
- Goin' to Town as Buck Gonzales
- Mississippi as Captain Blackie
- Stormy as Deem Dorn
- Horses' Collars as Double Deal Decker
- Times Square Lady as "Dutch" Meyers
- Border Brigands as Captain Conyda
- Hard Rock Harrigan as Black Jack Riley
1934
- Queen Christina as Member of the Court at Abdication (uncredited)
- The Man from Hell as Mayor Anse McCloud
- Little Man, What Now? as Karl Goebbler
- Half a Sinner as Brick
- The Last Round-up as Sam Gulden
- West of the Pecos as Sawtelle
- Honor of the Range as Rawhide
1933
- Under the Tonto Rim as Munther
- Deluge as Jepson
- Ship of Wanted Men as Chuck Young
- The Constant Woman as Speakeasy Bouncer
- The Wolf Dog as Joe Stevens
- The Fiddlin' Buckaroo as Wolf Morgan
1932
- Call Her Savage as Silas Jennings
- The Rider of Death Valley as Lew Grant
- Wild Horse Mesa as Rand
- The Fourth Horseman as Honest Ben Jones
- The Texas Bad Man as Gore Hampton
- Carnival Boat as Hack Logan
1931
- Other Men's Women as Haley
- X Marks the Spot as Edward P. Riggs
- Fighting Caravans as Lee Murdock
- Corsair as Big John
- Woman Hungry as Kampen
1930
- An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee as Self
- The Right of Way as Joseph Portugais
- Under a Texas Moon as Bad Man
- The Light of Western Stars as H.W. Stack
- A Soldier's Plaything as Hank
- Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5 as Fred Kohler
- Roadhouse Nights as Sam Horner
- The Lash as Peter Harkness
1929
- Thunderbolt as 'Bad Al' Friedberg
- The River of Romance as Captain Blackie
- Say It with Songs as Fred, Joe's Cellmate
- The Case of Lena Smith as Stefan
- Hell's Heroes as 'Wild Bill' Kearney
- Stairs of Sand as Boss Stone
- Tide of Empire as Cannon
- The Leatherneck as Heckla
- Broadway Babies as Perc Gessant
- The Dummy as Joe Cooper
- The Quitter as Duffy Thompson
1928
- Forgotten Faces
- Sal of Singapore as Captain Sunday
- The Spieler as Red Moon
- The Showdown as Winter
- The Vanishing Pioneer as Sheriff Murdock
- The Drag Net as 'Gabby' Steve
- Chinatown Charlie as Monk
1927
- Underworld as Buck Mulligan
- The Way of All Flesh as The Tough
- The Loves of Carmen as Gypsy Chief
- The Gay Defender as Jake Hamby
- The City Gone Wild as Gunner Gallagher
- The Rough Riders as Sergeant Stanton
- The Blood Ship as First Mate Fitz
- Open Range as Sam Hardman
- Shootin' Irons as Dick Hardman
1926
- The Bar-C Mystery
- Old Ironsides as Second Mate (uncredited)
- The Ice Flood
- The Country Beyond as Joe Leseur
1925
- The Iron Horse as Bauman
- Riders of the Purple Sage as Henchman Tom Metzger (uncredited)
- The Thundering Herd as Follansbee
- Dick Turpin as Ring Announcer (uncredited)
- The Prairie Pirate as Aguilar - the Bandit
- Winds of Chance as Joe McCaskey
1924
- Fighting Fury as 'Two-finger' Larkin
- The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln as Auctioneer at New Orleans slave market
1923
- North of Hudson Bay as Armand LeMoir
- Shadows of the North as Ray Brent
- The Flame of Life as Spring
- Thru the Flames as 'Red' Burke
- The Red Warning as Tom Jeffries
- The Clean Up as Jack Wolff
- Hell's Hole as Prisoner
- The Eleventh Hour as Barbara's Uncle
- Three Who Paid as Jim Quade
1922
- The Son of the Wolf as Malemute Kid
- Trimmed as Young Bill Young
- With Stanley in Africa
- Perils of the Yukon as Capt. Whipple
- Yellow Men and Gold as Craven
- The Scrapper as Oleson
- His Back Against the Wall as Arizona Pete
- Without Compromise as Cass Blake
1921
- Cyclone Bliss as Jack Hall
- A Daughter of the Law as George Stacey
- Partners of the Tide as First Mate
- Conflict as Jevons' foreman (uncredited)
- The Stampede as Steve Norton
1920
- The Kentucky Colonel as Jim Britsides
- Polly of the Storm Country
1919
- The Tiger's Trail as 'Bull' Shotwell
- Behind the Door
- Soldiers of Fortune as McWilliams