Kenneth MacDonald (born Kenneth Dollins; September 8, 1901 – May 5, 1972)[2] was an American film actor. Born in Portland, Indiana, MacDonald made more than 220 film and television appearances between 1931 and 1972. His name is sometimes seen as Kenneth McDonald;[3] his later roles sometimes credited him as Kenneth R. MacDonald.
Career
MacDonald began his career as a stage actor. In 1923 he appeared in his first feature film, Slow as Lightning.[3] He came to Hollywood in the early 1930s, where he played small roles in low-budget, independent productions.
In 1939 Kenneth MacDonald was signed by Columbia Pictures for the studio's Charles Starrett westerns. MacDonald perfected a cool, debonair demeanor, which usually masked an evil side as a con man, outlaw, or thief. His speaking voice was rich and well modulated, often being gentle and ominous at the same time, in the Boris Karloff manner. Also, like Karloff, he seldom raised his voice, making his characters both dominant and dangerous. This quality made MacDonald an effective villain in Columbia's adventure serials like Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom, and Black Arrow. He was also adept at playing sympathetic roles, usually as calm authority figures (police official, prison psychiatrist, judge, etc.).
Actors in Columbia's stock company almost always worked in the studio's two-reel comedy shorts as well as features and serials, but Kenneth MacDonald did not join the short-subject fraternity until 1945, when he appeared opposite comedy stars Gus Schilling and Richard Lane. He is probably best known today for his work with The Three Stooges.
MacDonald developed a flair for comedy, and he made memorable appearances in comedy shorts starring The Three Stooges including Monkey Businessmen, Hold That Lion!, Crime on Their Hands, Punchy Cowpunchers, and Loose Loot. Beginning in 1953, the comedy in the Columbia shorts became even more physical under producer-director Jules White, and MacDonald obligingly got plastered with pies, fruit, and other missiles. He also returned to Columbia's serial unit, which was then filming low-budget remakes of his older serials using much of the original footage; MacDonald appeared in new scenes to match his old ones. He left the Columbia shorts department in 1955, but still appeared occasionally in feature films; he played a member of the court martial board in The Caine Mutiny (1954), and had a bit role as Jerry Lewis's father in The Ladies' Man (1961).
Television
MacDonald began working in television in 1949, in The Lone Ranger (episode eight; he would return to the series in episode 173, 1955). From 1951 to 1953 MacDonald was a frequent guest star, mostly as a sheriff, in the syndicatedtelevision series, The Range Rider, with Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones. He appeared six times as Colonel Parker in the ABCwestern series Colt .45. In 1960 MacDonald appeared as Duggan on the TV western Laramie in the episode titled "Duel at Parkinson Town.".[4] He also appeared in a number of episodes of the TV western Bat Masterson with Gene Barry (MacDonald appeared with Dyan Cannon in "The Price of Paradise" in 1961.)
MacDonald's most prolific work in television was in 32 episodes of CBS's Perry Mason. He played the recurring role of a judge (sometimes named Carter, sometimes named Hartley, other times unnamed) between 1957 and 1966.
^Okuda, Ted; Watz, Edward (1998) [1986]. The Columbia Comedy Shorts. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN0-89950-181-8.
^Blottner, Gene (2011). "The Wildcat of Tucson". Wild Bill Elliott: A Complete Filmography. McFarland & Company. pp. 150–151. ISBN9780786480258. Retrieved 2017-10-09. Bill Elliott's presence, with a matching performance by Kenneth MacDonald, brings this western saga satisfactorily to the screen. [...] An interesting subplot has heroine Evelyn Young momentarily switching her affection from Stanley Brown to his brother, Eliott. Lambert Hillyer's direction is first rate.
.jpg)
