Roy Barcroft

Roy Barcroft (born Howard Harold Ravenscroft; September 7, 1902 – November 28, 1969) was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. From 1937 to 1957, he appeared in more than 300 films for Republic Pictures. Film critic Leonard Maltin acclaimed Barcroft as "Republic Pictures' number one bad guy". Background Barcroft was born to a farming family in Crab Orchard, Nebraska, in 1902. In 1917, at the age of 15, he joined the United States Army during World War I to fight in France, where he was wounded in action. After leaving the military, he drifted through several jobs (including ranch hand, roughneck, railroad worker and seaman) before reenlisting and being stationed in Hawaii. After leaving the Army for the second time, he played clarinet and saxophone for dance bands around Chicago until he and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1929. Career In 1929, he moved to California and worked as an extra and as a salesman. He was discovered while acting in an amateur theatre production, a hobby which he took up to improve his speaking voice as a salesman. He appeared in the film serials Flash Gordon (1936), The President's Mystery (1936), and S.O.S. Coast Guard. He worked for many different studios in the years that followed until 1943, when he signed an exclusive 10-year contract with Republic. Under this contract, he starred in almost 150 films and film serials, becoming instantly recognized as the villain to the audiences of the day.