ANTHONY WARDE
November 4th, 1908 -- January 8th, 1975

Above: The surly and sinister Anthony Warde in a publicity portrait for THE MASKED MARVEL (Republic, 1943), one of his best cliffhangers.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, one of the first serials I saw as a young fellow was DANGERS OF THE CANDIAN MOUNTED (Republic, 1948). Many things about that cliffhanger really thrilled me (and continue to do so) but the performer in that serial that has really stuck in my memory was Anthony "Tony" Warde, who played the chief henchman Mort Fowler. With a swarthy complexion, sneering, aggressive voice, surly frown and nasty smile, Warde seemed to me the epitome of the "villain of action", and the subsequent serial roles that I saw him in have only served to confirm that childhood opinion.

Warde was born in Pennsylvania, my own home state, and took up stage acting, first on Broadway and then on the California Pasadena Playhouse circuit, as a young man. He was adept at both dramatic and comic acting on stage, and was referred to as a new Paul Muni by several co-workers. A Hollywood scout saw him in a Playhouse performance of BLIND ALLEY with Warde in the role played by Chester Morris in the film version. The role made the scout offer Warde a Hollywood contract, but, as Warde himself said, the part typed his permanent movie mold: "...that [the BLIND ALLEY role] was a heavy. So I was a heavy." Tony later admitted that he only accepted the movie contract because he needed the money to keep him eating during the Depression; to a stage actor, film work was definitely a step down in terms of status. His third movie role was in a Universal serial, TIM TYLER'S LUCK, in 1937, naturally as the villain's chief henchman. The serial also featured Frankie Thomas as the title character, a young boy who journeyed to Africa to find his missing scientist father and found himself tangling with a vicious gang of ivory poachers led by Spider Webb (Norman Willis). The elder Tyler had discovered the whereabouts of the famous Elephant's Graveyard, and the gang's evil machinations led to his death. Tim, however, with heroine Lorna Lacey (Frances Robinson) and the Ivory Patrol, led by Jack Mulhall, smashed Spider's gang and avenged his dad's murder. Tony Warde was Gary Drake, Spider Webb's second in command, and, though somewhat overshadowed in nastiness by Willis, Warde displayed the bullying swagger and violent nature (Drake always likes to use hand grenades, a little quirk that would become the property of other Warde villains) that made his subsequent bad guys so memorable. Tony's usual lack of respect for the top villain was also implemented in TIM TYLER when Drake found a map to the Elephants' Graveyard and tried to doublecross the rest of his gang, only to be shot down by his ex-partners in crime.

Tony's second Universal role was in FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938). A sequel to FLASH GORDON (Universal, 1936), the serial was the second round of heroic Flash Gordon's (Buster Crabbe) battle against the evil alien dictator, Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton). A colorful cliffhanger, MARS was replete with several strange races of outer-space inhabitants, including the Clay People and the Forest People. Warde was Toran, the leader of the Forest People, who turned against Crabbe when Middleton exploded the Forest People's sacred idol and made it look like Crabbe was responsible. As a result, Anthony and his tribe caused several problems for Flash and his party throughout the later half of the serial.

Above: Toran (Anthony Warde, seated center) commands the hypnotized Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) in FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938) while two other Forest Men look on.

Warde went up against Buster Crabbe again in BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939). an attempt to follow up the success of the FLASH GORDON serials. Crabbe naturally starred as the title hero, a 20th century adventurer who is placed in suspended animation and wakes up in the 24th century to find Earth under the domination of the tyrant Killer Kane. Needless to say, Rogers refuses to rest until he dethrones Kane and makes the universe free once more. Anthony was Kane, and played the villain in grand theatrical style, ranting and raving tyranically and behaving with absolute ruthlessness to his own followers and to the good guys alike. Some fans have criticized Anthony’s performance in the role, but this seems to be based on the assumption that he couldn’t play anything other than a henchman--a serious underrating of Warde’s talent.

Above: Jackie Moran (far left), Buster Crabbe (second from left) and two unidentified players watch as Killer Kane (Anthony Warde, center), is rendered harmless by the rays of his own zombie helmet in BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939).

While Warde frankly disliked all serials, he found working in Universals preferable to appearing in other studios' cliffhangers because of the better working hours and production values. Thus, he undoubtedly was not happy when his next serial assignment came at Columbia Pictures. In his own words: " Universal spent more money on their serials than did the other two producers of serials, Republic and Columbia. Columbia was the cheapest...Universal was number one." THE GREEN ARCHER (Columbia, 1940), featured Warde in the minor role of Lefty Brent, a thug who demanded better pay from the head villain (James Craven) and was promptly bumped off by a phony Green Archer (Jack Ingram) in the pay of the bad guys. His next serial was also a Columbia, THE SPIDER RETURNS in 1941. Directed by James W. Horne, as GREEN ARCHER had been, SPIDER was more of a comedy than an adventure, with the bad guys (and the good guys) played as semi-cartoonish characters. Warde was Trigger, the chief henchman of the mystery villain the Gargoyle, who was bent on going up against the Spider (Warren Hull), a heroic masked avenger. Trigger handled all the active work and took continual upbraidings from the Gargoyle, who perpetually flew into temper tantrums when his underlings failed. I'm not sure what Tony's feelings about this serial were; either his liking for comedy (he always considered comedy was his true calling) made him enjoy it, or he was repelled by some of the ultra-silly things that the script called on him to do, particularly donning a party hat and joining the other henchmen in a "wild party" when the Gargoyle wasn't looking.

Above: Anthony Warde grabs “Blinky McQuade”, really the Spider (Warren Hull) by the collar in this scene from THE SPIDER RETURNS (Columbia, 1941). That’s Dale Van Sickel standing on the right.

The same year Warde made his first cliffhanger for the studio that was to give him all of his most memorable henchman roles: Republic Pictures. DICK TRACY VS. CRIME INC. (Republic, 1941), featured Tony as John Corey, the chief lieutenant of a masked villain named the Ghost. The Ghost was out to wreak revenge on the men "responsible" for his racketeer brother's execution--namely, the members of the Council of Eight, a group of crime-fighting New York citizens, and G-man Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd). While the Ghost and his scientific cohort John Davidson got the lion's share of the villainy, Anthony was allowed a few chances to shine, particularly the scene in Chapter Fourteen where he brutally turned off the oxygen mask of a hospitalized Council member. It was an auspicious beginning to his Republic career, although Warde still was more subdued than he was in his later parts, taking his boss's orders unquestioningly rather than passing sarcastic comments on each assignment, as he did in later outings like THE MASKED MARVEL.

Warde next played a small role (a Nazi submarine captain) in DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (Universal, 1941), and a large role (one of the two major henchmen) in KING OF THE MOUNTIES (Republic, 1942). In the latter he teamed with Bradley Page to carry out the orders of traitorous trading post owner Douglas Dumbrille, who in turn took his orders from a trio of Axis spies (Abner Biberman, William Vaughn, and Nestor Pavia). Though Warde was far down on the chain of command, he and Page performed most of the active villainy. Unfortunately, it's not possible to see all of Tony's performance in this serial, since nearly half of the soundtrack and part of the picture of KING OF THE MOUNTIES has got itself "lost." It's a pity, since the cliffhanger sounds like it had everything--a great hero (Allan Lane as RCMP Sergeant King), good action, and great villains, among them Anthony Warde.

Above: Heroic Mountie Allan Lane tackles Axis henchman Anthony Warde in a scene from KING OF THE MOUNTIES (Republic, 1942).

Anthony popped over to Columbia again in 1943 for THE BATMAN, in which he played a thug named Stone, who drowned at the end of Chapter Three after being knocked off a bridge by Batman (Lewis Wilson). He fared no better in SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA (Republic, 1943), when he played a treacherous Arab servant who murdered his sheik on orders from Nazi agents. Warde framed the crime onto hero Rod Cameron, but Tony's villainy was discovered and he was shot down by the sheik's vengeful son (Paul Marion). Warde's most famous serial part followed on these two smaller ones. The day filming began on THE MASKED MARVEL (Republic, 1943), Warde was signed to replace George J. Lewis as the serial's action heavy, Killer Mace. A big-time racketeer escaped from the pen, Mace had no scruples about carrying out the orders of Japanese spy Sakima (Johnny Arthur) and sabotaging American defense plants (amusingly, the real-life Warde was a defense plant worker at the time the serial was made). The hero of the serial, the crimefighting Masked Marvel (Tom Steele) had his work cut out for him while combating Mace's activities, and the two engaged in at least thirty memorable fistfights in the cliffhanger's course. MASKED MARVEL is one of the most popular Republic serials, and those who enjoy it always number the vicious Killer Mace, as played by Anthony Warde, as one of the cliffhanger's highlights.

Above: Bob Wilke (far left), Dale Van Sickel (center) and Anthony Warde question Louise Currie in THE MASKED MARVEL (Republic, 1943).

Warde was back to Columbia again for THE PHANTOM, released the same year as MASKED MARVEL. His contribution to this entertaining effort was small; he was Karak, second in command to Tartar tyrant Dick Curtis, and only appeared in one episode. Tony had a larger role in Universal's GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY in 1944, as the chief henchman, Brandon. As in KING OF THE MOUNTIES and MASKED MARVEL, he was a henchman to foreign spies--in this case a group of enemy agents after a secret weapon called the Peratron. He played yet another henchman/spy in MYSTERY OF THE RIVER BOAT (Universal, 1944), this time a thug named Bruno Bloch in the employ of a villain named Rudolph Toller (Lyle Talbot). His next Columbia, BRENDA STARR REPORTER in 1945, featured him as Muller, the chief henchman of gangster George Meeker; he was also the “action heavy” in THE MONSTER AND THE APE (Columbia, 1945). This time his boss was no less than the illustrious actor George Macready, playing a mad scientist named Professor Ernst. Ernst was intent on stealing Ralph Morgan's mechanical man (the monster of the title) and enlisted a pet ape to aid him. Robert Lowery, the hero of the cliffhanger, put a stop to Macready's plans and brought him and Warde to justice.

Above: George Macready (center) and Anthony Warde (right) talk with zookeeper Bud Osborne in THE MONSTER AND THE APE (Columbia, 1945).

Tony next played a blind organ grinder (named Tony!) in THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (Republic, 1945), though it turned out he wasn't blind at all, but a lookout man for Martian invader Roy Barcroft. He was exposed by hero Dennis Moore and jailed, only to be poisoned by one of Barcroft's men to keep him from talking. Warde then played another Columbia henchman, Edwards in 1946's HOP HARRIGAN, before his next big role in KING OF THE FOREST RANGERS (Republic, 1946). The role of Burt Spear, smugly ruthless henchman to Professor Carver (Stuart Hamblen) showed Warde at his nasty best, murdering and intimidating various farmers and landowners in order to get their platinum-rich land. Forest Ranger Steve King (Larry Thompson) intervened to stop Spear's reign of terror, and managed to unmask Carver as the brains behind the crimes. Warde completely dominated the villain team in FOREST RANGERS, as Hamblen, a western singer by profession, was totally out of his league as a villain and looked lost in contrast to Tony.

Above: Anthony Warde (left) and another henchman grab inventor John Merton (center) in HOP HARRIGAN (Columbia, 1946).

Above: Anthony Warde (left) gets marching orders from Stuart Hamblen in KING OF THE FOREST RANGERS (Republic, 1946).

Warde made his last Universal appearance as Martin Brandon in THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M in 1946. Not only was it his last serial for the company; it was the company's last serial. In Republic's THE BLACK WIDOW the next year, he played a character named Nick Ward, the chief henchman of Carol Forman, who was out to help her father, the despot Hitomu (Theodore Gottlieb) conquer the world. With a surprisingly humorous and clever script, BLACK WIDOW enabled Warde to show off his comic talent as well as his trademark villainy. He uttered the action heavy's typical sarcastic retorts to the hero and heroine (Bruce Edwards and Virginia Lindley), but he also came up with some great one-liners while conferring with Forman. The best of all comes when Anthony insists on seeing Gottlieb face to face (the master villain has hitherto been teleported to Forman's private sanctum and spoken to her alone). As Tony himself put it: "You're asking us to believe in a supreme leader who's brought here from the other side of the world by some super-scientific Rube Goldberg device?" Forman produces her father for the skeptical Warde, who seems hilariously awe-struck and attempts to shake hands with Gottlieb: "How you do, Mr. Hitomu? My name's Ward." The irritated look on Warde's face when Gottlieb coldly responded "I am already aware of your existence" was simply priceless.

Above: Wise-cracking good guys Bruce Edwards (far right) and Virginia Lindley catch equally witty henchman Anthony Warde (far left) and his henchman Duke Green in the classic THE BLACK WIDOW (Republic, 1947).

Then came the serial I mentioned at the beginning of this piece--DANGERS OF THE CANADIAN MOUNTED (Republic, 1948). As mentioned, Warde was Mort Fowler, carrying out the orders of a mystery boss in trying to keep the Alcana highway from completion. It seems the villains had discovered a lost Chinese treasure ship deep in the woods, and they wanted to keep settlers from coming in via the highway and stumbling on the ship. Mountie Chris Royal (Jim Bannon) proves the snag in this scheme, and manages to dodge Mort's bullets, knives, and hand grenades till he can get the goods on the thug and discover the mysterious Chief.

Above: Jim Bannon (center) handcuffs Anthony Warde while Ken Terrell (far right) prepares to disrupt the arrest in DANGERS OF THE CANADIAN MOUNTED (Republic, 1948).

Warde made another trip back to Columbia for CONGO BILL in 1948. This time around, Tony played a thug named Rogan in the employ of spy Leonard Penn, and was less than impressed with Columbia's cheapskate producer Sam Katzman. Katzman attempted to get Anthony to do his own fight sequences in order to save money, and Warde understandably refused. As Warde related the incident: "He wanted me to do a whole fight and I said, ‘Well, no, that's a hazardous thing. Let the stunt man do it.’ He said, ‘No, we're going to be up too close on it.’ And I said, ‘Well, then I would want stunt man pay for it.’ Partly, I wanted it because not only did I feel very strongly that I deserved it, but also I didn't want him being that clever and rooking some stunt men out of a check, which they [the Columbia producers] were inclined to do. If you minded being called ‘chicken,’ then you did a lot of this stuff and those fellows didn't get their money which was not fair and also dangerous for a guy to be doing. I had to go to the Guild and said to them ‘I don't want the money. I want the check made out and given to the Red Cross but I want him to pay the money.’” CONGO BILL wound up being Tony's last serial for Columbia.

Above: Anthony Warde seems to besting Don McGuire in this fight scene from CONGO BILL (Columbia, 1948). One wonders if this was the fight scene that led to an argument between Warde and producer Sam Katzman.

Anthony's last serial was a Republic, RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING in 1949. And, fittingly, he was once again the main henchman, taking orders from the Spy King (John Merton) and zealously attempting to wreck American attempts to set up a chain of radar stations along the Mexican border. US agent Kirk Alyn and Mexican policeman George J. Lewis blocked most of Tony's attacks, and Warde wound up being accidentally shot when Alyn knocked him onto villainess Eve Whitney's gun during a fight. Tony's character in this serial, Ricco Morgan, was every bit as sarcastic and vicious as Spear, Fowler, Mace, and company, and a good capper to finish off Warde's cliffhanger career.

Above: Kirk Alyn (far left) gets the drop on Eddie Parker (second from left), John Crawford (in truck), and Anthony Warde in RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (Republic, 1949).

Tony's movie career after RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING was varied; he played small, uncredited roles throughout the fifties, including bits in WAR OF THE WORLDS, REAR WINDOW, and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. On the TV front, he did get to work in what he considered his best field--comedy--in appearances on THE GEORGE BURNS SHOW, THE ABBOT AND COSTELLO SHOW, MR. ED, and AMOS N' ANDY, among others. His second to the last movie was INSIDE THE MAFIA in 1959; he returned one more time for THE CARPETBAGGERS in 1964 and then ran a clothing store for a while before retiring to La Canada, California, where he died in 1975.

Anthony Warde did not enjoy doing serials; he always felt they were "bottom of the ladder" and who can blame him? To a stage actor of his credentials, being typecast as a henchman in Saturday cliffhangers must have felt like absolute failure. But he was like his serial heavies in one respect: the henchmen played by Anthony Warde always griped about obeying orders but jumped to it when the time actually came to carry out evil deeds. And similarly, Anthony Warde may have disliked doing cliffhangers, but when the cameras rolled, he jumped to it and gave us some of the rottenest, dirtiest thugs we ever saw. And in that respect, he was not a failure, for his cliffhanger performances were appreciated then and are still appreciated now.

Above: This pair of lobby cards for KING OF THE FOREST RANGERS (Republic, 1946), shows an interesting reversal. In the first, Anthony Warde seems to be winning out over hero Larry Thompson, but in the second, Thompson has turned the tables. Which is as it should be; the henchman always loses, but he has a lot of fun doing his stuff--and we have a lot of fun watching him, especially if it's Anthony Warde.