CHARLES QUIGLEY
February 12th, 1906 -- August 5th, 1964

Above: Charles Quigley makes an entrance in THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946).

"Charles Quigley was an ideal type for a serial hero but was used very sparingly." --Alan G. Barbour.

The above quote by serial historian Barbour is a good capsule summary of Charles Quigley's career. Quig (as I call him) is one of my all-time favorite heroes, and has a large amount of fans, but he was really underused by serial producers. However, two at least of his three starring serials are all-time classics of the genre, and this high quality more than makes up for the lack of quantity. In both of them, his likable, self-possesed, slightly sarcastic but fully heroic persona was displayed to best advantage.

Born in New England, Quig started his Hollywood career in the early nineteen-thirties. One of his early roles was a part in CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET (Twentieth Century Fox, 1935) which starred Warner Oland as Chan. Quigley was signed by Columbia Pictures in 1937, and appeared in several second-string "programmers", mostly crime pictures (CRIMINALS OF THE AIR) or romantic pieces (GIRLS CAN PLAY). Some of these were starring roles, but Columbia apparently decided not to promote Charles to parts in their more prestigous pictures and dropped his contract. Thus, in 1939, Quigley wound up at Republic Pictures, as the star of DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE, a twelve-chapter serial that would forever be remembered as one of that studio's finest chapterplays. The titular Daredevils were a trio of carnival acrobats--Gene Townley (Quig), Tiny Dawson (Herman Brix), and Burt Knowles (David Sharpe)--who got involved in the evil schemes of madman Harry Crowel, alias 39013 (wonderfully played by Charles Middleton) to wreck the business empire of Horace Granville (Miles Mander). The Daredevils got involved when, while they were performing at a Granville-owned amusement park, Crowel's men set a fire that destroyed the park and killed Gene's kid brother Sammy (Robert Winkler). Following Sammy's death, Gene and his two buddies set out to aid Granville and his granddaugher (Carole Landis) and bring 39013 to justice, with the aid of a mysterious figure known as the Red Circle. DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE well deserves its reputation as one of the best serials ever made; not only did it contain lots of great action, it also had three heroes with real personality, heroes whose characters one remembered long after finishing the serial. Along with his two co-stars, Charles Quigley delivered an energetic, dedicated, and humorous performance that figured largely in the cliffhanger's success.

Above: Charles Quigley (right) grapples with Bert LeBaron atop a gasoline storage tank in DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLES (Republic, 1939).

Above, from left to right: Charles Quigley, David Sharpe, and Herman Brix examine a mysterious clue at the breakfast table while puzzled butler Fred “Snowflake” Toones looks on in DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939).

In 1941, Quig made a brief journey back to Columbia to star in one of that studio's serials, THE IRON CLAW. A remake of a silent serial by the same name, THE IRON CLAW dealt with a mysterious, unknown villain known as the Iron Claw who was out to steal a vast lost treasure from the Benson family, and fought at every turn by a newspaper reporter named Bob Lane (Quigley). This serial was more of a comedy than a cliffhanger, due to the direction of James W. Horne. Horne, one of the all-time greatest comedy directors, no doubt disliked being made to do cliffhangers, so he always played his serials for laughs rather than action. Invariably, Horne cliffhangers emerged as self-parodies, similar to the 1960's BATMAN TV show. Quigley was at home in THE IRON CLAW’s slapstick surroundings, however; several of his early Columbia quickies had been romantic comedies and he maintained an amusingly exaggerated heroic energy throughout the serial. Walter Sande played Charles's sidekick, Joyce Bryant was the heroine, and the supporting cast included Forrest Taylor, Charles King, and Norman Willis.

Above: Charles Quigley (left) and sidekick Walter Sande in THE IRON CLAW (Columbia, 1941). Note the exaggerated expression on Sande's face--such broad "takes" were a typical directorial touch of James W. Horne.

Quigley, after four or five years of minor parts, returned to starring roles in 1946 with his third, and last, starring serial--Republic's THE CRIMSON GHOST. The Crimson Ghost was a masked mystery villain after the "Cyclotrode" a counter-atomic weapon that could paralyze industries and wreak havoc on an entire country. As criminologist Duncan Richards, Quigley battled the scarlet-clad specter through twelve episodes with the capable help of his secretary Diana Farnsworth (Linda Stirling). In the twelfth chapter, the Ghost was unmasked and proved to be one of a board of four scientists. Which one? Well, it was either Forrest Taylor, Emmet Vogan, Joseph Forte, or Sam Flint (take your pick; I'm not talking!). Once again, Quigley made his character much more memorable than the average serial lead, fighting the Ghost's henchmen (led by Clayton Moore) and delivering some great one-liners with equal zest. Directed by William Witney (who, with John English, had co-directed Quig's earlier DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE) and Fred C. Brannon, THE CRIMSON GHOST emerged as another one of Republic's best (some say their last great cliffhanger) and made a more than appropriate finish to Quig's brief but brilliant career as a serial hero.

Above: Charles Quigley (second from left) has the drop on Clayton Moore (far left), George Magrill (far right) and THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946).

Above: Charles Quigley poses for action in this lobby card for THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946).

THE CRIMSON GHOST was Charles Quigley's last starring serial, but he played three supporting serial roles before ending his cliffhanger career. All three were villain roles, and all three were at Columbia. First off, he played Dr. Laydron, the boss villain, or "brains heavy", in 1947's BRICK BRADFORD, fighting hero Kane Richmond in an attempt to obtain the Interceptor Ray, a secret invention of scientist Dr. Tymak (usual villain John Merton in an offbeat role). Quigley showed his versatility in BRICK BRADFORD; his suave, menacing Laydron was every bit as memorable a portrayal as his earlier heroic roles. The same can be said of his performance in SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948) in which he played another evil scientist, Dr. Hackett, who aided the Spider Lady (Carol Forman) in her evil attempt to conquer the Man of Steel. Quig nearly stole the villain spotlight from the equally talented Miss Forman, coming off as a henchman quite capable of assuming the reigns of power himself. It would have been nice to see Charles finish off his serial career as a hero, but, as things turned out, his great villainous performance in SUPERMAN made a pretty good farewell to the genre. While SUPERMAN gave him his last major role, he did appear in one more cliffhanger--PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS (Columbia, 1950), with Buster Crabbe, in which he played a loan shark/cafe owner who tries to clip Crabbe in the first chapter but is thwarted.

Above: Dr. Laydron (Charles Quigley, kneeling on the right) readies a death ray to kill Professor Salisbury (Pierre Watkin, far left) and his daughter June (Linda Johnson). Laydron's henchmen Black (Fred Graham, in dark suit), and Albers (Jack Ingram, in light suit) stand by.

The rest of Quigley's screen work was mostly undistinguished, his last film appearance being in an episode of MAVERICK, "The Seventh Hand." Quig died in 1964, with few noteworthy films (from the critic's viewpoint) to his credit, but his fans (including me) will always remember his performances in DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE and THE CRIMSON GHOST as unforgettable contributions to the wonderful world of cliffhangers. Like I said, the quality of his work more than makes up for the lack of quantity.

Above: Charles Quigley grimly races to the rescue of the Granville Tunnel as flood waters roar behind him in the most famous scene from DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939).