EDMUND COBB
June 23rd, 1892 -- August 15th, 1974

Above: The ever-dependable--and, in this case, villainous--Edmund Cobb reaches for a gun as Rod Cameron grabs George Eldredge by the coat in this still from THE OLD TEXAS TRAIL, a 1944 Universal B-western.

Edmund Cobb's acting career began almost twenty years before the birth of the sound serial, encompassed its entire twenty-year run, and endured ten years beyond the demise of the cliffhanger form. During this magnificent, fifty-year career, Cobb managed to appear in more than a quarter of all the serials every made. His serious, scowling countenance made him an excellent henchman--or sometimes head villain, and his choleric, irritable delivery made him perfect for a grumpy "red herring" or an eccentric incidental character. Edmund was capable of dropping both the scowl and the grumpy voice, if the occasion called for it, and managed to land several sympathetic parts, especially at the beginning and end of his serial tenure. Cobb's roles varied in size--in one serial he might play the head villain, and in another have a one-line bit--but he was always unmistakable, and always excellent.

A true Westerner, Edmund Fessenden Cobb was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of distinguished family (his maternal grandfather had been governor of the state in its territorial days). He made his way to Hollywood in his late teens, and worked his way up from extra to bit player to juvenile lead to full-fledged hero; by the mid-1920s he was starring in Westerns for Universal Pictures and Arrow Pictures. By the late twenties, Cobb's face had gotten rather jowly, and he had put on a bit of weight--not enough to interfere with his riding, shooting, and fighting, but enough to disqualify him as a leading man. Therefore, he began to switch to henchmen; in such roles, he could utilize his athletic talents without having to worry about his looks. However, Universal remembered Cobb's starring stint for them, and cast him in a secondary but very heroic part in the first "all-talking" serial ever made: THE INDIANS ARE COMING (Universal, 1930). It was this cliffhanger that gave new life to the serial form, which had been dying out in the last days of the silents, and made the studios realize that sound enlarged the possibilities of serials and Westerns tenfold. Cobb had a major role as "Bill Williams", best friend and partner of hero Tim McCoy, and helped him and heroine Allene Ray in their fight against hostile Indians and outlaws. While the cliffhanger's pressbook stated that Cobb's character died saving McCoy at the end, in the actual serial Cobb survived to share the happy ending with McCoy and Ray. Edmund's second serial, SIGN OF THE WOLF (Metropolitan, 1930) gave him a more sinister role as Prince Khuva, an Asian ruler complete with turban and poison blowpipe. The heroine's father (Harry Todd), while in India, had discovered a pair of priceless chains that could turn sand into gems, and, not knowing that Khuva's people regarded the chains as theirs, brought the treasures to the US. Khuva followed, and vied with the good guys and a gang of thugs for possession of the chains, striking down assorted victims with his darts while hero Rex Lease tried to get to the bottom of things.

Above: Edmund Cobb (far left), Francis Ford (center), and Tim McCoy engage in some good-natured horseplay in THE INDIANS ARE COMING (Universal, 1931).

Following a villainous role in the (sadly) long-lost HEROES OF THE FLAMES, also starring McCoy, and BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL, with Tom Tyler (both released by Universal in 1931) Cobb played a major supporting part in HEROES OF THE WEST (Universal, 1932). He was a railroad worker who held a long-standing grudge against chief engineer Onslow Stevens. In between the rail crew's battles with outlaws and Indians, Cobb's character was always trading bitter comments with Stevens and looking forward to the day they could have a gun duel with each other. However, Cobb's character saved Stevens' life in a wagon race, aided in unmasking villain Philo McCullough, and finally admitted he had no intention of shooting it out with Stevens. Edmund was also on the good guys' team in CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED (Universal, 1933), GORDON OF GHOST CITY (Universal, 1933), and PIRATE TREASURE (Universal, 1934). In CLANCY, a much-sought serial that remains "lost" to this day, he was Constable McIntosh, one of RCMP Sergeant Clancy's (Tom Tyler) trusty men. GORDON featured him as Scotty, a friendly cowpuncher for William Desmond, who helped range detective Buck Jones track down rustler Walter Miller; Jones and Cobb were no strangers, as Edmund had appeared in many of Buck's early sound B-westerns. PIRATE TREASURE cast Cobb as Bert, one of the seamen who accompanied hero (and ace stuntman) Richard Talmadge to an isolated island in search of centuries-old pirate loot.

Above: Joe Bonomo gets a headlock on Tim McCoy while Edmund Cobb grabs McCoy's gun in HEROES OF THE FLAMES (Universal, 1931).

Sandwiched in between Cobb’s roles in GORDON and TREASURE was a villainous turn as radio operator for LeRoy Mason’s gang of airborne smugglers in THE PHANTOM OF THE AIR (Universal, 1933). THE VANISHING SHADOW (Universal, 1934) featured Edmund as Kent, lackey of ruthless political boss Walter Miller. Miller was opposed by Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens), son of a politician whose career had been destroyed by Miller. With the aid of Dr. Van Dorn (James Durkin), also a victim of Miller's criminal machinations, Stevens used a wide variety of fantastic inventions to wage war against the evil Miller and his vicious henchmen, Cobb and Richard Cramer chief among them.

Above: Edmund Cobb (far left) watches as Richard Cramer (next to Cobb), Al Ferguson (grabbing the control box from Onslow Stevens) and another thug rough up Onslow Stevens in THE VANISHING SHADOW (Universal, 1934). Walter Miller, far right, restrains Ada Ince.

THE RED RIDER (Universal, 1934) reunited Cobb once more with Buck Jones, and gave him the last really heroic role of his serial career. As Johnny Snow, a veteran cowhand, Cobb took part in almost as much action as Jones while helping Buck track down Walter Miller and his henchman Richard Cramer (Edmund's cronies in VANISHING SHADOW!). Miller had committed a murder and framed Jones' pal Grant Withers, but Jones, with the help of Edmund and of Withers himself, brought Miller to justice and cleared his friend. In addition to providing helpful assitance for Jones, Edmund also supplied some of the serial's comedy with his ill-advised attempts at serenading heroine Marion Shilling; his bursts of song were invariably rewarded with a quip from Jones or with a pail of water thrown from an upstairs window.

Above: Buck Jones lights Edmund Cobb’s cigarette in THE RED RIDER (Universal, 1934) while Jones’ horse Silver watches.

Cobb was thoroughly evil, though, in LAW OF THE WILD (Mascot, 1934), his first non-Universal cliffhanger except for the independent release SIGN OF THE WOLF. Edmund teamed up with Dick Alexander to steal hero Bob Custer's prize horse (played by Rex, King of the Wild Horses) and enter him in a race; once the race was won, however, the villains quarreled over the money they had made on bets. Cobb knifed Alexander, and Custer, who had been searching for the skunks that stole his horse, became the prime suspect. Edmund also struck a deal with racetrack gambler Richard Cramer to keep control of Rex and win future races with him, but Custer escaped a lynch mob to rescue his horse from the racetrack touts' clutches, with the help of Rin Tin Tin Jr.

Edmund switched sides yet again in TAILSPIN TOMMY (Universal, 1934) to play "Speed" Walton", one of the trusty pilots in the employ of Three Points Airline. The ruthless Tiger Taggart (John Davidson) was out to take over Three Points, but with the help of veteran pilot Milt Howe (Grant Withers) and fledgling flyer Tommy Tompkins (Maurice Murphy) Tiger and his flying henchman Bruce Hoyt (Walter Miller) were defeated. MYSTERY MOUNTAIN (Mascot, 1934), gave Cobb one of his biggest serial parts--but, ironically, he was completely uncredited. Edmund played the Rattler, the serial's masked mystery villain, through all twelve chapters, but was not otherwise in the serial; in the last chapter, the villain was unmasked and proved to be an entirely different actor. The Rattler was attempting to destroy Jane Corwin's (Verna Hillie) construction crews working in the neighborhood of Mystery Mountain, his scientific headquarters and the location of a secret gold mine he was desperate to conceal. Hero Ken Williams (Ken Maynard) and his reporter pal Breezy Baker (Syd Saylor) came to rescue and eventually exposed the Rattler, who perished in a dynamite explosion. Credited or not, Cobb's role in MYSTERY MOUNTAIN was a meaty one, allowing him to bark orders at henchmen in grand mystery-villain style and to spit out venomous dialogue worthy of the name "Rattler."

Above: Al Ferguson (far left) has the clear advantage over, from left to right, Grant Withers, Maurice Murphy, and Edmund Cobb in TAILSPIN TOMMY (Universal, 1934).

Above: Edmund Cobb, as the Rattler, seems to be besting Ken Maynard in this scene from MYSTERY MOUNTAIN (Universal, 1934).

THE RUSTLERS OF RED DOG saw Cobb riding with two cowboy greats: hero Johnny Mack Brown and villain Harry Woods. Edmund was on Woods' side in the role of Buck, one of the title rustlers. Towards the end of the serial, Cobb, who had seemed dissatisfied with Woods' leadership of the gang throughout, attempted to take over the rustlers when Woods was presumed dead after a shootout with Brown, Walter Miller, and Raymond Hatton. Woods had escaped, however, and returned to throw Edmund out of the gang. Left with the prospect of riding through Indian territory unarmed, Cobb struck a deal with Brown, who gave him a gun in exchange for information as to the rustlers' next target. After getting the gun, Cobb sensibly kept right on riding, and Brown and his pards wreaked Woods' downfall in the final chapter.

THE MIRACLE RIDER (Mascot, 1935) featured Cobb as Vining, one of the tools of Charles Middleton in his schemes to take over the Ravenhead Indian Reservation and get his hands on valuable deposits of an explosive called "X-94." One of Mascot's last serials, MIRACLE RIDER featured an all-star lineup of the veteran character actors/henchmen that had done so much stellar work at the studio: among the other heavies were Bob Kortman, Tom London, Charles King, and Ernie Adams. It took silent cowboy legend Tom Mix to thwart this formidable lineup and bring Middleton to justice. ADVENTURES OF REX AND RINTY (Mascot, 1935), the studio's penultimate release, had Edmund working as Harry Woods' henchman again--and again opposing his animal co-stars from LAW OF THE WILD--Rex, King of the Wild Horses, and Rin Tin Tin Jr. This time Woods, with Cobb's help, was trying to keep his hands on Rex, a "sacred" horse stolen from the Sujanese tribe and brought to the United States. Polo-playing hero Kane Richmond and his canine companion Rinty attempted to rescue Rex from the brutal Woods, who intended to train the horse for racing--at any cost.

Above, from left to right: Tom London, Edmund Cobb, Stanley Price, and Charles King get tough with a hapless Indian in THE MIRACLE RIDER (Mascot, 1935).

Above: Edmund Cobb has the drop on Kane Richmond in this lobby card from THE ADVENTURES OF REX AND RINTY (Mascot, 1935).

Edmund didn't make an appearance in Mascot's last serial, THE FIGHTING MARINES; instead, he journeyed back to Universal to play Pete, one of the heavies who pursued Frank Merriwell (Don Briggs) and his friends around the world in search of a lost treasure in ADVENTURES OF FRANK MERRIWELL (Universal, 1935). He was also a treasure seeker in DARKEST AFRICA (Republic, 1936), the first Republic cliffhanger and the first of Cobb's many appearances at that studio. As an unscrupulous animal trapper named Craddock, he teamed with the equally unscrupulous Durkin (Wheeler Oakman) and trailed Clyde Beatty and young Manuel King to the lost city of Joba. Beatty and King were out to rescue King's sister Elaine Shepherd, who was being held against her will as "ruler" of the city by the evil high priest Dagna (Lucien Prival). Cobb and Oakman's motives were more mercenary--their sights were set on the priceless diamonds in which Joba abounded. Once all the principals reached the lost city, the two trappers threw in with Dagna and carried out all the high priest's commands in the hope of being rewarded with a share of the diamonds. In the last chapter, a volcano erupted and destroyed Joba, as Beatty, King, and Shepherd made their escape. Prival was killed, and Cobb and Oakman, though they had a chance to get away, returned to the treasure chamber in a desperate attempt to carry off the diamonds. The city buried them beneath its ruins before they had a chance to escape with the ill-gotten gain. DARKEST AFRICA was somewhat wacky and frenzied--Republic hadn't found their way quite yet--but it gave Edmund one of his biggest and most active roles, as he and Oakman raced around the ornate lost city, slugging it out with Beatty and even tangling with Manuel King's gorilla pal Bonga (played by Ray Corrigan in an ape suit).

Above: Wheeler Oakman (left) looks calm--maybe because he's got the rifle--and Edmund Cobb looks apprehensive--maybe because he doesn't--in this lobby card for DARKEST AFRICA (Republic, 1936). Manuel King's head is shown in the upper left-hand corner; hero Clyde Beatty is below him.

Edmund was back at Universal for THE PHANTOM RIDER (Universal, 1936), starring Buck Jones, but Cobb's part, as one of Harry Woods' henchmen, was small and he mainly served as "background" along with the rest of the gang. He had a bit more to do in ACE DRUMMOND (Universal, 1936), in which he played Nicolai, one of a group of Russian thugs under the command of the mysterious Dragon. Cobb was also a member of the henchman "pack", in ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND (Republic, 1936), spending most of his time in the headquarters of the mysterious villain H. K., but he still came off better than sadly miscast star Ray Mala. ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1937), the first Republic directed by the great team of William Witney and John English, gave Edmund yet another "pack member" role as Larkin, a thug who served under "El Lobo" (Richard Alexander) and battled Zorro's great-grandson, James Vega (John Carroll) as part of Marsden's (Noah Beery Sr.) plan to destroy the California-Yucatan railroad. THE LONE RANGER (Republic, 1938) gave Edmund his first good guy role since TAILSPIN TOMMY, and it was a memorable, though brief, one. He played Captain Rance, leader of a band of Texas Rangers sent to end the rule of outlaw Stanley Andrews, who was posing as a finance commissioner and bleeding the people of Texas dry. Andrews' henchman Maston Williams pretended to be one of the oppressed ranchers and decoyed Cobb into a trap in a lonely canyon, where Edmund and his patrol were wiped out, with only one man left alive--the Lone Ranger.

THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938), one of Republic's very best serials, featured Lee Powell and Herman Brix as two heroic Marines bent on stopping the Lightning, a mad mystery villain, from conquering the world with his deadly electrical arsenal. Cobb was Ellis, one of the Lightning's key men, and lasted until the middle of the serial, when he was captured by the Marines. Questioned as to the Lightning's identity, the cautious Cobb responded "Yes, I know who he is; I made a point of finding out. The Lightning's true identity is--." At this point, the Lightning entered the room and zapped Cobb with his electrical pistol, leaving the villain's identity as mysterious as ever--at least until the end.

Above: Lee Powell (left) and Herman Brix (right) interrogate Edmund Cobb in THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938).

Cobb returned to "henching" in the first chapter of THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOCK (Columbia, 1938). Cobb was one of the outlaw Phantom Raiders, and when one of the Raiders was killed in a raid on Abilene, Cobb and another outlaw went to exact vengeance on the courageous citizen who had killed their cohort. Cobb stood outside the newspaper office and called out the man in question, Wilson, but he was interrupted when the new Marshal, Wild Bill Hickock (Wild Bill Elliott) came on the scene. Elliott bantered a little with Cobb and irritated him; Edmund went for his gun only to be plugged point-blank by Elliott, who subsequently nailed Cobb’s partner as well. After HICKOCK, Cobb was given a well-deserved--but only temporary--respite from villainy, as he played a police dispatcher in THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938), a plant foreman in DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939), a train conductor in THE PHANTOM CREEPS (Universal, 1939), and a state trooper in DICK TRACY'S G-MEN (Republic, 1939). He returned to nastiness in ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939), which featured him in another of his more meaty parts. He was Gonzalez, one of four crooked councilmen plotting against the Mexican government (the other three were John Merton, C. Montague Shaw, and Leander De Cordova). One of the four was also masquerading as Don Del Oro, a Yaqui Indian god, and inciting the Indians to attack government gold shipments to further the quartet's plans. Zorro, played by Reed Hadley, formed a Fighting Legion of young Mexican nobility to battle the Indians, and attempted to expose the crooked political ringleaders. Merton was killed in Chapter Nine, narrowing our choices for Don Del Oro down to Cobb, De Cordova, and Shaw. (SPOILERS AHEAD) Cobb, though a guilty scoundrel, didn't turn out to be Don Del Oro; instead, he and De Cordova were murdered in the last chapter by the mystery villain, who was subsequently unmasked--as Shaw--by Zorro and destroyed by the angry Indians.

Above, from left to right: Edmund Cobb, Reed Hadley, and William Corson in ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939).

WINNERS OF THE WEST (Universal, 1940) teamed Cobb with Harry Woods for the final time (in serials, at any rate). As in RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, Edmund tried to doublecross Woods, but with more fatal consequences this time around. As a thug named Maddox, Cobb was told off by King Carter (Woods) to steal the railroad company's powder supply, thus leaving the track crew open to attacks from Woods' Indian allies; Harry was bent on keeping the railroad and civilization in general out of his outlaw domain. However, Maddox hid the powder wagon and attempted to make Carter pay him heavily for naming its location. Chased by Woods' henchmen and by hero Dick Foran alike, Cobb was paid out for his double-dealing when he was shot down by fellow thug Charles Stevens. DEADWOOD DICK (Columbia, 1940), like ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION, used Cobb as a "red herring"-- one of a group of concerned Deadwood citizens suspected of being the Skull, the masked outlaw terrorizing the town. This time, however, there was no connection between Edmund and the mystery villain, and Deadwood Dick (Don Douglas) unmasked another suspect while Cobb's name remained untarnished.

Above: Edmund Cobb points the way for the masked Don Douglas in DEADWOOD DICK (Columbia, 1940).

THE GREEN ARCHER (Columbia, 1940), directed by James W. Horne, as DEADWOOD DICK had been, featured Edmund as a crooked pilot in the employ of villain James Craven. WHITE EAGLE (Columbia, 1941), had him opposing Craven, however, in the role of the heroine's brother Dave Rand. Cobb and his sister (Dorothy Fay) were running a pony express company that Craven, as Dandy Darnell, was out to take over; hero Buck Jones and his sidekick Raymond Hatton came to the rescue of the Rands' company. Edmund teamed with Jones one final time in RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY (Universal, 1941), playing the sympathetic Salty, foreman of the mine that Jones, Dick Foran, and the other Riders were trying to develop for heroine Jeanne Kelly, despite the interference of the evil Wolf Reade (Charles Bickford). Edmund finished out the 1941 serial season with a brief appearance as a policeman in the first chapter of DICK TRACY VS. CRIME INC. (Republic, 1941).

Above: Dorothy Fay, Edmund Cobb, and Raymond Hatton are shown in the lower left-hand corner of this title card for WHITE EAGLE (Columbia, 1941).

Cobb was a cop again in GANG BUSTERS (Universal, 1942), and stayed on the right side of the law for G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON (Republic, 1943). G-MEN featured Edmund as a commissioner at Boulder Dam, where Japanese spies led by Haruchi (Nino Pipitone) tried to explode a series of pylons and cut off the dam's electricity. Cobb played in Republic's DAREDEVILS OF THE WEST later that year, but since only four chapters of that serial are currently available, we won't be able to ascertain his role for a while--if ever.

Next, Edmund played Grogan, one of Kenneth MacDonald's cohorts in THE PHANTOM (Columbia, 1943); he took part in the fight against star Tom Tyler until Chapter Six, when Cobb was killed by an exploding munitions wagon. Next, THE GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY, Universal's first serial of 1944, gave him a tiny role as a deputy. Then, as Rawhide, one of the RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY (Universal, 1944), Edmund was a traditional Western badman, but was being used as a tool in an non-traditional (for a Universal western) espionage scheme by Prussian spy Lionel Atwill, as were Jack Ingram and the other Raiders. With hero Dennis Moore as a government agent battling the Prussians and their cohorts, RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY became the only "period" Western serial with World War Two overtones. In JUNGLE QUEEN (Universal, 1945) Edmund was a German agent himself, a Nazi operative named Johann, and in THE MASTER KEY (Universal, 1945) he was an honest railroad official who helped leads Milburn Stone and Dennis Moore take on Nazis operating in the US.

Cobb donned a policeman's uniform again for FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (Republic, 1945), in which he and FBI agent Ernie Adams helped hero Marten Lamont set up villainess Lorna Gray's phony "escape." Adams, posing as a photographer, hit Cobb on the head and assisted Gray through a window. After Lamont left to tail Gray to her boss, George J. Lewis, Cobb, in his customary sour manner, took Adams to task for hitting him too hard. In SECRET AGENT X-9 (Universal, 1945), Cobb was bartender in Cy Kendall's bar on Shadow Island; the bar, and, in fact, the whole island, was a center for wartime intrigue, with US agent Lloyd Bridges and his Chinese partner Keye Luke battling Japanese saboteur Victoria Horne. Cobb managed to avoid catching a bullet--and stayed at his post--during the frequent battles in the bar, but he did make a hasty retreat in the last chapter when Japanese bombers demolished the building.

THE SCARLET HORSEMAN (Universal, 1946) paired Cobb with Jack Ingram and cast them as a couple of henchmen reminiscent of the Durkin/Craddock characters in DARKEST AFRICA. Cobb and Ingram, as Kyle and Tragg, avidly obeyed all the orders of outlaw Zero Quick (Edward Howard) as he tried to muscle in on the high-flown schemes of Virginia Christine. Both devoted stooges were gunned down in the last chapter by the Horseman (Paul Guliofyle), while Christine, who had been just as evil and a good deal more untrustworthy, only had the gun shot from her hand in the finale. The part of Kyle was the last really meaty bad guy role Cobb would play in serials; THE VIGILANTE (Columbia, 1947), Cobb's first outing for new Columbia producer Sam Katzman, only featured him in one chapter (# 9) as a henchman of Lyle Talbot's.

Above, from left to right: Jack Ingram, Edward Howard, Edmund Cobb, and Ralph Lewis in THE SCARLET HORSEMAN (Universal, 1946).

Above: Edmund Cobb (far left) holds the bridle of an "Arabanian" stallion while Frank Ellis (center) and Bill Brauer check its horseshoes for the rubies concealed inside in THE VIGILANTE (Columbia, 1947).

By this time, Edmund was getting on in age, gaining weight, and slowing down. In his B-westerns, a field in which he was even more active than serials, he began to play more and more fathers, sheriffs, ranchers, etc., and fewer and fewer henchmen. The same thing happened in serials, with a few exceptions; in any case, Cobb had now slacked off his earlier quota of six or seven serials a year to two or even one a year. His appearances were generally memorable, though, a prime example being SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947). Cobb's part of Stockton, a rancher, was his last shot at being a "red herring" and he excelled himself, grumping and cranking at good guys and bad, and arguing with every idea that Jeff Stewart/Zorro (George Turner) came up with. (SPOILERS AHEAD) Expectedly, in the last chapter Cobb's congenial checker rival, storekeeper Tom London, turned out to be the mastermind behind outlaw Roy Barcroft, corrupt sheriff Ed Cassidy, and crooked judge Ernie Adams. Cobb dropped his grumpiness in the final chapter to help Turner capture London, and even mustered up enough politeness to congratulate the hero on his victory. JESSE JAMES RIDES AGAIN (Republic, 1947) had Cobb in another good character part, that of a farmer named Wilkie, who, along with Tom London, Linda Stirling, and others, was in danger of being driven from his land by the Black Raiders. Enter a reformed Jesse James (Clayton Moore) who aided the other farmers against the Raiders and discovered that the outlaws' leader, Tristram Coffin, wanted the land for the rich oil deposits lying beneath it. This time, Cobb and London both proved to be dependable allies, and Edmund was a good bit more friendly than he had been in SON OF ZORRO.

Above: Edmund Cobb as the grouchy Stockton in SON OF ZORRO (Republic, 1947).

G-MEN NEVER FORGET (Republic, 1947) continued Cobb on the path of honesty and respectability; this time, he was R. J. Cook, a wealthy and upright contractor and businessman. Racketeer Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft), after escaping from prison and assuming the identity of Police Commissioner Cameron (also Roy Barcroft), directed a campaign of sabotage against Cook Enterprises in an effort to make the tycoon pay him stiff "protection" money. Through a set of circumstances, Cobb discovered that Murkland was posing as the kidnapped Commissioner, and tried to get the news to hero Clayton Moore. Realizing Barcroft's men were closing in, Edmund recorded the information on a Dictaphone just before being shot down by Barcroft's hit man Drew Allen. Alas, the Dictaphone was subsequently destroyed, and Moore didn't learn of the switch of identities until the final chapter.

Above, from left to right: Edmund Cobb, Jack O’Shea, Roy Barcroft, Barry Brooks, and Stanley Price in G-MEN NEVER FORGET (Republic, 1947). Barcroft has just temporarily escaped from Price’s phony sanitarium and has been trying to convince Cobb that he’s the Commissioner. Cobb, as you can see by his expression, isn’t entirely convinced by Price’s assurance that Barcroft is just a mental patient who thinks he’s the Commissioner.

Cobb spent all fifteen chapters of TEX GRANGER (Columbia, 1948) behind a saloon bar, as he had spent SECRET AGENT X-9. He switched from barkeep to gas-station mechanic in SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948), and had an amusing scene as he grew increasingly perplexed at Jimmy Olsen's (Tommy Bond) preparations for spying on some thugs who had stopped by the gas station. JAMES BROTHERS OF MISSOURI (Republic, 1949) featured Edmund as the Sheriff, a role he had played many a time in B-westerns, and DESPERADOES OF THE WEST (Republic, 1950), gave him his last really active henchman role as a thug named Bowers, working for I. Stanford Jolley and Roy Barcroft. Posing as a well driller in an attempt to sabotage the ranchers' oil well, Cobb convinced the oil drilling crew of his bona fides and set a dynamite charge at the base of the well. Hero Richard Powers, who knew of Cobb’s chicanery, arrived before Edmund could get away, and they battled each other in a small tent that was crushed when the dynamite exploded and the tower fell upon it. Powers rolled free, but Cobb was killed by the falling tower. Edmund was planting explosives again (this time in the path of a train) as a henchman named Turner in GOVERMENT AGENTS VS. PHANTOM LEGION (Republic, 1951), but his character did not take part in any physical combat during his brief appearance.

CANADIAN MOUNTIES VS. ATOMIC INVADERS (Republic, 1953) saw Edmund leading a troop of settlers into the frozen Taniak region of Canada, where Russian spy Arthur Space hoped to establish a missile base. For the first five chapters, Space did everything he could to stop the settlers, and Cobb was frequently onscreen, but when star Bill Henry thwarted all of Space's attempts, the plot shifted to the spies' attempts to move their missile equipment from the area, and the settlers did not reappear. THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN KIDD (Columbia, 1953), an offbeat Sam Katzman cliffhanger, offered Cobb a delightful cameo as an old trapper whose marksmanship saved heroes Richard Crane and David Bruce from being killed by Indians. Edmund's last serial was, appropriately, Republic's last Western serial, MAN WITH THE STEEL WHIP, in 1954. He played a kindly rancher named Mr. Lee who helped hero Richard Simmons and heroine Barbara Bestar bring in food supplies to a friendly Indian reservation. When evil renegade Indians attacked the wagons, Edmund roused his assistant, napping in the back of the wagon, with a typically caustic Cobb comment: "Indians! Wake up and shoot!" The good guys survived the attack, although a wagon with Bestar and Simmons aboard went into the river. They swam ashore, and, after Edmund congratulated them on their escape, he vanished from the serial screen.

Edmund continued to work in movies for the rest of the fifties, generally playing small bits as sheriffs, stage drivers, or occasionally, even returning to outlawry. He did a lot of TV work too, appearing frequently on LONE RANGER, THE GENE AUTRY SHOW, RANGE RIDER, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, SERGEANT PRESTON, and even DRAGNET. His last appearance on the tube was in a 1960 episode of BAT MASTERSON, but he made sporadic film appearances for two more years. Like many other B-movie veterans, he came out of retirement in 1965 to appear in the nostalgic westerns of Alex Gordon and A. C. Lyles; his final role was in Lyles' JOHNNY RENO, released in 1966. Eight years later, Edmund Cobb suffered a heart attack and passed away at the Woodland Hills Motion Picture and Television Hospital. He was 82.

Edmund Cobb is one of those serial players whose name you don't become aware of until you have already seen him at least twenty times, so prolific and so frequently uncredited was he. But his name, to a cliffhanger fan, is well worth finding out; his long record of wonderful character performances in the serials and B-movies we love is a grand achievement, equaled by few.

Above: An unusually cheerful--if sinister-looking--Edmund Cobb in a still from THE MIRACLE RIDER (Mascot, 1935). Edmund was past forty in this cliffhanger, and he still had twenty years of serials ahead of him! Truly a champion character actor!