FRANK LACKTEEN
August 29th, 1897 -- July 8th, 1968

Above: The sinister Frank Lackteen as the Hawk of the Hills in the 1927 silent serial of the same name.

With the possible exception of Bob Kortman, no serial actor had a creepier visage than the gaunt, gimlet-eyed, and high-cheekboned Frank Lackteen did. You knew Lackteen was a bad guy just by looking at him. Lackteen's thick foreign accent added to his air of mystery and menace; he was a natural for Indian henchmen, inscrutable Orientals, practicing witch doctors, and the like. The role that earned him immortality (and made him one of the serial players immediately recalled by fans) was Shamba in JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941), but he played lots of equally nasty villains for decades before JUNGLE GIRL, and for over ten years afterwards. He was almost always a bad guy, but he played such a rich, exotic range of bad guys that he easily qualifies as yet another great character actor.

Lackteen was born in Kubber-Ilias, Lebanon, reportedly of Russian parents. He was educated at an American Christian school in his early years, and continued his education in Massachusetts. He appears to have roamed the world--possibly as a sailor--for several years, popping up in Spain, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico before coming to Canada and beginning his acting career as a stage performer. From the stage he moved to the screen; he made his first movie, THE YELLOW MENACE, in 1916 (knowing Frank, he was probably the Menace of the title). The teens and twenties saw him giving a hard time to most of the great silent serial stars--Walter Miller and Allene Ray in particular--in titles like THE GREEN ARCHER, HAWK OF THE HILLS, WHITE EAGLE, HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY, PONY EXPRESS, and INTO THE NET. His last silent serial was 1929's QUEEN OF THE NORTHWOODS, and his first sound serial was HEROES OF THE WEST (Universal, 1932), in which played a renegade half-breed named Buckskin Joe, henchman to treacherous Rance Judd (Philo McCullough). Buckskin Joe's job was to lead the Indians against the railroad crew of Noah Beery Jr. in hopes of keeping Beery and his father (William Desmond) from completing the railroad and causing their franchise to go to McCullough. However, chief engineer Onslow Stevens, with Beery's help, got the track laid regardless of the persistent Lackteen.

Above: Frank Lackteen abducts Allene Ray in another still from HAWK OF THE HILLS.

Weird as it may seem, Lackteen evidently played a good guy in his next serial, JUNGLE MYSTERY (Universal, 1932). I say evidently because the serial has been "lost" since its original release; but, judging from pressbook stills, Lackteen was the faithful head porter of explorer heroes Tom Tyler and Noah Beery Jr., and aided them against a gang of ivory thieves. I can't help suspecting that Frank was only pretending to be a faithful head porter, but only the serial itself can tell the tale. Let's hope it surfaces someday. Frank was back to villainy at any rate in THE LAST FRONTIER (RKO, 1932), as a Pawnee Indian henchman called "Blood." Lon Chaney Jr. was the hero of this entertaining Western saga, and Richard Neil was the head villain. Frank was also an Indian--a half-Indian this time--in CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED (Universal, 1933), another lost Tom Tyler serial. Tyler was Clancy, trying to clear his brother of a murder charge, with stiff opposition from the real murderer, Francis Ford--not to mention Ford's henchman, Lackteen as "Breed."

Above: Tom Tyler prepares to slug Sam Baker in order to rescue Cecilia Parker in JUNGLE MYSTERY (Universal, 1932). That's Noah Beery Jr. aiming the shotgun, while Frank Lackteen looks on.

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (Universal, 1933) was an attempt by Universal to recreate Pearl White's famous silent cliffhanger from 1914. Of course, to give it the feel of a silent serial, they needed Frank as one of the villains, and so he was cast as Fang, a knife-wielding Oriental who assisted the villainous Dr. Bashan (John Davidson) in his attempts to steal a poison gas formula for world conquest. Opposing Fang and Bashan were heroine Evelyn Knapp (as Pauline Hargreaves), her father (played by James Durkin), and hero Robert Allen. In the final showdown, a bullet from Allen released the deadly gas, and Lackteen and Davidson perished in the deadly fumes.

Above: John Davidson (left) appears to have some doubts of Frank Lackteen's loyalty in this scene from THE PERILS OF PAULINE (Universal, 1933).

Lackteen's next serial was TARZAN THE FEARLESS (Principal, 1933), a rather sloppy release sabotaged by its strange depiction of Tarzan (Buster Crabbe, who deserved better) as a grunting idiot. Lackteen was Abdul, a treacherous Arab guide who kidnapped heroine Jacqueline Wells and tried to sell her to slavers. Frank's next serial, the legendarily awful YOUNG EAGLES (First Division, 1934), was even worse than TARZAN THE FEARLESS. An independent release like TARZAN, EAGLES spent twelve none-too-thrilling chapters chronicling the adventures of two hapless boy scouts lost in the jungle; the poor kids spent most of their time being chased by natives, one of whom was Lackteen.

After these two below-average outings, Frank worked in B-westerns and A-films for the next three years, returning to serials--and Universal Picture--in RADIO PATROL (Universal, 1937). Lackteen was cast as a slick, sinister Asiatic cafe owner by the name of Tahata. With the help of his hypnotized lackey Leonard Lord, Tahata hoped to steal a flexible steel formula, but ran into trouble from dedicated cop Grant Withers, unscrupulous tycoon Gordon Hart, and a mysterious killer who had murdered the formula's inventor. Although Frank was gunned down by the mystery killer before the finale, he got in on a lot of active villainy. RADIO PATROL was a good serial and gave Lackteen one of his meatiest sound roles.

Above: Frank Lackteen (far left) and C. Montague Shaw (far right) prepare to witness the demonstration of a flexible steel vest,  perfected by Harry Davenport (center), in RADIO PATROL (Universal, 1937).

Columbia Pictures released its second serial, THE MYSTERIOUS PILOT, in 1937, and wisely utilized Lackteen's talents to give their fledgling cliffhanger production unit a boost. In this Canadian murder mystery/aviation yarn, Frank played Yoroslaff, a sinister backwoods Russian who worked for shifty Carter Snowden (Kenneth Harlan). When Snowden's fiancee (Dorothy Sebastian) learned that Snowden had committed a murder, the villain was forced to try and kidnap her, and naturally deputed his dirty work to Lackteen and other henchmen. However, pilot Frank Hawks and Mountie Rex Lease came to the rescue, and put a stop to Harlan's machinations, and the villain perished in an aerial battle with Hawks (Lackteen had been downed by a well-placed bullet from friendly Indian Yakima Canutt a little before the finale).

Above: An unfortunate Mountie (Bob Terry) is about to be stabbed by Frank Lackteen in THE MYSTERIOUS PILOT (Columbia, 1937).

Lackteen also did duty in Columbia's third serial, THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND (released in 1938), in the small but unusual role of a helpful and trustworthy Mexican bartender. Frank slipped back into his "half-breed henchman" characterization for THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOCK (Columbia, 1938), Bill Elliott's first starring serial. Head villain Robert Fiske hired Lackteen and his renegade Indians to kill Bill Hickock (Elliott), but before Frank could burn him at the stake, Elliott pulled the old “eclipse” trick and scared the Indians into letting him go.

Above: Frank Lackteen prepares to burn Bill Elliott at the stake on the right hand side of this lobby card for THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOCK (Columbia, 1938). On the left side, Kermit Maynard, Monte Blue, Elliott, Carole Wayne, and Dickie Jones bend over the body of Frankie Darro.

RED BARRY (Universal, 1938), gave Frank a very large bad guy role--or so it seemed at first. As a Chinese gangster named Quong Lee, Lackteen vied with Chinese agents, Russian nationals, and the police force for a fortune in stolen war bonds. Tough police detective Red Barry (Buster Crabbe) had his hands full dealing with all the double-dealing, and things got even more confusing when "Quong Lee" doffed his Oriental makeup and proved to be theatre owner Mannix (William Ruhl). This transformation, around Chapter Eight, signaled Frank's departure from the serial; it's never been known why Universal chose to write him out like that. Most fans feel the serial lost something when Lackteen suddenly vanished from the villain team. Frank got in some good stuff before his disappearance, though--such as popping out of closets, dropping Crabbe down trapdoors, and tinkering with deadly explosives.

Above: Tom Steele (far left) holds a gun on Buster Crabbe (center) while Frank Lackteen (far right) questions him in RED BARRY (Universal, 1938). Wheeler Oakman (between Crabbe and Lackteen) and James Sheridan look on.

As the thirties drew to a close and the forties began, serials began to feature more Americanized villains--usually either gangsters or Axis agents posing as patriots--and fewer exotic denizens of the Far East. As a result, Lackteen began to appear less and less frequently in serials, while remaining active in B-westerns, horror films, and swashbucklers. Whenever an unusual cliffhanger role came up, though, Frank was always the first choice, and the part of Shamba the witch doctor in JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941) was just such a role. As the witch doctor of the Masamba tribe, Shamba resented the presence of Dr. Meredith (Trevor Bardette) and his daughter Nyoka (Frances Gifford) whose genuine medical treatment of the natives undermined Shamba's voodoo practices. When Meredith was murdered by his evil twin brother Bradley (also Trevor Bardette), Shamba was delighted, and joined Bradley and gangster Slick Latimer (Gerald Mohr) in their intrigues against Nyoka. What Shamba didn't know was that Latimer and Bradley were after the Masambas' fabulous diamond cache, and that Nyoka's medallion, given her by her father, was the key to the diamonds. Shamba merely coveted the medallion as the symbol of tribe leadership, and thus served as a willing tool for Latimer. Ultimately, Nyoka, pilot Jack Stanton (Tom Neal), and mechanic Curly Rogers (Eddie Acuff) triumphed over Shamba and Latimer, the witch doctor taking a well-deserved spear from friendly native chief Jerry Frank and the gangster taking a long fall out of an airplane. The part of Shamba was probably Lackteen's juiciest, as he triggered death trap after death trap (flaming altars, flooded tunnels, spear guns, fall-away floors, poison gas, among others) in his attempts to eliminate the protagonists.

Above: Held at gunpoint by Tom Neal (far left), Frank Lackteen returns Frances Gifford's medallion to her as Eddie Acuff (far right) stands by in JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941).

Frank was also a treacherous witch doctor in DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (Universal, 1941), and aided Nazi agent John Litel in turning an island tribe against hero Don Winslow (Don Terry). Koloki (Lackteen) attempted to assert his power over the tribe by issuing orders from a microphone hidden within an idol, but Winslow exposed his treachery and the witch doctor was gunned down by Litel, who was posing as an ally of the good guys and didn't want Frank to squeal on him.

THE DESERT HAWK (Columbia, 1944) gave Lackteen his last really big serial role; his Middle Eastern background suited him perfectly for the role of Faud, henchman and adviser to villainous Arab ruler Gilbert Roland. With the help of treacherous government official Lackteen, Roland dethroned his heroic twin brother (Roland again) and seized the throne, but the "good" Roland fought back in the guise of the Desert Hawk, leading his people against the usurper. Lackteen supplied excellent villainous advice to Hassan (the villainous Roland) in the fight against the Hawk, but the violent, irritable Hassan grew increasingly angry at Faud’s caution and prudence, and in Chapter 14 Faud reaped the rewards of his treachery when he was stabbed by Hassan. After DESERT HAWK, Lackteen returned to Universal once again for a bit as an Indian in THE SCARLET HORSEMAN (Universal, 1946) and a small but noticeable role as a seemingly all-knowing blind beggar who always gave valuable information to the heroes (Russell Hayden and Keye Luke) in LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE (Universal, 1946); these two cliffhangers were among the last serials the studio put out.

Above: Frank Lackteen plots with the “bad” Gilbert Roland in THE DESERT HAWK (Universal, 1944).

Above: Keye Luke (far left) and Russell Hayden get information from Frank Lackteen in LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE (Universal, 1946).

THE BLACK WIDOW (Republic, 1947) cast Frank in another cameo role as a Turkish tobacconist named A. Kabob, who helped hero Bruce Edwards trace villain Anthony Warde through a special brand of cigarette that Warde had left at the scene of the crime. SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948), starring Kirk Alyn, gave Lackteen the curiously (in view of Frank’s appearance) Anglo-American character name of "Hawkins", but he was still as shifty and colorful as ever, playing a nervous stool pigeon who virtually lived in the back alleys and periodically sold information to Lois Lane (Noel Neill) but never risked incurring the wrath of the Spider Lady (Carol Forman) by divulging too much.

Above: A suspicious Anthony Warde makes a purchase from tobacconist Frank Lackteen in THE BLACK WIDOW (Republic, 1947).

Appropriately, Lackteen's last major serial role was a semi-reprise of his most famous cliffhanger part--that of Shamba in JUNGLE GIRL (Interestingly, he wore a horned hat that looked almost like the same one Shamba had used seven years earlier). CONGO BILL (Columbia, 1948) starred Don McGuire in the title role, as an explorer trying to return a lost heiress to civilization. The heiress (Cleo Moore) had been made the white goddess of a jungle tribe, and the tribe's witch doctor was--of course--Frank. Lackteen was jealous of the white queen's influence and worked against her and McGuire while conspiring with foreign spy Leonard Penn in carrying on a gold smuggling operation. Frank's part here was not as big as it had been in JUNGLE GIRL, and he was most unjustly uncredited in the cast, but the serial still provided him with a worthy farewell.

Lackteen had a couple of encores, though. In 1956, Columbia turned out the last two serials ever made, PERILS OF THE WILDERNESS and BLAZING THE OVERLAND TRAIL, and Frank was there to help ring the curtain down in both outings. In the first, he played a trouble-making medicine man (a Canadian Indian one, this time) for the last time in his career and gave heroes Dennis Moore and Richard Emory a hard time, and in the second he played an Indian chief named War Eagle and gave heroes Lee Roberts and Dennis Moore a hard time. Though Frank was now in his late fifties, he was still as menacing--and ugly--as ever. After OVERLAND TRAIL, Lackteen bowed out of films with a memorable bit in Cecil B. DeMille's classic TEN COMMANDMENTS, only to pop up one last time, along with fellow serial greats Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton, in Alex Gordon's nostalgia piece REQUIEM FOR A GUNFIGHTER. Three years later, Frank passed away in Woodland Hills, California.

Above: Frank Lackteen is up to no good in PERILS OF THE WILDERNESS (Columbia, 1956).

Serials were a simple and childlike form of entertainment, and kids--young and old--always want to know who are the heroes and who are the villains. Frank Lackteen's appearance, therefore, ideally suited him for the serial world, as he could establish himself as one of the latter class almost without saying a word. Malevolent features, however, were not the only secret of Lackteen's success. Audiences had a certain fascination with this chameleon-like performer, and he kept you coming back to see what exotic poison, scheme, or death trap he was going to utilize next.

Above: Another still of Frank as the ever-untrustworthy Shamba.