HARRY CORDING
April 26th, 1894 -- September 4th, 1954

Above: A good action shot of Harry Cording (far right) doing what he does best: being nasty. Harry and Ted Mapes (wearing goggles) are trying to shake Allan Lane off of their plane in KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (Republic, 1940).

My special thanks to John Cording for providing me with family genealogical information on his second cousin once removed, Harry Cording (real name Hector William Cording), and helping me to expand this article.

Most of the serial henchmen are more familiar to the cliffhanger and B-western fan than they are to the fan of A-movies from the same era. And that is only natural. Someone who principally watched "major" films might not be able to recognize the likes of Charles King, Kenne Duncan, or Bud Geary, while any one of those performers would be instantly recognized by a serial fan. However, there is one serial henchman who is probably better known to the A-movie fan than he is to the serial fan: Harry Cording. Swashbuckler fans will remember Harry as Dickon, the disgraced knight that Prince John (Claude Rains) sends to murder King Richard in Errol Flynn's ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, while horror-movie fans will recognize him as Thamal, Bela Lugosi's creepy servant in THE BLACK CAT. And yet his serial work has somehow managed to escape notice. This is too bad, for while Cording's cliffhangers were few and far between, his suspicious, irritable squint, burly size, and harsh voice helped to create some memorably ruthless and sadistic heavies for the enjoyment of serial audiences.

Cording was born Hector William Cording in Murree, India, the son of a British soldier. He served in the army himself from 1910 to 1919, doing duty as an artillery gunner during the first World War. Following the end of the war, he sailed from England in late 1919, arriving in America in 1920. Ten years later, the censuses find him in Hollywood, but he had made his screen debut there five years earlier,  in a silent film called THE KNOCKOUT in 1925. KNOCKOUT was a lumberjack/boxing film, and it featured Harry as a henchman, as did his second movie, a Buck Jones silent called BLACK JACK. Cording hit it big with a key role (as the traitorous Cossack Stefan) in Ernest Lubsitch's Oscar-winning costume drama THE PATRIOT in 1928 (this film is one of the most sought-after of all silent movies; it has been officially "lost" for a long time). The part of Stefan got Harry bigger roles in subsequent silent films, but he began to slip back into small (and often uncredited) parts as the sound era dawned. 1934 saw him in two more plum roles: Thamal in the above-mentioned BLACK CAT and the evil, brutish Orlick in GREAT EXPECTATIONS (not the David Lean version). For some reason, these parts did not establish him as a prominent actor, but they did show that he was a "background" player who could always be counted upon to deliver a standout performance when called out of the background. He was given a string of excellent heavy parts in George O'Brien's late thirties B-westerns at RKO, and he began his long association with Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes series with a bit in HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in 1938. Also in 1938, Cording made his first serial, Columbia's SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND. He appeared briefly in the first chapter as the Black Pirate, who buried his treasure on the title island but had to abandon it when a volcano erupted. In the rest of the serial, set in modern times, the treasure became the main bone of contention for good guys and bad guys.

Harry didn't play a major role in a serial until 1940, when Republic released KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED. Starring Allan Lane as Sergeant King and Robert Kellard as Corporal Merrit, KING is regarded as one of Republic's greatest releases, and with good reason--it had lovely scenery, dynamic action, a compelling plot, great direction from William Witney and John English, and standout performances from Lane, Kellard, Robert Strange--and Harry Cording as action heavy Wade Garson. The scowling, hulking Cording struck an ominous note on his very first appearance in the serial, and his cold-blooded murder of miner Stanley Andrews shortly afterwards confirmed the menace that the audience had sensed. Garson continued to add to his list of misdeeds until, in Chapter Ten, he was shot and killed by Kellard while escaping on horseback. William C. Cline reports how, as a boy viewing KING in the theatre, he stood up and cheered (along with his friends) upon "Garson's" demise. Harry's great talent for portraying utterly despicable characters had certainly made a vivid impression on serial audiences!

Above: Harry Cording (far left) issues orders to his men as they package the priceless "Compound X" in KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (Republic, 1940). John Davidson is on the far right; Ted Mapes is standing on Cording's left.

Cording followed KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED with THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (Universal, 1940). He had only one scene, but it was an extended one, and part of the episode's cliffhanger. As a crooked construction foreman, he was involved in the sabotage of a rival's building. The Green Hornet (Warren Hull) caught him at it and tried to force him, at gunpoint, to name the leader of his gang. While this was taking place, on the second floor, Cording's men were planting explosives on the ground floor, and the Hornet and Cording were caught in the explosion. Cording was killed, but in the cliffhanger resolution the Hornet was only injured. Universal retained Harry after HORNET, casting him as a bad guy in Jon Hall swashbucklers like ARABIAN NIGHTS, horror films like GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, and Johnny Mack Brown Westerns such as LAW AND ORDER and RAWHIDE RANGERS. Despite Cording's unmistakable Cockney accent, he made a fine Western heavy in these films, and it was as a Western heavy that he re-entered serials--Sam Gregg in OVERLAND MAIL (Universal, 1942). An underrated cowboy cliffhanger--the last "traditional" Western serial Universal would produce--MAIL starred Lon Chaney Jr. as frontiersman Jim Lane, who, with his sidekicks Buckskin Bill and Sierra Pete (Don Terry and Noah Beery Jr.) attempted to get to the bottom of Indian attacks on Tom Gilbert's (Tom Chatterton) stage line. The Indians were being led by Gregg and Puma (Charles Stevens) with the ultimate goal of forcing Gilbert out of business so rival Chadwick (Noah Beery Sr.) could grab his government mail franchise. Gregg and Puma proved themselves to be even more ruthless than their Indian allies, and Gregg very nearly succeeded in murdering Gilbert in Chapter Fourteen. Chaney and his pals showed up, though, and wiped out the gang, with the exception of Cording, who was severely wounded. Chaney took Cording to town and had his wound looked to, but the outlaw, vicious even on his deathbed, rewarded Chaney with "I suppose you expect me to name the big boss now? Well, I won't!" With this, Harry passed away, leaving Chaney to ferret out Beery Sr. for himself.

Above: Harry Cording is confronted by the Green Hornet (Warren Hull) in THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (Universal, 1940).

Above: Harry Cording (far left) and Charles Stevens have Lon Chaney Jr. at a disadvantage in OVERLAND MAIL (Universal, 1942).

Above: Now it looks like Chaney has turned the tables on Cording (center) in this second OVERLAND MAIL still, with the help of Noah Beery Jr. (far right).

B-western reviewer Boyd Magers estimates that Harry Cording turned out about 15 films a year during the 1940s. If this is true, than it would explain why Cording only made two more cliffhanger appearances, in THE GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY (Universal, 1944), and JUNGLE QUEEN (Universal, 1945)--he was too busy to do any more! In JUNGLE QUEEN, he had a small role as a sailor, but in ALASKAN MYSTERY he had a substantial featured part as Captain Greeder, a brutal ship captain who was in league with foreign spy Martin Kosleck and pursuing a deadly secret weapon known as the Peratron. Harry was promiment for the early chapters of the serial, but dropped out of sight around Chapter Four, with no explanation given for his disappearance. Cording never returned to serials, but he turned out many great character performances in other films throughout the forties, especially in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies, where he could be found as a storekeeper, dock rat, sea captain, or whatever in nearly every series outing. His last Holmes film was 1946's DRESSED TO KILL, in which he played a knife-throwing chauffeur who read "Indian Love Songs" in between murders. He continued to work into the early fifties, finally winning a good guy role in the 1951 Randolph Scott western SANTA FE; however, his last major role was again as a bad guy--a sarcastic, murderous lackey to villain Rudolph Anders in the Bowery Boys comedy JUNGLE GENTS. GENTS was released in 1954, the year Harry died. His final film, EAST OF EDEN, which featured him as a bouncer, premiered after his death.

Above: Harry Cording throttles Jack Clifford in THE GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY (Universal, 1944).

While Harry Cording's face is well-known to movie buffs, not as many of them know his name. And, unfortunately, few serial buffs know his face or his name. Harry is certainly due for more recognition, both as a movie henchman and as a serial henchman. In either category he was nothing short of superb.

Above: A very spooky publicity still of Harry Cording, probably from one of his Universal horror films.