HENRY BRANDON
June 8th, 1912 -- February 15th, 1990

Above: Henry Brandon as Fu Manchu (far right) watches while Dr. Kranz (John Picorri) prepares a disguise for him in DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (Republic, 1940). John Merton, as Fu Manchu's mute lackey Loki, stands in the background.

Tall, aristocratic-looking, and handsome in a sinister sort of way, the talented Henry Brandon always gave his villains just the right air of sophistication combined with menace. In addition to his four serials, he performed well in major roles in many major films, including the part of Silas Barnaby in Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's BABES IN TOYLAND (he did the role when he was only 22 years old, but he succeeded in making Barnaby seem at least a hundred!), and the role of Scar, the evil Indian chief in John Ford's THE SEARCHERS. But back to those four serials that I mentioned earlier...

Brandon, born Heinrich Kleinbach in Berlin, Germany in 1911, came to America with his parents in 1920 or thereabouts. In his late teens and early twenties, he studied acting under the auspices of the Pasadena Playhouse (the Playhouse was the biggest "legit" theater group in California, and their goal was to give the West Coast a shot of culture; basically, they were to Hollywood what Broadway was to New York, only on a lesser scale), and, at 22, as mentioned above, made his screen debut in BABES IN TOYLAND. His first cliffhanger was the serial based on Alex Raymond's comic strip JUNGLE JIM (Universal, 1936), in which he played the Cobra, an escaped convict who had set himself up as ruler of a jungle tribe headed by the Lion Goddess (Betty Jane Rhodes), who thinks the Cobra is her father and a friend of her people. The Goddess is actually Joan Redmond, a lost heiress sought by famed guide, Jungle Jim Bradley (Grant Withers), and, when Jim arrives to bring the girl back to civilization, the Cobra fears he will lose his grip over the natives without her. In addition, he believes Jim to be a government man sent to arrest him, and tries a variety of schemes to do away with Jim and his pal Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton), before meeting with his defeat. Mature beyond his years, young Brandon did an excellent job playing the suave, smug, and ruthless Cobra in the best serial master-villain tradition.

Above: Henry Brandon (wearing white suit), as the evil Cobra in JUNGLE JIM (Universal, 1936), sentences Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton, center) and Jungle Jim (Grant Withers) to death for killing one of the Lion Goddess's lions. One of the Cobra's native guards is behind Withers, Evelyn Brent as the Cobra's sister Shaghai Lil is standing at Brandon's right.

Brandon's second serial was also based on an Alex Raymond comic strip--SECRET AGENT X-9 (Universal, 1937). Brandon was Blackstone, the icy, implacable lieutenant of mysterious jewel thief Victor Brenda. Brenda, unseen throughout the serial, delegated all authority to Blackstone as the Brenda gang attempted to make off with the Belgravian Crown Jewels. The jewels were protected by Secret Agent X-9 (Scott Kolk) who finally managed to capture the gang and reveal (SPOILERS AHEAD) Blackstone himself as the shadowy Brenda. Brandon was even more arrogant and nasty in X-9 than he had been in JUNGLE JIM, assuming a maddening air of superiority as he outsmarted the various good guys and verbally belabored his henchmen.

Above: Scott Kolk (left) gets the drop on Henry Brandon in SECRET AGENT X-9 (Universal, 1937).

Henry, while his serial career continued, was extremely busy in other films, making appearances in BLACK LEGION, with Humphrey Bogart, and BEAU GESTE, with Gary Cooper, among others. The latter film was released in 1939, the same year Henry made his final Universal serial, BUCK ROGERS. This time he was not the head villain, but the chief henchman, Captain Laska, a follower of the ruthless Killer Kane (Anthony Warde). Kane, dictator of the earth in the 25th century, was challenged by Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe), a 20th century man who has been placed in suspended animation for 500 years. Buck and his friends Wilma (Constance Moore) and Buddy (Jackie Moran) manage to defeat Laska's mission to win the planet Saturn over to Kane's side. Laska brainwashed Prince Tallen of Saturn (Philson Ahn) and used him to turn the Saturnians against Buck, and, when that plan failed, led a revolt of the Saturnian Zuggs against Tallen’s people, but Buck thwarted each scheme.

Above: Henry Brandon (far left) leads a squad of Killer Kane’s men in BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939). The other villains are, from left to right, Wheeler Oakman, Reed Howes, and Carleton Young.

Brandon's final serial gave him what was undoubtedly his best role (it was also his best serial, in the opinion of many fans; indeed, some feel it the best serial ever made). It was DRUMS OF FU MANCHU, and Henry, top-billed, played Sax Rohmer's Oriental master villain, who, in the serial, was out to get ahold of Genghis Khan's scepter in order to declare himself ruler of all Asia and use its people to submit the entire world to his fiendish domination. Complete with Chinese makeup, a completely bald head, and a small mustache, Brandon delivered an eerie, positively mesmerizing performance. He affected a rather high-pitched voice, making his Fu speak perfect English with only an occasional suggestion of the guttural in his voice--just as Rohmer had described the character. Indeed, to many Rohmer fans (myself included), DRUMS OF FU MANCHU stands as the definitive version of the Fu Manchu books, and (despite the excellent jobs done by Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the part) Henry Brandon as the definitive Fu Manchu. Despite defeat by his arch-enemy Sir Denis Nayland Smith (William Royle, in a commanding performance that nearly matched Brandon's) and Smith's young aide Allan Parker (Robert Kellard), Fu Manchu managed to escape death at the end of the serial and vowed his return (a sequel was planned to the serial, but never made, due to our alliance with China during World War Two). Very few serial actors closed their cliffhanger career with their best effort, but Henry Brandon did. It would have been impossible to top his villainous serial roles with a better bad guy performance.

Above: Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon), flanked by his mindless Dacoit henchmen, gloats over the Kardac Segment, one of the keys in his ongoing search for the tomb of Genghis Khan in the classic serial DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (Republic, 1940).

Brandon continued to act in nearly everything under the sun up until his death in 1990. He appeared in THE SEARCHERS (as mentioned at the beginning), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, VERA CRUZ, CAPTAIN SINBAD, and many more. He appeared at many serial conventions in his later years, and could always be counted on to respond to fans' questions with friendliness, consideration, and politeness. Quite a surprise to those serial fans who knew him as Laska, Brenda, the Cobra, and Fu Manchu--but then they also knew he was an actor, and one of the best at that!

Above: A poster for the 1943 feature version of Henry Brandon's final and finest serial, DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (Republic, 1940).