KENNE DUNCAN
February 17th, 1902 -- February 5th, 1972

Above: Kenne Duncan (right), in the best henchman tradition, is about to get tough with Si Jenks in MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND (Republic, 1945).

While the serial villains concocted all the devious threats to be put into use against the good guys, and while the serial heroes met those threats with pluck, luck, and flying fists, there was a middleman who had to execute those evil deeds and meet with perpetual rebuffs, first from the hero's fists and then from his boss's tongue, following his failure. The serial henchman, a tireless figure, as persistent as ruthless, is not always recognized as a key element of the serial formula, but he definitely is one. William C. Cline argues (and I agree with him) that, since the head villains were generally planners, not doers, the henchman frequently became the hero's "opposite number", the antithesis and chief opponent of the good guys. The usefulness of henchmen reached its peak at Republic in the mid-forties, and of all the henchmen, the nastiest, most ruthless, most active, and most dedicated to his leader's evil ends was Kenneth Duncan McLachlin, better known as Kenne Duncan.

Duncan was a Canadian, born in Chatham, Ontario. He graduated from the Royal School of Infantry in London, Ontario, but apparently decided to forego the army for the stage. His military background, however, came in handy in his later serial roles, giving him a confident but obedient bearing ideal for a serial henchman. He acted on the dramatic stage and came to Hollywood in the late 1920's; due to his raspy voice and lean, harsh-looking face, he was typecast as a villain and turned in several "heavy" performances in B-westerns, crime dramas, and any other type of film that came up. His cliffhanger debut was in FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938), in which he had a small but important part as one of the chief officers of Azura, Queen of Mars (Beatrice Roberts). It was Duncan, as often as not, who recieved the marching orders for the Martian “stratosled” fleets and made reports on the results of their attacks on Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) and his allies throughout the serial; his presence was noticeable in practically every chapter. His next serial part was a smaller one: a blacksmith in THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOCK (Columbia, 1938), but the same year he scored his first big cliffhanger success in Columbia's THE SPIDER'S WEB--but, interestingly, not as a henchman. Instead, he was a good guy, albeit a somewhat ruthless one: Ram Singh, the faithful valet of Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), who assisted his master whenever it became necessary for Wentworth to don the guise of the Spider and battle the forces of the underworld. In some folks' opinion, this first role was the best of Duncan's whole cliffhanger career. He delivered a very faithful interpretation of the Singh character from the Spider pulps, complete with Ram's penchant for throwing knives into various villains and his vivid, rather violent sayings, such as "Dog with a pig's face, if I could get out of here for a minute, I'd carve my name in your heart", which he uttered while trapped in a flooding chamber by the mystery villain the Octopus.

Above: Kenne Duncan studies for his part of Ram Singh in this publicity still for THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938).

Despite Duncan's triumph in SPIDER'S WEB, his next serial part was another small one-- Lieutenant Lacy, the Hidden City officer who discovered Buster Crabbe as BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939), unconscious in a wrecked dirigible. He also played a trapper in OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON (Columbia, 1939) and a henchman named Two-Gun, who impersonated the masked hero DEADWOOD DICK (Columbia, 1940) in an attempt to turn the townsfolk against the do-gooder. His next big serial role was probably the most offbeat of his entire career (SPOILERS AHEAD). THE GREEN ARCHER (Columbia, 1940), starred Victor Jory as Spike Holland, an insurance investigator who attempted to crack a gang of criminals headed by Abel Bellamy (James Craven). Bellamy had gained control of Bellamy Castle, which he used as headquarters for his gang, by framing his brother Michael and then wrecking the train taking Michael to prison, presumably killing him. However, the Green Archer, a mysterious avenger, kept coming to the aid of Holland and heroine Valerie Howett (Iris Meredith), and, in the last chapter, this mystery man was revealed as none other than Michael Bellamy--played by Kenne Duncan! Kenne actually had few lines in the serial, except at the beginning and the end, but he made his presence felt throughout and lent credibility, amazing as it may seem, to his only portrayal of an out-and-out hero.

Above: Kenne Duncan (far left) leads the other cast members of THE GREEN ARCHER (Columbia, 1940) in an escape from the dungeons of Bellamy Castle. From Duncan's left: Iris Meredith, Forrest Taylor, Dorothy Fay, and Victor Jory.

During his serial duty, Duncan had been concentrating more and more on Western bad guy work, and he developed incredible riding and shooting skills that made him exceptionally convincing as a frontier badman. He had already played in the cowboy cliffhangers OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON and DEADWOOD DICK, and added another, Columbia's WHITE EAGLE (in which he played a thug named Kurt) to his filmography in 1941. Also in 1941, he stepped temporarily out of the Western mold and made his first serial for Republic Pictures. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, based on the popular Whiz Comics hero and almost always named as Republic's best serial, starred Frank Coghlan Jr. as young Billy Batson and Tom Tyler as his alter ego, Captain Marvel. In the serial, Billy was given the power to become Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam in order to keep the Golden Scorpion, a powerful, ancient weapon that is powered by the sun's rays, from falling into the wrong hands. A masked criminal named the Scorpion sets out to gather all of the device's lenses in order to become master of the world, and Captain Marvel is forced to exert all his powers in order to stop the merciless villain. Kenne, in his first major serial henchman part, was Barnett, the Scorpion's evil lieutenant, who showed absolutely no compunction as he carried out his boss's orders and managed to obtain almost all of the lenses for him. While the Scorpion was ultimately thwarted by Captain Marvel, Barnett interestingly escaped capture, dropping out of sight before the serial's end; however, in the years to come it would almost seem as if the thug had assumed an alias and returned to wreak more evil, so familiar a face would Duncan become at Republic.

Above, from left to right: Carleton Young, John Bagni, Kenne Duncan, and the masked Scorpion prepare to melt a mountain down on top of Captain Marvel, using the Golden Scorpion atom-smashing device, in this lobby card for THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (Republic, 1941). This card is for a 50's re-release version, hence the different title in the left-hand corner.

Duncan returned to Columbia in 1941 for another go at the role of Ram Singh in THE SPIDER RETURNS. Unfortunately, this sequel was directed by comedy great James W. Horne and almost emerged as a comic satire of the first Spider serial. Kenne seemed rather irritated with the now-slapstick goings-on, as did Warren Hull, although the two of them (the only returning cast members from the first Spider serial) delivered creditable performances under the circumstances.

Above: Warren Hull (disguised as pickpocket Blinky McQuade, far right) confers with Kenne Duncan and Mary Ainslee in THE SPIDER RETURNS (Columbia, 1941).

Kenne's next serial outing was another Republic, this time a Western that gave him ample opportunity to ride and shoot. He was Nick, one of a group of thugs who carried out the orders of Nazi spy Neil Hamilton in his efforts to sabotage the Texas oil fields and were opposed by Sammy Baugh as Tom KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS (Republic, 1941). The group also included Roy Barcroft and Bud Geary, who would become close friends of Duncan's and work with him a lot in his subsequent career at Republic. His next Republic switched him over to the good guy side: PERILS OF NYOKA (Republic, 1942), featured him as Nyoka's (Kay Aldridge) faithful servant Abou, a part that was a little reminiscent of his Ram Singh roles. He was back to Columbia and skullduggery in VALLEY OF VANISHING MEN and THE SECRET CODE; in the former, he played a henchman named Logan, and in the latter, he played a henchman named Marvin, who was shot down by his fellow crooks when he was mistaken for the serial's masked hero, the Black Commando (Paul Kelly). In THE BATMAN (Columbia, 1943), he was an ill-fated airplane mechanic who was converted into a zombie by the evil Dr. Daka (J. Carroll Naish), and in DAREDEVILS OF THE WEST (Republic, 1943), he was Hooker, a henchman who impersonated a land commissioner in an attempt to hoodwink heroine Kay Aldridge and hero Allan Lane. Somewhere around this point, the indefatigable Duncan switched his screen billing from Kenneth Duncan to Kenne Duncan ("Kenne" is pronounced "Kenny"). He must also have signed his Republic term player contract at this time, since all his subsequent serials were for that studio. He was featured in CAPTAIN AMERICA (Republic, 1943) as a radio store owner named Graham who was part of Lionel Atwill's crime ring, and he clashed again with Allan Lane (briefly, though) as a minor thug named Gentry in THE TIGER WOMAN (Republic, 1944).

Above: Stanley Blystone (left) and Kenne Duncan (center) get the drop on Slingin’ Sammy Baugh in KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS (Republic, 1941).

Kenne finally came into his own as a full-fledged henchman with HAUNTED HARBOR (Republic, 1944). As a villain named Gregg, Duncan, together with Bud Geary as Snell, handled nearly all the active work for chief villain Roy Barcroft in this island/sea thriller. Kane Richmond, as Captain Jim Marsden, was framed for a murder committed by Barcroft in the cliffhanger's first chapter, and escaped jail to track the villain to the island of Pulamati, where Barcroft, Duncan, Geary, and others were using a fake sea monster to scare the natives away from their gold-salvaging activities. Duncan made a great accessory to Barcroft in this serial, accomplishing his myriad nastiness--which included gunning down heroine Kay Aldridge's father in cold blood--with a cruel smile and diligently doing his best to bump off all of the good guys. Kenne's role in HAUNTED HARBOR was a perfect example of the henchman's part being almost more important than the boss villain's--Duncan was the activist on the evil side throughout.

Above: Kenne Duncan grapples with Kane Richmond (right) in a lobby card for PIRATES' HARBOR, the re-release version of HAUNTED HARBOR (Republic, 1944).

Duncan re-teamed with Barcroft for MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND (Republic, 1945) for another tour-de-force of villainy. A combination detective/sci-fi thriller, the cliffhanger chronicled the disappearance of Professor Forrest (Forrest Taylor), the inventor of a powerful "energy transmitter." The professor's daughter (Linda Stirling) and criminologist Richard Bailey journeyed to the small Pacific isle of Mystery Island to search for the scientist, and found themselves confronting the sinister Captain Mephisto (Barcroft) an apparently-reincarnated 18th century pirate. In actuality, Mephisto was one of the four businessmen who owned the island; all four were descendants of the pirate and the guilty owner used a "molecular transformation machine" to assume the appearance of his ancestor. Mephisto's legion of henchmen were commanded by Sydney Brand (Kenne), the first mate of a shady freighter, who obeyed the pirate's orders with alacrity and frequent enjoyment, but always seemed rather in awe of his semi-supernatural boss. Barcroft, ably assisted by Duncan, gave the good guys a stiff battle, but Bailey and Stirling were ultimately successful in rescuing Professor Forrest and extricating his invention from Mephisto's evil hands. Another plum villain role for Duncan, the part of Brand gave him as much screen time as he had enjoyed in HAUNTED HARBOR, and he carried out his evil deeds with the same aplomb--the look on his face while he is attempting to zap hero Bailey with a death ray in the first chapter is a virtual study in maniacal glee. Barcroft, though, assumed a more active role than he had in HARBOR, and Kenne provided frequent amusement by displaying an attitude of puzzled fear when working in collusion with the mysterious Captain Mephisto.

Above: Roy Barcroft (far right) and Kenne Duncan (far left) gang up on Richard Bailey in MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND (Republic, 1945).

Kenne continued turning out villain portrayals in Republic's B-western, racking up an incredible amount of appearances at the studio. In the meanwhile, he reteamed with Roy Barcroft for yet another cliffhanger, THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (Republic, 1945). Roy was the title character, a Martian invader out to steal an Earth scientist's rocket plans in order to build a Martian invasion fleet, but Kenne, surprisingly enough, was not the Monster's henchman. That honor went to Bud Geary, Duncan's cohort in crime in HAUNTED HARBOR, and Kenne was pitted against his two old buddies as an honest scientist named Mitchell, who appeared in the serial's first chapter. Barcroft and Geary attempted to force Duncan to turn over a rocket motor to them, but Kenne stood firm and managed to get a message for help to hero Dennis Moore. Duncan's final henchman role came later that year; appropriately, it was a Western, THE PHANTOM RIDER. This Republic outing featured Robert Kent as a doctor who donned the guise of an ancient Indian spirit to combat the outlaws using the Indian Reservation as a base from which to plunder the neighboring ranchers. Duncan was Ben Brady, the field commander of the raiders and to all intents and purposes the principal villain, as chief heavy LeRoy Mason was posing as the friendly Indian Agent and could not take part in the action for fear of exposure.

Above: Bud Geary ties up Kenne Duncan while Roy Barcroft watches in THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (Republic, 1945).

Above: LeRoy Mason (far right) is about to unmask Robert Kent as THE PHANTOM RIDER (Republic, 1945), as Dale Van Sickel (center), John Hamilton (far left), and Kenne Duncan look on.

Paradoxically, the final serial outing for this great henchman cast him as a good guy. THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946) starred Charles Quigley as scientist Duncan Richards, who attempted to keep the counter-atomic weapon called the "Cyclotrode" out of the hands of the title villain, a masked and robed mystery man. Kenne was Professor Chambers, the inventor of the Cyclotrode, who was kidnapped by the Ghost and forced, under the influence of a "control collar", to steal his own invention. However, Chambers, once he came out from under the influence of the collar, managed to trick the villains and set up a trap to electrocute them. At this point, though, Quigley discovered the hideout, and Duncan died in his own trap while saving the hero's life. It was an unusual role, but it was a fine showcase for Kenne's versatility, and he carried it off well, making Chambers a tragic but heroic figure.

Above: Kenne Duncan (far right) prepares a booby trap for THE CRIMSON GHOST (Republic, 1946), as Ghost henchmen Bud Wolfe (far left) and Clayton Moore look on without suspicion.

Duncan's contract with Republic had expired by now, and he began appearing at other studios, most notably Monogram Pictures and Gene Autry's Flying A Productions, doing mainly character parts (as old coots, sheriffs, and the like) and only occasionally returning to villainous mode. He also became quite popular as a Western star (!) in Japan in the early fifties; he was even honored with a ride on the Japanese emperor's special white horse. He continued playing Western bad guys on this side of the ocean, however, guesting on nearly every one of the early Western TV shows, including WILD BILL HICKOCK, THE LONE RANGER, THE CISCO KID, and THE RANGE RIDER. In the late fifties and early sixties he began appearing in some of Ed Wood Jr.'s legendarily awful movies, more as a favor to Wood, a good friend of his, then anything else. Kenne's last film was Wood's dreadful SINISTER URGE, though he later collaborated with him on a couple of Western trick-shooting TV specials. Kenne passed away in 1972, the victim of an alcohol and barbiturate overdose; it has never been determined whether this was an accident or suicide, but the former seems more likely, as Kenne had been a heavy drinker all his life and was on prescription drugs at the time of his death. At any rate, it was a sad end for this wonderful bad guy.

Kenne Duncan brought unlimited energy and talent to whatever role he played--henchman, sidekick, professor, or bit player--and the wiry, active, hard-faced performer was at his best when battling serial heroes with all the dirty tricks at his disposal. If there was a Serial Villains' Medal of Honor, for evil work above and beyond the call of duty, the prime candidate for it would have to be Kenneth Duncan.

Above: Kenne, the satisfied smile of a perfect henchman on his face, presents the Scorpion with one of the coveted golden lenses in THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (Republic, 1941).