RICHARD FISKE
November 20th, 1915 -- August 10th, 1944

Above: Richard Fiske as Ronald Jackson in THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938).

Richard Fiske was the only completely "straight" sidekick that managed to make multiple appearances in serials. Without the colorful foreign persona of Duncan Renaldo or Keye Luke or the comic style of Smiley Burnette, Fiske nevertheless managed to stand out in roles that would have been totally forgettable in another player's hands. Fiske was simply too good an actor to be forgettable, no matter what his role was. His characters always seemed to possess a restless impatience to see justice done and a quick, impetuous temper that sometimes got the better of them. Richard's sidekicks were always lucky to have the more level-headed hero by their side, yet there was no reason Fiske couldn't have risen in time from co-hero to hero; indeed, he very well might have, had it not been for his untimely death.

Biographical info on Richard Fiske is scarce. He was born in Shelton, Washington, and seems to have began his Hollywood career as a Columbia contract player, starting with an uncredited bit in a movie called GIRLS' SCHOOL in 1938. Almost all of his films, including his four serials, would be made at Columbia as well. His first serial and second film was made the same year: THE SPIDER'S WEB, a fifteen-chapter cliffhanger based on the pulp hero the Spider, a masked avenger who single-handedly crusaded against the forces of crime. One of Columbia's most atmospheric and popular cliffhangers, SPIDER'S WEB utilized a stellar cast to bring author Norvell Page's characters to life. Warren Hull, making his serial debut but already a film veteran, played the Spider and his alter ego Richard Wentworth, a former army officer and now a wealthy man-about-town. Iris Meredith, lovely heroine of many Columbia B-westerns, was Wentworth's fiancee Nita Van Sloan, B-western and serial bad guy Kenne Duncan landed a terrific offbeat role as the Spider's trusty valet Ram Singh, and such performers as Forbes Murray, Marc Lawrence, and Charles Wilson filled the supporting roles. Standing alongside this formidable cast was newcomer Richard Fiske as Wentworth's best friend and right-hand man, Jackson (the character's first name in the pulps was "Ronald" but this was never mentioned in the serial). It was a key role, and a bad performance in the part might have sabotaged the serial, but Richard delivered a top-quality performance that matched the portrayals of his more seasoned co-stars with no problem.

Above, from left to right: Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan), Nita Van Sloan (Iris Meredith), and Ronald Jackson (Richard Fiske) are imprisoned in an about-to-be-flooded dungeon by the mystery villain the Octopus in this scene from THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938).

Fiske had proven himself an actor to be reckoned with in SPIDER'S WEB, and Columbia retained him for further films. The same year he made the first of four appearances in Columbia's BLONDIE comedies, as Nelson, an office buddy of Dagwood Bumstead. He made his next serial in 1939: an aviation/spy adventure titled THE FLYING G-MEN. The "Flying G-Men" were a group of government agents who took to the sky under the leadership of the mysterious Black Falcon to smash a spy and sabotage ring headed by a villain known as "the Professor." Fiske, along with fellow Columbia contractee Stanley Brown and future stars James Craig and Robert Paige, was one of the G-men, and one of the "suspects" for the hero's true identity. (SPOILERS AHEAD!) Though Paige was ultimately revealed as the Falcon instead of Richard, Fiske nevertheless enjoyed a large share of screen time and some independent action, and his part was essentially a co-hero role.

Above: Richard Fiske (far left) monitors a radio broadcast along with James Craig (standing, center) and Robert Paige (far right) in THE FLYING G-MEN (Columbia, 1939). That’s Eddie Featherston at the radio.

Richard, true to contract player form, played every type of role that came his way at Columbia; he was equally at home co-starring with Buster Keaton in PEST FROM THE WEST and working with B-western star "Wild Bill" Elliott in features like TAMING OF THE WEST or IN EARLY ARIZONA. Richard and Elliott also teamed up for Fiske's third serial, OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON (Columbia, 1939). A near-epic Western cliffhanger, the serial featured Elliott (as the famous Kit Carson) and Fiske (as Cavalry Lieutenant David Brent) leading a wagon train of pioneers westward and battling the mysterious tyrant Pegleg, who was determined to establish his own outlaw empire in the untamed frontier. Both Fiske and Elliott stood off Indian attacks and outlaw raids with courage and resource, and helped to make the serial another action-packed outing, one that always stands with THE SPIDER'S WEB on the lists of Columbia's best cliffhangers.

Above: Wild Bill Elliott (far left) shows an important clue to Iris Meredith while Richard Fiske (center) watches in OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON (Columbia, 1939).

Richard continued to work with Elliott in his B-western series, including the films MAN FROM TUMBLEWEEDS, SON OF DAVY CROCKETT, and ACROSS THE SIERRAS, usually playing hot-headed characters or occasionally (as in TUMBLEWEEDS) an out-and-out villain. He appeared several times with the Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, and other Columbia comedians, and made his last cliffhanger (and his last film under his Columbia contract) in PERILS OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED in 1942. Richard was Constable Brady, sidekick to RCMP Sergeant MacLane (Robert Kellard). The two Mounties, along with heroine Nell O'Day, put a stop to the Indian raids instigated by ruthless badman Mort Ransome (Kenneth MacDonald). Richard did a little freelancing after leaving Columbia. His FLYING G-MEN co-star James Craig got him a role in RKO's VALLEY OF THE SUN, and he played a small but credited part in the classic romantic comedy THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR in 1943; his last movie was a war comedy called DIZZY PILOTS released the same year. He joined the army after completing this film, and was killed in action near LeCroix, France, in the summer of 1944.

As I said at the beginning, Richard Fiske would undoubtedly have become one of the greatest serial heroes, had his career not been cut short so tragically. His peerless sidekick portrayals provided ample proof of that. The earnest young man who died in those bloody last days of WW2 may have been only a sidekick in serials, but in the real world--and in our hearts--he was a bona-fide hero of the first order.

Above: Richard Fiske (center) in his wonderful first serial, THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938), stands with the Spider (Warren Hull, far left), Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan, far right), and Nita Van Sloan (Iris Meredith).