TREVOR BARDETTE
November 19th, 1902 -- November 28th, 1977

Above: Trevor Bardette, an accomplished character actor and a memorable serial villain. This portrait comes from an episode of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN entitled "The Human Bomb" (and yes, Bardette was indeed the title character).

Thin, long-faced, and intellectual-looking, Trevor Bardette might at first sight seem an unlikely serial villain. His bookish, mild-mannered air was deceptive, however. Bardette, solely by acting talent, could petrify an audience just as well as the more evil-looking Eduardo Cianelli or the more physically intimidating Roy Barcroft. Bardette's cold, steely eyes and equally icy vocal delivery made him a force to be reckoned with among serial villains. He was the type of boss villain you didn't disobey--if you valued your life. His two best serial villain characterizations were among the most utterly ruthless heavies in serialdom. Both of these roles were for Columbia, but he did one serial each for Republic and Universal, too. His parts in these latter two weren't as meaty as his Columbia roles, but he gave both of them all he had. Trevor was a true professional, a quiet-spoken, articulate actor who studied and prepared for his serial parts as completely if they had been starring roles in big-budget epics.

Above: Another photo of Bardette from his later TV days; this time in the Twilight Zone episode "One More Pallbearer."

Born in the Deep South (Alabama, to be exact) in 1902, Bardette came to Hollywood in the late 1930s. His first movie was BORDERLAND, a Hopalong Cassidy western, in 1937. Trevor played Colonel Gonzales, a Mexican military officer who called on Cassidy (William Boyd) to help him run down an outlaw called the Fox. Bardette reprised this role in IN OLD MEXICO, filmed the following year, and made appearances in such films as THE OKLAHOMA KID (as an Indian), CHARLIE CHAN ON TREASURE ISLAND (as a Turk), and even GONE WITH THE WIND. All this was before he entered the cliffhanger world with his first serial, OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON (Columbia, 1939).

THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH SHOULD NOT BE READ BY THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON, AS IT GIVES AWAY A CRUCIAL PLOT POINT. THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE SERIAL SHOULD PROCEED TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.

OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON starred the great William "Wild Bill" Elliott as Kit Carson, who was attempting to guide a group of pioneers safely to their destination despite interference from the Black Raiders. The Raiders were a vicious outlaw band headed by the mysterious Pegleg, who had a fake wooden limb and a long, ugly scar as part his disguise. Trevor, along with LeRoy Mason, Kenneth MacDonald, and many others, played one of the suspects for Pegleg's other identity. As it turned out, Bardette was indeed the fiendish outlaw leader, and wound up being stomped to death by his own killer horse, Midnight, when Kit Carson unmasked him. Pegleg was unique among mystery villains in that he was played in both identities by the same actor--Trevor. Despite the fact that Bardette was heavily disguised in both identities, most fans seem to find it easy to figure out that Trevor is the evil outlaw. At any rate, Bardette made Pegleg a cold-blooded, merciless figure, just as willing to decimate his own men as eliminate the good guys. Jon Tuska, author of several film books, thinks there was a touch of the similarly one-legged Captain Ahab in Bardette's fanatical Pegleg; Trevor himself did not deny it. As he said once, "I did not consciously copy Ahab...but I had read MOBY DICK and an actor is inclined to organize his total experience when preparing a role." Bardette found the Pegleg outfit, which included a fake wooden leg, exceedingly painful to wear for more than an hour at a time, but he conquered this difficulty and many others to deliver one of the most chilling heavy portrayals to be found in the cliffhanger form.

Above: Trevor Bardette as the ruthless frontier badman Pegleg in OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON (Columbia, 1939).

Universal's 1940 Western cliffhanger WINNERS OF THE WEST featured Trevor as Raven, a henchman to western tyrant King Carter (Harry Woods). Clad in a black suit (hence his nickname) and wearing a mustache and goatee, Bardette presented a very sinister appearance that was accentuated by his eerie little quirk of perpetually stroking his sleeve or hat whenever he was in conference with the other heavies. It was a small role, but Trevor definitely made the most of it as he helped Woods give hero Dick Foran--who was trying to help get a railroad built--as hard a time as possible.

Bardette's third serial gave him his only good guy role, but it was a short-lived one. As Dr. Meredith, noble physician father of Nyoka Meredith (Frances Gifford) in JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941) Bardette was killed off to further the plots of diamond-seeking jungle pirate Slick Latimer (Gerald Mohr) in the first chapter--but as Bradley Meredith, the Doctor's evil twin brother, he worked with Latimer to obtain a native tribe's diamond cache--until he tried to doublecross Slick in the last chapter and was murdered by his fellow conspirator. In the meanwhile, he masqueraded as his brother in order to insure the help of his unsuspecting niece and of heroic pilot Jack Stanton (Tom Neal). Bardette showed his versatility by playing his weaselly character just as well as his brilliant head villains. His evil Bradley came off as a greedy, selfish coward, continually afraid as to whether Nyoka will penetrate his disguise and panicking at the slightest opportunity only to be put down and scornfully reassured by Mohr.

Above: Trevor Bardette, as the good Dr. Meredith (holding the medallion), conducts his daughter Nyoka (Frances Gifford) and pilot Jack Stanton (Tom Neal) on a tour of the Nakros caves in the first chapter of JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941).

Above: The villainous Bradley Meredith (Trevor Bardette) finally gets his greedy hands on a long-sought cache of African diamonds in this scene from JUNGLE GIRL (Republic, 1941).

Trevor's final serial, a Columbia like his first, was probably his finest. THE SECRET CODE (Columbia, 1942), one of the most popular of all Columbia's serials, dealt with the adventures of Dan Barton (Paul Kelly), a discharged policeman who attempted to infiltrate a gang of Nazi spies and saboteurs. Bardette was Jensen, the spy ring's icy, sinister leader, who led a double life as the apparently doddering, hard-of-hearing owner of a camera store. Jensen used his friendship with the police desk sergeant to eavesdrop at police headquarters and pick up information with his phony hearing aid (which was actually a radio). The part of this devious spy was a challenging one, and Bardette rose to the challenge. The role gave him the opportunity to be menacing and ruthless but also to be dryly humorous as he hoodwinks everyone around him into believing him to be a "harmless old duffer." Whenever Bardette's Jensen dropped his absent-minded act and became the ruthless spy leader, it was really startling, almost as if the character was being portrayed by two different actors--a true testament to Trevor's monumental talent and a great climax to his serial career.

Above: Ludwig Donath, Trevor Bardette, and Beal Wong strike sinister, if slightly ridiculous, poses in this publicity picture from THE SECRET CODE (Columbia, 1942).

Above: Paul Kelly (far left) gets the drop on a roomful of spies in this lobbycard crop. From left to right: Gregory Gaye, Ludwig Donath, Rudolph Anders, and finally Trevor Bardette, who played the master villain in THE SECRET CODE (Columbia, 1942).

Bardette continued to add many colorful portrayals to his acting resume after leaving serials, including guest spots on the SUPERMAN show as Bet-a-Million Butler (in "The Human Bomb", pictured above) and a gangster masquerading as the spirit of Julius Caesar in the episode "Great Caesar's Ghost." He was featured in several Allan Lane B-westerns (including a terrific role in THE WYOMING BANDIT), and acted alongside of Randolph Scott in RAGE AT DAWN (in which Trevor played the lynch mob leader who violently dispatched the Reno Brothers, played by Forrest Tucker, Myron Healey and J. Carroll Naish). He also turned in a dynamic performance as Robert Mitchum’s father in THUNDER ROAD, and had a recurring part on THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP as the tough outlaw patriarch Old Man Clanton. He made his final screen appearance in MACKENNA'S GOLD in 1969, and passed away in 1977, at his ranch in Arizona.

Trevor Bardette was an actor who denied relegation to the background. Even in the smallest parts in A-movies, he was always a noticeable presence, and serials gave that strong presence a chance to really shine. All of his cliffhanger characterizations stand out in the serial villain canon, and even today, we continue to shudder at Bardette's unmitigated villainy while relishing his wonderful acting ability. The man from Alabama certainly made a solid contribution to the serial world.

Above: Trevor, looking extremely sinister, in a publicity portrait taken sometime in the early forties.