WALTER SANDE
June 9th, 1906 -- November 22nd, 1971

Above: Stellar character actor Walter Sande in the later days of his career.

To the average moviegoer, after having seen the heavy-set, stern-looking Walter Sande in one of his many authoritative character roles--such as the Sheriff in WAR OF THE WORLDS or Paul Revere in JOHNNY TREMAIN--it may be hard to imagine him as a semi-comic serial sidekick, but such he was in the early days of his notable screen career.

Born in Colorado, Sande began studying music at age six, and skipped his last year in college as a young man to start his own band. He met with success in the musical field, and worked as musical director for Twentieth Century Fox's theater chain until 1937, when he entered movies with a small part in the musical GOLDWYN FOLLIES. He served a steady apprenticeship for the next four years, appearing in uncredited or small credited roles. During this time, he made his first two serials: THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (Universal, 1940) and SKY RAIDERS (Universal, 1941), playing small roles as thugs in both. In the early forties, he landed a recurring role in the wonderful Boston Blackie mystery films at Columbia, as the cheerful and invincibly dull-witted police detective Sergeant Matthews, foil of suave hero Blackie (Chester Morris) and irascible police inspector Faraday (Richard Lane).His prominence in the Blackie films led to the first major cliffhanger part of his career, in THE IRON CLAW (Columbia, 1941). As Jack "Flash" Strong, a photographer, Sande served as comic sidekick to reporter hero Charles Quigley, who was attempting to track down the mysterious Iron Claw, a masked villain of unknown intent. Directed by silent comedy great James W. Horne, IRON CLAW emerged as more of a comic parody of a silent serial than a straight rendition of a good one, and Sande, displaying unlooked-for comic flair, did an excellent job holding his own with multi-talented vets like Quigley, Norman Willis, and Forrest Taylor. Though not to such a great extent, his other two serials would both draw on Walter's light comedy capacities, a facet of Sande's talent not often utilized in his later career.

Above, from left to right: Joyce Byrant, Charles Quigley, and Walter Sande in THE IRON CLAW (Columbia, 1941).

Walter over to Universal to play the serial sidekick role he is still best remembered for--Red Pennington, trusty lieutenant to Captain Don Winslow of the US Navy. DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (Universal, 1941) marked the first of two times Sande played Pennington. Made just a month before America entered WWII, the serial was an extremely timely one (and a runaway hit at the time), since it dealt with the struggle of young American Navy officer Winslow (Don Terry) against an Axis saboteur known as the Scorpion (Kurt Katch). Sande's Pennington was a valuable assistant to Terry, always on hand to pull the hero out of a jam, and was equally welcome to the viewer, lightening the war-torn atmosphere of the serial with his breezy, cheerful manner. Terry and Sande reteamed again in 1943 for DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD, an equally successful sequel that found the two Navy heroes transferred to the Coast Guard and once again pitted against the Scorpion (this time played by Nestor Pavia), who had made an alliance with Japanese spies and was helping them to establish a secret air base off the California coast. Terry and Sande again made a great hero-sidekick team, a perfect pair of heroes for wartime audiences to root for.

Above: Walter Sande, left, chats with Don Terry in DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (Universal, 1941), the first of a pair of very popular serials in which Walter played "Red Pennington" to Terry's "Don Winslow."

Above: Don Terry (left) and Walter Sande in the second of the two Don Winslow serials, DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (Universal, 1943).

The popularity of the two Winslow serials got Walter Sande some much-deserved attention from the major studios. He never made another serial, but instead went on to a fine character acting career, appearing opposite Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT), Gary Cooper (in ALONG CAME JONES), Joel McCrea (in WICHITA) and Tyrone Power (in RAWHIDE) to name but a few. He became one of the most prolific character actors in the early days of TV, making multiple appearances on such shows as THE LONE RANGER, DRAGNET, GUNSMOKE, and BONANZA, and had a regular co-starring role on the Canadian/American TV series TUGBOAT ANNIE, playing Captain Bullwinkle opposite Minerva Urecal's Annie. Suffice it to say that, by the time he passed away in 1971, Walter had rendered himself an instantly familiar face to TV and movie audiences alike. Not all of them knew his name, but they always knew they had seen that burly, serious gent before when he stepped onto the screen. Not all of them knew of Sande's serials at the outset of his career, but those who did felt enjoyment and satisfaction at knowing a great cliffhanger sidekick had achieved wider (and well-merited) recognition.

Above: Walter Sande (far right) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on the set of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.

Above: Sande (right) and Don Terry prepare for action in another lobby card for DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (Universal, 1943).