Frank McHugh
Active - 1930 - 1967 | Born - May 23, 1898 in Homestead, PA | Died - Sep 11, 1981 in Greenwich, CT | Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance, Musical, Crime | Height: 5’ 7”
At age ten, Frank McHugh began performing in his parent’s stock company, side by side with his siblings Matt and Kitty. By age 17, McHugh was resident juvenile with the Marguerite Bryant stock company. Extensive vaudeville experience followed, and in 1925 McHugh made his first Broadway appearance in The Fall Guy; three years later, he made his movie debut in a Vitaphone short. Hired by Warner Bros. for the small role of a motorcycle driver in 1930’s The Dawn Patrol, McHugh appeared in nearly 70 Warners films over the next decade. With his nervous laugh and hangdog look, he appeared in over 90 movies in the first dozen years he worked at Warners.
He was often cast as the hero’s best pal or as drunken comedy relief; his peculiar trademark was a lightly braying laugh. Highlight performances during his Warners tenure included Jimmy Cagney’s pessimistic choreographer in Footlight Parade (1933), “rude mechanical” Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), an erstwhile poet and horserace handicapper in Three Men on a Horse (1936) and a friendly pickpocket in One Way Passage (1932) -- a role he’d repeat word-for-word in Till We Meet Again, 1940 remake of Passage. He continued showing up in character roles in such films as Going My Way (1944) and A Tiger Walks (1964) until the late 1960s. McHugh was also a regular on the 1960s TV series The Bing Crosby Show and F Troop.
Available Films:
Active - 1930 - 1967 | Born - May 23, 1898 in Homestead, PA | Died - Sep 11, 1981 in Greenwich, CT | Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance, Musical, Crime | Height: 5’ 7”
At age ten, Frank McHugh began performing in his parent’s stock company, side by side with his siblings Matt and Kitty. By age 17, McHugh was resident juvenile with the Marguerite Bryant stock company. Extensive vaudeville experience followed, and in 1925 McHugh made his first Broadway appearance in The Fall Guy; three years later, he made his movie debut in a Vitaphone short. Hired by Warner Bros. for the small role of a motorcycle driver in 1930’s The Dawn Patrol, McHugh appeared in nearly 70 Warners films over the next decade. With his nervous laugh and hangdog look, he appeared in over 90 movies in the first dozen years he worked at Warners.
He was often cast as the hero’s best pal or as drunken comedy relief; his peculiar trademark was a lightly braying laugh. Highlight performances during his Warners tenure included Jimmy Cagney’s pessimistic choreographer in Footlight Parade (1933), “rude mechanical” Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), an erstwhile poet and horserace handicapper in Three Men on a Horse (1936) and a friendly pickpocket in One Way Passage (1932) -- a role he’d repeat word-for-word in Till We Meet Again, 1940 remake of Passage. He continued showing up in character roles in such films as Going My Way (1944) and A Tiger Walks (1964) until the late 1960s. McHugh was also a regular on the 1960s TV series The Bing Crosby Show and F Troop.
Available Films:
ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT BACK STREET BULLETS OR BALLOTS CITY FOR CONQUEST CORSAIR CROWD ROARS, THE DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR DODGE CITY |
DUST BE MY DESTINY EX-LADY FIGHTING 69TH, THE FOUR DAUGHTERS FOUR WIVES FRONT PAGE, THE HERE COMES THE NAVY HIGH PRESSURE |
HOUSE ON 56TH STREET I LOVE YOU AGAIN IRISH IN US, THE MANPOWER MARINE RAIDERS MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A MILLIE MOONLIGHT MURDER |
MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, THE ONE WAY PASSAGE PARACHUTE JUMPER ROARING TWENTIES, THE TIL WE MEET AGAIN VELVET TOUCH, THE VIRGINIA CITY WIDOW FROM CHICAGO, THE |
Trivia:
He made 11 movies with his close friend James Cagney, more than any other actor. These were The Crowd Roars (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Here Comes the Navy (1934), Devil Dogs of the Air (1935), The Irish in Us (1935), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), City for Conquest (1940), A Lion Is in the Streets (1953).
Played the same character (the petty thief running away from Chinese authorities) both in One Way Passage (1932) and its remake, 'Til We Meet Again (1940). The character was called Skippy in the first film and Rockhingham T. Rockingham in the second.
He made 11 movies with his close friend James Cagney, more than any other actor. These were The Crowd Roars (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Here Comes the Navy (1934), Devil Dogs of the Air (1935), The Irish in Us (1935), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), City for Conquest (1940), A Lion Is in the Streets (1953).
Played the same character (the petty thief running away from Chinese authorities) both in One Way Passage (1932) and its remake, 'Til We Meet Again (1940). The character was called Skippy in the first film and Rockhingham T. Rockingham in the second.