Max Wagner

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Max Wagner November 28 1901 November 16 1975 was a Mexicanborn American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs gangsters sailors henchmen bodyguards cab drivers and moving men appearing more than 400 films in his career most without receiving screen credit Newspaper gossip columnists noted his rise from playing Gangster 4 with no lines and not carrying a gun to Gangster 2 with both lines and a gun Wagner was one of five children all boys of William Wallace Wagner a railroad conductor and Edith Wagner a writer who provided dispatches for the Christian Science Monitor during the Mexican Revolution When he was 10 years old his father was killed by rebels and the family moved to Salinas California where he met John Steinbeck who became a lifelong friend Steinback based the character of the boy in his novel The Red Pony on Wagner Under the name Max Baron Wagner acted in many Spanishlanguage versions of Englishlanguage films which studios made as a matter of course in the early days of sound films He also served as a Spanish language coach for other actors and appeared in many of the Mexican Spitfire films starring Lupe Vélez where he also served to monitor Velezs Spanish adlibs for profanity Other series that Wagner appeared in include the Charlie Chan films and Tom Mix serials as well as others made by Mascot Pictures Corporation In the 1940s Wagner was part of Preston Sturges unofficial stock company of character actors appearing in six films written and directed by Sturges beginning with The Palm Beach Story In 1940 during the filming of The Mad Doctor Wagner was credited for driving 50000 miles as an onscreen taxi driver on the studio back lots of Hollywood Since his appearance as a cab driver in Charlie Chan in Shanghai 1935 producers often cast him as a wisecracking or henchman taxi driver I was cast as a taxi driver about five years ago Wagner told a reporter And I was typed In 1952 Wagner began to appear on television in episodes of such shows as The Cisco Kid Zane Grey Theater and Perry Mason playing much the same kind of parts he played in the movies He was a regular cast member on the western television series Gunsmoke making nearly 80 appearances between 1959 and 1973 He also appeared in many episodes of The Rifleman Bonanza Cimarron Strip The Wild Wild West and Maverick including a gueststarring role in the 1959 Rifleman episode Blood Brother He also had roles in the original Star Trek and The Twilight Zone series He appeared in more than 200 television episodes between 1952 and 1974 Notable film roles for Wagner include a supporting role in the cult science fiction classic Invaders from Mars 1953 an actor playing a gangster in the filmwithinafilm segment of Bullets or Ballots 1936 and the bull farm attendant in the Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bullfighters 1945 Late in his career he appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 He also occasionally composed music such as the Mexican folk ballad Pedro Rudarte y Simon in the Western film The Last Trail 1933 Wagner died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1975