Villain of the Month: John Kelly
The name might not be familiar, but his round face and heavy set body was a regular sight in many films of the thirties and forties. His film debut was a bit part in After Midnight (1927). With the coming of sound his thick slurring voice kept him going in a prolific career playing hoods, cops, taxi drivers, ex- prize fighters and bartenders. His most well know roles were as the dim witted sheriff in Bringing Up Baby (1938) and the taxi driver accosted by Stanley Ridges in Black Friday (1940).
His only serial was The Green Hornet (1939), playing the hapless henchman Pete. In what must have been a running gag throughout the serial every episode would have the Hornet break up one of the Syndicate’s operations, Pete would take one look at the Hornet beating the stuffing out of the other henchmen, utter the line “He’s too tough for me!”, skedaddle to another criminal operation only to have the Hornet show up there soon after.
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