Villain of the Month: George Eldredge
A popular character actor for over thirty years Eldredge was a familar face at Universal, appearing in small roles in their horror and mystery films; Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Calling Dr. Death (1943) and Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943) to name just a few. He garnered far meatier roles in his serial appearances.
His first serial was Republic’s Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) playing the rich and bigotted playboy who eventually tries to kill jungle raised Kioga rather than take him back to civilization when their escape plane can’t take everyone along. Over at Universal he had small parts in Gangbusters (1942) and Adventures of Smilin’ Jack (1943) before playing a major role as one the Prussian spies stealing gold during the last days of the American Civil War in Raiders of Ghost City (1944). He played similar roles in Jungle Queen (1945) and Secret Agent X-9 (1945), before getting his biggest role at Universal. The Royal Mounted Rides Again (1945) featured Eldredge as a henchman who gets fed up with taking most of the risks and getting little of the reward from the secret gold mine the main villains are working and pulls several double crosses, making himself a third major villain for the heroes to deal with.
Eldredge finished out his Universal tenure with small roles in Lost City of the Jungle (1946) and The Mysterious Mr. M (1946). Eldredge would not appear in another serial until five years later playing the main villain The Baron in Columbia’s Roar of the Iron Horse (1951) trying to prevent a railroad being constructed though a valley that contains millions in diamonds. His final serial role was a scientist helping an alien invader soften up Earth for an invasion in Columbia’s adaptation of the popular TV show Captain Video (1951).
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