Villain of the Month: Fred Kohler
Boris Karloff once said being typecast is the best thing that can ever happen to an actor, because it means continual work in films. This was certainly true of character actor Fred Kohler, one of those rare actors who effortlessly made the transition from Silents to Talkies. A hulking, barrel chested man with hands the size of a gorilla and less than matinee idol looks, Kohler perfectly epitomized the western villain. From his screen debut in Polly of the Storm Country (1920) until his untimely death after making The Painted Desert (1938) Kohler was almost always cast as a carpetbagger style western bad guy out to sell whiskey to Indians and cheat widows out of her mortgages. If there were any dogs around, he could be counted on to kick them.
A quick look at his resume shows an impressive list of films that include Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), Roadhouse Nights (1930), Frisco Kid (1935) and Gangs of New York (1938). Serial fans will always remember him as the ruthless Aaron Burr who makes a deal with Russia for California to become one of their colonies with himself as Governor in exchange for gold from a mine he discovered on another man’s property. After killing the landowner and taking over the territory, Burr is constantly thwarted by the Zorro inspired masked Eagle, who is actually the son of the man he murdered and passes himself off as a peaceful church organist until the Eagle is needed to ride in Republic’s first western serial, The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936).
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