Villain of the Month: Eugene Burr
During the silent era, Eugene Burr was a popular character actor. He appeared in Captain of his Soul (1918) with popular leading man William Desmond, Bell Boy 13 (1923) and House of Terror (1928) with Pat J. O’Brien.
His most popular screen appearance was in the serial adaptation of Son of Tarzan (1920), playing the Jungle Lord’s recurring nemesis in the early books (The Return of Tarzan, The Beasts of Tarzan and Son of of Tarzan) Ivan Paulovich. Though in the book Paulovich is killed by an ape after kidnapping the son of his mortal enemy, the serial takes some liberties and has the miscreant survive the attack and follow the young Korack to Africa to continue menacing him, and his eventual true love Meriem, over the course of many years.
When the sound era came Burr was relagated to a bit player almost over night, appearing Tillie and Gus (1933), Anna Karenina (1935) and The Clutching Hand (1936) serial.
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