Comments on: Hank Worden: Ol’ Mose Knows

By: Jim Beaver

Jim Beaver — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:21:22 +0000

Hank was Caucasian. His family was English on both sides.

By: raven becky smothers

raven becky smothers — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:52:50 +0000

what race is hank? some movies he looks like a light skin black man others he looks white

By: Thomas Seaton

Thomas Seaton — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:14:29 +0000

Great!!! I never knew Hanks name until now. Thanks He was one the great unsung actors. Looking forward to more.

By: Chris Evans

Chris Evans — Sat, 01 May 2010 16:15:34 +0000

Excellent, excellent article. I also liked Worden’s performance in the underrated John Ford film, ‘Wagon Master’. The characters that he played were very convincing.

It was interesting that Worden (though his last name was misspelled in the credits) was used by John Milius in his surfing epic ‘Big Wednesday’ as a link to the films of John Ford.

I hope you do further articles on wonderful character actors like Warren Oates, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, etc.

Thanks,
Chris

By: Joe C. Copeland

Joe C. Copeland — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:45:37 +0000

Loved your article on Hank Worden. I’ve known his name for many years but not the biography you printed. Another great character acter in John Wayne movies was Strother Martin. Any chance you can do a similar article on him?
Keep up the sensational work.

By: donny h.

donny h. — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:12:56 +0000

great piece i,ve enjoyed hanks work for years

By: Jim Beaver

Jim Beaver — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:33:57 +0000

Thanks for this lovely piece on old Hank. He was one of my dearest friends and my roommate for several years when I was just starting out in Hollywood. A more generous, good-hearted man never existed, and I treasure not only his hundreds of film appearances but the memory of our time as friends. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Hank, but this piece had a couple of revelations even for me. Thank you.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:52:31 +0000

Great article about a memorable actor. Do you have any information on Jack Pennick, the ‘dog-faced’ actor in many John Ford movies? It’s become a hobby to try and spot him in other movies.

By: Jack Q.

Jack Q. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:23:38 +0000

When I was in high school in the mid 40s, I worked as an usher in the big theaters, but the usher life is another story. Ushers on a regular schedule would see a movie 14 times a week. That much exposure would get us deep into a movie by the end of the week. We had the stars’ performances covered, the supporters and the authenticity of the sets and details and all the things that that you see in credits that go into a movie. Some of our favorite parts were watching character actors show up again in another role, maybe smaller this time or bigger. In addition to actors like Worden, there were many others that caught our imagination. That ever-mean Nazi, Martin Koslek, and his oily WWII Japanese counterpart (I think he was Chinese), Richard Loo. With a smarmy smile “American dog, I was educated in your universities.” One of my favorites was most usually a very bad guy and often played in John Ford’s and other westerns. That was Tom Tyler who lost the off-screen duel with John Wayne’s Ringo Kid in Stagecoach and went down before Errol Flynn’s guns in (I think) WB’s “San Antonio” and Wayne’s again in “Red River”. When his role wasn’t that prominent, he was often one of Ford’s many cavalrymen or one of a bunch of cowboys. He did get his starring role in a serial. He played “The Phantom” and I didn’t miss an episode of the “ghost who walks”. That was before my ushering days as many of his movies came out before and after my ushering years. Great character actors “made” a lot of the films I’d see 14 times a week. If the quality of performance ran deep in a film, one didn’t tire of studying it. We knew lots of character actors for their schticks. Regis Toomey always died in his movies. Bob Steele was always a very mean guy. And so many others: Andy Devine, Chill Wills, Ben Johnson, Agnes Moorehead, Elisha Cook, Jr., Alan Hale. What would “On the Waterfront” have been without those character actors? What were they really like when they left work for the day? Who did they hang out with? I’d like TCM to run a series of movies based on character actors and their impact on movies. Thanks for a very nice article on Hank Worden. I haven’t spent time on TCM blogs, but I will.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:59:05 +0000

I never knew this character actor’s name until today–even though his presence brightened both good and bad movies over the years. Thanks so much for filling in the blanks on Hank Worden.