Harry Cording

Harry Cording
Cording (right) in The Great Alaskan Mystery, 1944
Born	Hector William Cording 26 April 1891 Wellington, Somerset, England
Died	1 September 1954 (aged 63) Sun Valley, California, U.S.
Resting place	Glen Haven Memorial Park, Sylmar, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1925–1954
Spouse(s)	Margaret Fiero (m. 1938)
Children	4

Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was a British character actor.

Life and career

Cording was born Hector William Cording on April 26, 1891 in Wellington, Somerset. He was brought up and was educated in his native England,^[1] and later settled permanently in Los Angeles, California, where he began a film career. His first role was as a henchmen in The Knockout (1925), followed by similar roles over the next few years. Cording appeared in many Hollywood films from the 1920s to the 1950s. With an imposing six-foot height, stocky build and perhaps due to his uncomfortable resemblance to veteran movie bad guy Oskar Homolka, "Harry the Henchman" usually portrayed thugs, villains' henchmen and policemen.^[2]

Cording's most notable roles were probably as the villainous Dickon Malbete, Captain of the Guard in Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood and as Thamal, the hulking henchman to Bela Lugosi's character in 1934's The Black Cat. As a contract player at Universal in the 1940s, he turned up in tiny parts in many of their horror films, such as The Wolf Man.

Having appeared in a bit role in 20th Century-Fox's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone (1939), he went on to appear in supporting and bit parts in seven of the twelve Universal Studios Sherlock Holmes films in which Rathbone starred.

Cording died on September 1, 1954.^[3] The cause of death was not documented. His wife was Margaret Cording, née Fiero, (1912-1991), a native of Michigan; their daughter, Margaret Rose, was born on November 7, 1939. The Cordings lived at 4104 Farmdale Avenue, North Hollywood. Harry Cording was an active member of the Loyal Order of Moose fraternity.

Selected filmography

• The Knockout (1925)
• The Squall (1929)
• The Isle of Lost Ships (1929) - Gallagher
• Christina (1929) - Dick Torpe
• Women Everywhere (1930)
• Night Beat (1931)
• Secrets of the French Police (1932) - a man reading a newspaper
• The Black Cat (1934)
• Captain Blood (1935)
• Daniel Boone (1936)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

    Son of Frankenstein (1939)

• Marshal of Mesa City (1939)
• The Sun Never Sets (1939)
• Law and Order (1940)

   The Ghost of Frankenstein 1942

The Pearl of Death (1944)

• Sudan (1945)
• Prelude to Murder (1945)
• Samson and Delilah (1949)
• Against All Flags (1952)
• Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952, uncredited)
• Brave Warrior (1952)
• Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
• King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
• Jungle Gents (1954)
• East of Eden (1955)

References

1. Harry Cording at the Internet Movie Database
2. Cozad, W. Lee (2006). More Magnificent Mountain Movies. Sunstroke Media. p. 27. ISBN 978-0972337236.
3. "Harry Cording Biography". The Missing Link. Retrieved 22 June 2016.

External links

• Harry Cording at the Internet Movie Database
• Harry Cording at Find a Grave
• Works by or about Harry Cording at Internet Archive