CHARLES MIDDLETON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Charles Middleton was born on October 3rd, 1874 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to a very wealthy family.  Even though he did not need to work to help out his family in any financial way, he enjoyed performing and chose that path for his career.
 
He began as a teenager performing in carnivals and circuses and then joined a traveling vaudeville in the 1890's.  He then started working as a stage actor in live theater performances.  It was in 1920, that Middleton then took a chance at a career in the film industry at the age of forty six.

He had such a threatening voice that portraying a villain character came very easy to him.  In 1932, Middleton was cast in the film, "The Strange Love of Molly Louvain", followed by some work with Paramount Pictures, "This Day and Age" (1933) and "Duck Soup" (1933).  He was also able to do some work with Universal Pictures on the film, "Show Boat" (1936).
 
Charles  Middleton was not tied down to one contract with one particular film company which gave him the opportunity to work with different actors and directors.  It would come to by that by the end of his career he would have appeared in almost 200 films and quite a variety of stage productions. 
 
Due to his strong facial features that resembled Abraham Lincoln, he had the opportunity to play Lincoln in a couple different projects.  First in a public short project in, "The Road is Open Again" (1933).  Then in the comedy, "Stand-In" (1937) and he also portrayed Lincoln's father in, "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1940).
 
Middleton is also very well known for his role as, 'Ming the Merciless', a villain type character in the serial adventures between 1935 and 1937.  A total of three Flash Gordon serials, "Flash Gordon" (1936), "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" (1938) and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940) featured this character.
 
He also appeared on, "Dick Tracy Returns", "Daredevils of the Red Circle" and "Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy".  Middleton had a very successful  career and a pretty easy personal life.  He married once to his wife, Leora Spellman and he had one child, Leora born in 1926.      

Charles Middleton passed away on April 22nd, 1949, after suffering a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.  He was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. 

Filmography

1949   The Last Bandit  
1948   The Decision of Christopher Blake 
1948   Jiggs and Maggie in Court 
1948   Station West  
1948   Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' 
1948   Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House  
1948   Here Comes Trouble  
1948   My Girl Tisa  
1947   Road to Rio 
1947   Unconquered  
1947   The Pretender 
1947   Wyoming 
1947   Gunfighters  
1947   Welcome Stranger  
1947   The Sea of Grass 
1947   Jack Armstrong
1946   The Killers 
1946   Spook Busters  
1946   Strangler of the Swamp 
1945   How Doooo You Do!!!  
1945   Who's Guilty?  
1945   Northwest Trail 
1945   Our Vines Have Tender Grapes 
1945   Hollywood and Vine  
1944   The Town Went Wild  
1944   Black Arrow  
1944   Kismet
1944   The Desert Hawk  
1943   Wagon Wheels West
1943   Crazy House
1943   Oklahoma Outlaws 
1943   Batman  
1943   Boobs in the Night 
1943   The Black Raven  
1943   Spook Louder
1943   Hangmen Also Die!  
1943   Two Weeks to Live
1942   Perils of Nyoka  
1942   Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die  
1942   Men of San Quentin  
1942   Mystery of Marie Roget
1942   Sing Your Worries Away 
1942   Wild Bill Hickok Rides 
1941   Jungle Man  
1941   Stick to Your Guns
1941   Belle Starr  
1941   Wild Geese Calling
1941   The Shepherd of the Hills  
1941   Sergeant York 
1941   Ride, Kelly, Ride 
1941   Western Union  
1940   Chad Hanna 
1940   Santa Fe Trail 
1940   Rangers of Fortune 
1940   Brigham Young  
1940   Gold Rush Maisie  
1940   Women in Hiding
1940   Island of Doomed Men
1940   Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise  
1940   Shooting High  
1940   Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe  
1940   Virginia City 
1940   The Grapes of Wrath  
1940   Abe Lincoln in Illinois 
1939   Thou Shalt Not Kill  
1939   Gone with the Wind
1939   Cowboys from Texas
1939   Allegheny Uprising  
1939   The Flying Deuces 
1939   $1000 a Touchdown  
1939   Blackmail  
1939   One Against the World
1939   Way Down South  
1939   Wyoming Outlaw
1939   Daredevils of the Red Circle 
1939   Captain Fury
1939   Juarez 
1939   The Oklahoma Kid 
1939   Jesse James
1938   Kentucky 
1938   Strange Case of Dr. Meade  
1938   The Law West of Tombstone 
1938   Strange Faces  
1938   Dick Tracy Returns 
1938   Flaming Frontiers  
1938   Joaquin Murrieta
1938   Rascals
1938   Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars 
1938   Jezebel 
1937   The Man Without a Country
1937   Stand-In  
1937   Conquest 
1937   The Last Train from Madrid  
1937   Slave Ship  
1937   Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge  
1937   Hollywood Cowboy
1937   Two Gun Law  
1937   We're on the Jury 
1937   The Good Earth 
1936   Empty Saddles
1936   Career Woman
1936   Wedding Present  
1936   Ramona  
1936   The Texas Rangers  
1936   Jailbreak
1936   A Son Comes Home 
1936   Show Boat
1936   I Flash Gordon  
1936   Song of the Saddle  
1936   Road Gang 
1936   The Trail of the Lonesome Pine  
1936   Sunset of Power  
1936   Rose of the Rancho  
1935   Frisco Kid 
1935   The Virginia Judge 
1935   Special Agent 
1935   Steamboat Round the Bend
1935   Hop-a-long Cassidy
1935   Reckless  
1935   The Miracle Rider
1935   Red Morning  
1935   In Spite of Danger  
1935   The Fixer Uppers 
1935   Square Shooter  
1935   The County Chairman
1934   Behold My Wife
1934   Broadway Bill  
1934   The St. Louis Kid  
1934   Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch  
1934   When Strangers Meet 
1934   Whom the Gods Destroy
1934   Murder at the Vanities
1934   Private Scandal
1934   The Last Round-Up 
1934   David Harum  
1934   Nana  
1934   Massacre  
1933   Mr. Skitch
1933   Lone Cowboy
1933   The World Changes
1933   Duck Soup  
1933   White Woman 
1933   Big Executive
1933   The Bowery
1933   Doctor Bull  
1933   This Day and Age
1933   Tomorrow at Seven  
1933   Disgraced!  
1933   The Mystic Hour  
1933   Sunset Pass
1933   Destination Unknown
1933   Pick-up 
1933   No Other Woman 
1933   The Road Is Open Again
1932   Too Busy to Work  
1932   Silver Dollar  
1932   The Sign of the Cross 
1932   Rockabye 
1932   I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 
1932   Breach of Promise 
1932   Hell's Highway
1932   The Phantom President  
1932   Pack Up Your Troubles 
1932   Mystery Ranch  
1932   The Strange Love of Molly Louvain  
1932   The Hatchet Man  
1932   High Pressure 
1932   Forbidden  
1931   Manhattan Parade
1931   X Marks the Spot 
1931   Beau Hunks  
1931   Safe in Hell  
1931   A House Divided  
1931   The Ruling Voice  
1931   Sob Sister  
1931   A Dangerous Affair  
1931   Palmy Days  
1931   Caught Plastered  
1931   An American Tragedy 
1931   The Miracle Woman  
1931   Ships of Hate 
1931   Full of Notions 
1930   The Devil's Cabaret
1930   East Is West  
1930   Way Out West  
1930   Beau Bandit  
1929   Welcome Danger
1929   The Far Call  
1929   Bellamy Trial  
1928   The Farmer's Daughter
1928   Pirates of the Pines 
1928   A Man of Peace 
1922   The Evil Dead 
1920   The $1,000,000 Reward  
1920   Wits vs. Wits