Frank Reicher

Frank Reicher (December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American stage and film actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film King Kong.

Reicher made his Broadway debut the year he came to America playing Lord Tarquin in Harrison Fiske's production of Becky Sharp, a comedy by Langdon Mitchell based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. His early career was spent in legitimate theater on and off Broadway. He was head of the Brooklyn Stock Company when Jacob P. Adler performed The Merchant of Venice in Yiddish while the rest of the cast remained in English. Reicher was for a number of years affiliated with the Little Theatre on West Forty-Fourth Street as an actor and manager and would remain active on Broadway as actor, director or producer well into the 1920s. On stage, Reicher starred in such plays as the first Broadway production of Georg Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight (as the cashier), and the original production of Percy MacKaye's The Scarecrow (in the title role).

Frank Reicher is probably more familiar to modern audiences as a supporting character actor in films. He began his cinema career with an uncredited role in the 1915 film The Case for Becky and would go on to work in over two hundred motion pictures. He is probably best remembered for playing the character of Captain Englehorn in King Kong and The Son of Kong, and for his work in such films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950). His last Hollywood role was in the very first theatrical Superman movie, Superman and the Mole Men, in 1951.

Frank Reicher died at a hospital in Inglewood, California, aged 89. He was survived by his sister and a brother. His interment was at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

Filmography (187 Appearances)

Titans of Destruction: The Evolution of Giant Monster Movies

2021

Adventures of Superman

1952

Superman and the Mole Men

1951

The Lady and the Bandit

1951

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

1950

Samson and Delilah

1949

Barbary Pirate

1949

The Gallant Blade

1948

I, Jane Doe

1948

Carson City Raiders

1948

Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad

1948

Escape Me Never

1947

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1947

Monsieur Verdoux

1947

Violence

1947

Yankee Fakir

1947

Home in Oklahoma

1946

Sister Kenny

1946

The Shadow Returns

1946

A Guy Could Change

1946

The Tiger Woman

1945

Voice of the Whistler

1945

Phantoms, Inc.

1945

A Medal for Benny

1945

The Jade Mask

1945

The Strange Mr. Gregory

1945

The Big Bonanza

1944

House of Frankenstein

1944

The Conspirators

1944

The Mummy's Ghost

1944

Gildersleeve's Ghost

1944

Address Unknown

1944

Captain America

1944

Tornado

1943

Bomber's Moon

1943

Background to Danger

1943

Yanks Ahoy

1943

Above Suspicion

1943

Mission to Moscow

1943

Plan for Destruction

1943

The Mummy's Tomb

1942

Night Monster

1942

Scattergood Survives a Murder

1942

Secret Enemies

1942

The Gay Sisters

1942

Beyond the Blue Horizon

1942

The Mystery of Marie Roget

1942

To Be or Not to Be

1942

Nazi Agent

1942

Dangerously They Live

1941

One Foot in Heaven

1941

Underground

1941

Shining Victory

1941

The Nurse's Secret

1941

They Dare Not Love

1941

Flight from Destiny

1941

The Face Behind the Mask

1941

Four Mothers

1941

Sky Murder

1940

The Man I Married

1940

The Lady in Question

1940

South to Karanga

1940

All This, and Heaven Too

1940

Typhoon

1940

Dr. Cyclops

1940

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet

1940

Everything Happens at Night

1939

South of the Border

1939

Our Neighbors - The Carters

1939

Ninotchka

1939

Sabotage

1939

The Escape

1939

Nurse Edith Cavell

1939

The Magnificent Fraud

1939

Juarez

1939

Sons of Liberty

1939

Mystery of the White Room

1939

Never Say Die

1939

Society Smugglers

1939

Woman Doctor

1939

Devil's Island

1939

The Girl Downstairs

1938

Torchy Gets Her Man

1938

Suez

1938

Letter of Introduction

1938

I'll Give a Million

1938

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

1938

City Streets

1938

Rascals

1938

Prison Nurse

1938

Prescription for Romance

1937

Beg, Borrow or Steal

1937

Stage Door

1937

Fit for a King

1937

On Such a Night

1937

West Bound Limited

1937

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937

Midnight Madonna

1937

The Road Back

1937

Night Key

1937

Espionage

1937

The Great O'Malley

1937

Stolen Holiday

1937

Man Of The People

1937

The Mighty Treve

1937

Under Cover of Night

1937

Camille

1936

Sinner Take All

1936

Laughing at Trouble

1936

Along Came Love

1936

The Gorgeous Hussy

1936

Star for a Night

1936

Anthony Adverse

1936

Second Wife

1936

Girls' Dormitory

1936

The Devil-Doll

1936

Under Two Flags

1936

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

1936

Murder on a Bridle Path

1936

Till We Meet Again

1936

The Country Doctor

1936

Sutter's Gold

1936

The Story of Louis Pasteur

1936

The Invisible Ray

1936

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

1936

Magnificent Obsession

1935

The Great Impersonation

1935

Kind Lady

1935

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

1935

Rendezvous

1935

Charlie Chan in Egypt

1935

Star of Midnight

1935

The Florentine Dagger

1935

A Dog of Flanders

1935

Straight from the Heart

1935

The Casino Murder Case

1935

Life Returns

1935

Mills of the Gods

1934

Secret of the Chateau

1934

I Am a Thief

1934

The Case of the Howling Dog

1934

British Agent

1934

The Fountain

1934

Return of the Terror

1934

Let's Talk It Over

1934

The Line-Up

1934

Men in White

1934

No Greater Glory

1934

The Countess of Monte Cristo

1934

Journal of a Crime

1934

Hi, Nellie!

1934

The Son of Kong

1933

Captured!

1933

Before Dawn

1933

Jennie Gerhardt

1933

A Bedtime Story

1933

King Kong

1933

Topaze

1933

Employees' Entrance

1933

Flesh

1932

Scarlet Dawn

1932

The Crooked Circle

1932

A Woman Commands

1932

Mata Hari

1931

Suicide Fleet

1931

The Sin of Madelon Claudet

1931

Beyond Victory

1931

Gentleman's Fate

1931

Billy the Kid

1930

Every Woman's Longing

1930

Strictly Unconventional

1930

The Grand Parade

1930

Girl of the Port

1930

Mister Antonio

1929

Her Private Affair

1929

Paris Bound

1929

Black Waters

1929

Strange Cargo

1929

His Captive Woman

1929

Sins of the Fathers

1928

Someone to Love

1928

Napoleon's Barber

1928

The Masks of the Devil

1928

The Blue Danube

1928

Four Sons

1928

Beau Sabreur

1928

Her Man o' War

1926 Debut
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