Max Wagner
Acting
🎂 1901-11-28
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Max Wagner (November 28, 1901 – November 16, 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing more than 400 films in his career, most without receiving screen credit. Newspaper gossip columnists noted his rise from playing "Gangster #4", with no lines, and not carrying a gun, to "Gangster #2", with both lines and a gun. Wagner was one of five children, all boys, of William Wallace Wagner, a railroad conductor, and Edith Wagner, a writer who provided dispatches for the Christian Science Monitor during the Mexican Revolution. When he was 10 years old, his father was killed by rebels and the family moved to Salinas, California, where he met John Steinbeck, who became a lifelong friend. Steinback based the character of the boy in his novel The Red Pony on Wagner. Under the name "Max Baron", Wagner acted in many Spanish-language versions of English-language films, which studios made as a matter of course in the early days of sound films, He also served as a Spanish language coach for other actors, and appeared in many of the "Mexican Spitfire" films starring Lupe Vélez, where he also served to monitor Velez's Spanish ad-libs for profanity. Other series that Wagner appeared in include the Charlie Chan films, and Tom Mix serials, as well as others made by Mascot Pictures Corporation. In the 1940s, Wagner was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in six films written and directed by Sturges, beginning with The Palm Beach Story In 1940 during the filming of "The Mad Doctor", Wagner was credited for driving 50,000 miles as an on-screen taxi driver on the studio back lots of Hollywood. Since his appearance as a cab driver in Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935), producers often cast him as a wise-cracking or henchman taxi driver. "I was cast as a taxi driver about five years ago", Wagner told a reporter. "And I was typed." In 1952, Wagner began to appear on television, in episodes of such shows as The Cisco Kid, Zane Grey Theater and Perry Mason, playing much the same kind of parts he played in the movies. He was a regular cast member on the western television series Gunsmoke, making nearly 80 appearances between 1959 and 1973. He also appeared in many episodes of The Rifleman, Bonanza, Cimarron Strip, The Wild Wild West and Maverick, including a guest-starring role in the 1959 Rifleman episode "Blood Brother." He also had roles in the original Star Trek and The Twilight Zone series. He appeared in more than 200 television episodes between 1952 and 1974. Notable film roles for Wagner include a supporting role in the cult science fiction classic Invaders from Mars (1953), an actor playing a gangster in the film-within-a-film segment of Bullets or Ballots (1936), and the bull farm attendant in the Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bullfighters (1945). Late in his career, he appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also occasionally composed music, such as the Mexican folk ballad "Pedro, Rudarte y Simon" in the Western film The Last Trail (1933). Wagner died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1975.
Cast credits(187)
1958
Derelict (uncredited)
1971
Roller Coaster Operator
1959
First Workman
1952
Townsman (uncredited)
1962
Cashier / Nick's Assistant Bouncer (uncredited)
1946
Spectator (uncredited)
1963
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
1962
Man in Dream Sequence (uncredited)
1968
Villager
1974
Prisoner
1968
Ship Porter (uncredited)
1940
Bartender (uncredited)
1946
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
1969
Workman (uncredited)
1955
Barfly (uncredited)
1965
Bartender (uncredited)
1955
Church Member
1965
Guard (uncredited)
1940
Mike (uncredited)
1945
Pirate (uncredited)
1936
Gangster (uncredited)
1939
Moving Man (uncredited)
1942
1947
Deputy (uncredited)
1942
Dan - Corridor Guard (uncredited)
1937
Army Sgt. Rinaldi
1953
Projectionist (uncredited)
1949
Expressman (uncredited)
1954
Blackjack Dealer
1963
Townsman Watching Fight (uncredited)
1971
1966
Sweeney, Driver (uncredited)
1940
Cashier (uncredited)
1966
Bartender (uncredited)
1945
Drunk (uncredited)
1950
Baggage Man (uncredited)
1937
Assistant Overseer (uncredited)
1947
Military Police Driver (uncredited)
1944
Barfly (uncredited)
1967
Deputy Charlie (uncredited)
1955
Reporter (uncredited)
1957
Policeman (uncredited)
1939
Shirtless Ditchdigger (uncredited)
1940
Citizen (uncredited)
1949
Tom's Best Man (uncredited)
1942
Slade
1934
Music Hall Drunk (Uncredited)
1973
1962
Townsman (uncredited)
1972
Jake (uncredited)
1945
Barfly (uncredited)
1970
Truck Driver in Diner (uncredited)
1937
Thug
1939
Fats Delaney
1941
Jack Purcell (uncredited)
1951
Sergeant
1942
Prison Runner
1937
Durko (uncredited)
1951
Party Guest (uncredited)
1960
Lester - O'Bannion's Driver
1936
Ernest Dallas
1934
Jim
1940
Joe - Truck Driver-Henchman
1939
Moving Man (uncredited)
1946
Baggage Man
1948
Police Lt. Joe Wilson
1939
Villa Luigi Headwaiter
1942
1952
Slade
1934
Policeman Temple (uncredited)
1942
Sailor
1935
Bar Patron (uncredited)
1951
Policeman (uncredited)
1954
Convention Delegate (uncredited)
1960
Sergeant Goring
1957
Chuck Cannon
1937
Reporter
1935
Fisherman (uncredited)
1942
Charles McMahon
1949
Actor Impersonating Kruger in Newsreel (uncredited)
1936
Joe
1940
Reporter (uncredited)
1968
Jailer (uncredited)
1942
Jamison
1941
Bartender
1949
Police Detective (uncredited)
1957
Chinatown Barker
1938
Jake - Trucker in Cafe (uncredited)
1938
Thug
1931
Party Guest (uncredited)
1937
Waiter (uncredited)
1940
Policeman in Car (uncredited)
1933
Pete
1933
Partner
1941
Bet Placing Taxi Driver (uncredited)
1939
Reporter (uncredited)
1932
Second Investigating Detective (Uncredited)
1948
Diner Trying to Date Helen
1936
Gus
1937
Soldier
1940
Hanley's Strong-Arm Man
1939
Headwaiter
1939
Townsman (uncredited)
1948
Truck Driver
1940
School Bus Driver (uncredited)
1937
Max - Radioman
1940
Reporter
1935
Station Agent (uncredited)
1953
Radio Operator (uncredited)
1931
Streetcar Conductor
1940
Sailor at Wrestling Match
1939
Man Outside Hotel
1936
Nolan's Henchman (uncredited)
1939
Marine
1937
Evans - Bob's Chauffeur
1934
Blackie
1938
Taxi Driver Henchman
1935
Truck Driver
1945
Umpire (uncredited)
1949
Gibson
1935
Soldier
1936
Sailor (uncredited)
1944
Convict Road Laborer (uncredited)
1930
Sam, Second Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
1936
Cell Block E Convict (uncredited)
1937
Mike
1948
Highway Patrol Officer
1940
Himself (uncredited)
1936
Boss Mechanic
1939
Max
1934
Henchman Kincaid
1938
Gangster
1935
Buck
1942
Workman
1939
Bus Driver Jackson (uncredited)
1940
Bill - Policeman in Car 43
1940
Cab Driver (Uncredited)
1940
Tough Casino Decoy
1938
Shakey
1937
Cherry's Cabbie
1940
Jack - Diner Counterman (uncredited)
1942
Fireman
1936
Hold-Up Man
1934
Reporter
1936
Bartender
1941
Morley
1935
Guest
1938
Cowboy
1940
Guest
1939
Convict Football Player
1934
Pug O'Leary
1936
Grip
1934
Ferguson - Pilot
1930
Guard (uncredited)
1942
Headwaiter - Mexican Pete's
1940
Brings in Rustler
1939
Sergeant George Dunne
1944
Henchman
1936
George
1945
Joey
1937
Bartender
1927
Milkman's Helper on Dock
1936
Sam Johnson - Milk Man (uncredited)
1938
Brakeman
1938
Rudy the Sailor
1943
Visitor (uncredited)
1939
Tough Guy
1942
Recruiting Sergeant
1942
Davis
1936
Drunken Brawler
1936
Hobo
1938
Burglar
1940
Vorobiov
1932
Bob
1932
1930
Student
1926
Simmons
1934
Henchman Mike (uncredited)
1946
Military Policeman
1932
Salesman
1939
Bennie
1936
Student
1927
Reporter
1934
Sophomore
1927
Ernie - Counter Girl's Boyfriend
1937
A Hood
1927
