red Kohler, prolific "heavy" in American films of the silent and early talkie eras. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Kohler left home as a teenager, working various jobs while trying to establish a career in vaudeville. During this time, according to his son, actor Fred Kohler Jr., Kohler worked in a mine and lost part of his right hand in a dynamite accident. Eventually he fell in with a touring theatrical company and worked onstage around the U.S. for several years. In his mid-twenties, he ended up in California and found roles in silent films. He quickly found a niche as a villain, by virtue of his imposing size and his fearsome features, typically and most memorably in El caballo de hierro (1924). He worked primarily in Westerns, but films of all sorts benefitted from his skill at screen nastiness. In a series of silent Paramount Westerns based on Zane Grey novels, Kohler not only played the heavy, but also repeated some of the roles when these films were remade as talkies a decade later. His career lasted without let-up until his sudden death from a heart attack at 50 in 1938.
Although he forged a successful Hollywood career playing brutal thugs, in person Kohler was known as a passive, mild-mannered gent. He took a stab at directing in the 1920s but gave it up because he couldn't bear telling people what to do. Having suffered countless violent deaths in his films, Kohler's real passing came peacefully, in his sleep, from apparent heart failure.
Kohler is buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Memorial Park in Inglewood, California, A Plot, Lot 1866.
Although he forged a successful Hollywood career playing brutal thugs, in person Kohler was known as a passive, mild-mannered gent. He took a stab at directing in the 1920s but gave it up because he couldn't bear telling people what to do. Having suffered countless violent deaths in his films, Kohler's real passing came peacefully, in his sleep, from apparent heart failure.
Kohler is buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Memorial Park in Inglewood, California, A Plot, Lot 1866.
FILMOGRAFÍA
1938 Lawless Valley
1938 Billy the Kid Returns
1938 Painted Desert
1938 Bloqueo
1938 Gangs of New York
1938 El valle prohibido
1938 Corsarios de Florida
1937 Daughter of Shanghai
1936 Arizona Mahoney
1936 The Accusing Finger
1936 Buffalo Bill
1936 Milicias de paz
1936 The Vigilantes Are Coming
1936 Morir con honor
1936 Heart of the West
1936 No todas son lo mismo
1936 It's Up to You
1935 La ciudad siniestra
1935 Stormy
1935 Trails End
1935 Men of Action
1935 Lightning Triggers
1935 Valor y lealtad
1935 Ojo por ojo
1935 Ahora soy una señora
1935 El cantor del río
1935 Wilderness Mail
1935 Times Square Lady
1935 Horses' Collars (Short)
1934 Donde la ley no existe
1934 The Man from Hell
1934 ¿Y ahora, qué?
1934 Half a Sinner
1934 El último rodeo
1934 Deuda de honor
1933 La reina Cristina de Suecia
1933 El rayo del terror
1933 Ship of Wanted Men
1933 Deluge
1933 Con música y astucia
1933 Estaba escrito
1933 La mujer constante
1932 La pradera salvaje
1932 Sangre rebelde
1932 Audacia
1932 El bandolero de Texas
1932 The Rider of Death Valley
1932 Titanes del bosque
1931 X Marks the Spot
1931 Corsario
1931 Woman Hungry
1931 The Right of Way
1931 Camino del Oeste
1931 Mujeres enamoradas
1930 Sin patria
1930 Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5 (Short)
1930 A Soldier's Plaything
1930 Estrellas de Occidente
1930 Tantas veo...
1930 Roadhouse Nights
1929 Santos del infierno
1929 Cantaré para ti
1929 Broadway Babies
1929 The River of Romance
1929 Thunderbolt
1929 Peldaños de arena
1929 The Quitter
1929 Gesto de hidalgo
1929 The Dummy
1929 The Leatherneck
1929 Mundo contra ella
1928 The Spieler as Red Moon
1928 Sal of Singapore
1928 Caras olvidadas
1928 The Vanishing Pioneer
1928 La redada
1928 Chinatown Charlie
1928 The Showdown
1927 Joaquín Murrieta
1927 La ciudad del mal
1927 A campo libre
1927 Shootin' Irons
1927 The Rough Riders
1927 Los amores de Carmen
1927 La ley del hampa
1927 La nave sangrienta
1927 El destino de la carne
1927 The Devil's Masterpiece
1926 Old Ironsides
1926 La hija de Valencia
1926 The Ice Flood
1926 The Bar-C Mystery
1926 Danger Quest
1925 The Prairie Pirate
1925 Winds of Chance
1925 Riders of the Purple Sage
1925 La horda maldita
1925 Dick Turpin
1924 The Burglar (Short)
1924 El caballo de hierro
1924 Fighting Fury
1924 The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
1923 The Red Warning
1923 Anna Christie
1923 La jornada de la muerte
1923 Hell's Hole
1923 Shadows of the North
1923 The Eleventh Hour
1923 Thru the Flames
1923 The Flame of Life
1923 Three Who Paid
1922 Without Compromise
1922 Perils of the Yukon
1922 Trimmed
1922 The Son of the Wolf
1922 His Back Against the Wall
1922 El tesoro de la carabela
1922 The Milky Way
1922 The Scrapper
1922 With Stanley in Africa
1921 A Daughter of the Law
1921 The Conflict
1921 The Stampede
1921 Thunder Island
1921 Partners of the Tide
1921 Cyclone Bliss
1920 A Thousand to One
1920 The Kentucky Colonel
1920 The Honor of the Range (Short)
1920 The Lone Ranger (Short)
1920 The Great Round-Up (Short)
1920 Red Hot Trail (Short)
1920 Polly of the Storm Country
1919 Detrás de la puerta
1919 Soldiers of Fortune
1919 The Tiger's Trail
1916 Juana de Arco
1938 Lawless Valley
1938 Billy the Kid Returns
1938 Painted Desert
1938 Bloqueo
1938 Gangs of New York
1938 El valle prohibido
1938 Corsarios de Florida
1937 Daughter of Shanghai
1936 Arizona Mahoney
1936 The Accusing Finger
1936 Buffalo Bill
1936 Milicias de paz
1936 The Vigilantes Are Coming
1936 Morir con honor
1936 Heart of the West
1936 No todas son lo mismo
1936 It's Up to You
1935 La ciudad siniestra
1935 Stormy
1935 Trails End
1935 Men of Action
1935 Lightning Triggers
1935 Valor y lealtad
1935 Ojo por ojo
1935 Ahora soy una señora
1935 El cantor del río
1935 Wilderness Mail
1935 Times Square Lady
1935 Horses' Collars (Short)
1934 Donde la ley no existe
1934 The Man from Hell
1934 ¿Y ahora, qué?
1934 Half a Sinner
1934 El último rodeo
1934 Deuda de honor
1933 La reina Cristina de Suecia
1933 El rayo del terror
1933 Ship of Wanted Men
1933 Deluge
1933 Con música y astucia
1933 Estaba escrito
1933 La mujer constante
1932 La pradera salvaje
1932 Sangre rebelde
1932 Audacia
1932 El bandolero de Texas
1932 The Rider of Death Valley
1932 Titanes del bosque
1931 X Marks the Spot
1931 Corsario
1931 Woman Hungry
1931 The Right of Way
1931 Camino del Oeste
1931 Mujeres enamoradas
1930 Sin patria
1930 Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5 (Short)
1930 A Soldier's Plaything
1930 Estrellas de Occidente
1930 Tantas veo...
1930 Roadhouse Nights
1929 Santos del infierno
1929 Cantaré para ti
1929 Broadway Babies
1929 The River of Romance
1929 Thunderbolt
1929 Peldaños de arena
1929 The Quitter
1929 Gesto de hidalgo
1929 The Dummy
1929 The Leatherneck
1929 Mundo contra ella
1928 The Spieler as Red Moon
1928 Sal of Singapore
1928 Caras olvidadas
1928 The Vanishing Pioneer
1928 La redada
1928 Chinatown Charlie
1928 The Showdown
1927 Joaquín Murrieta
1927 La ciudad del mal
1927 A campo libre
1927 Shootin' Irons
1927 The Rough Riders
1927 Los amores de Carmen
1927 La ley del hampa
1927 La nave sangrienta
1927 El destino de la carne
1927 The Devil's Masterpiece
1926 Old Ironsides
1926 La hija de Valencia
1926 The Ice Flood
1926 The Bar-C Mystery
1926 Danger Quest
1925 The Prairie Pirate
1925 Winds of Chance
1925 Riders of the Purple Sage
1925 La horda maldita
1925 Dick Turpin
1924 The Burglar (Short)
1924 El caballo de hierro
1924 Fighting Fury
1924 The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln
1923 The Red Warning
1923 Anna Christie
1923 La jornada de la muerte
1923 Hell's Hole
1923 Shadows of the North
1923 The Eleventh Hour
1923 Thru the Flames
1923 The Flame of Life
1923 Three Who Paid
1922 Without Compromise
1922 Perils of the Yukon
1922 Trimmed
1922 The Son of the Wolf
1922 His Back Against the Wall
1922 El tesoro de la carabela
1922 The Milky Way
1922 The Scrapper
1922 With Stanley in Africa
1921 A Daughter of the Law
1921 The Conflict
1921 The Stampede
1921 Thunder Island
1921 Partners of the Tide
1921 Cyclone Bliss
1920 A Thousand to One
1920 The Kentucky Colonel
1920 The Honor of the Range (Short)
1920 The Lone Ranger (Short)
1920 The Great Round-Up (Short)
1920 Red Hot Trail (Short)
1920 Polly of the Storm Country
1919 Detrás de la puerta
1919 Soldiers of Fortune
1919 The Tiger's Trail
1916 Juana de Arco