Photo of Frank Reicher
Acting

Frank Reicher

Profession
Acting
Born
December 2, 1875 · Munich, German Empire [now Germany]
Died
January 19, 1965

Biography

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.

Known for

King Kong poster
King Kong
Film · 1933 · ★ 7.6
To Be or Not to Be poster
To Be or Not to Be
Film · 1942 · ★ 7.8
Monsieur Verdoux poster
Monsieur Verdoux
Film · 1947 · ★ 7.7
Ninotchka poster
Ninotchka
Film · 1939 · ★ 7.5
Samson and Delilah poster
Samson and Delilah
Film · 1949 · ★ 6.6
House of Frankenstein poster
House of Frankenstein
Film · 1944 · ★ 6.1
Camille poster
Camille
Film · 1936 · ★ 7.0
Stage Door poster
Stage Door
Film · 1937 · ★ 7.2
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty poster
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Film · 1947 · ★ 6.8
The Son of Kong poster
The Son of Kong
Film · 1933 · ★ 5.4
The Devil-Doll poster
The Devil-Doll
Film · 1936 · ★ 6.8
The Mummy's Ghost poster
The Mummy's Ghost
Film · 1944 · ★ 5.6

Filmography