Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen Facts
| Sign | Sagittarius |
| Born |
Dec 10, 1886 Tunbridge Wells, Kent |
| Died |
Nov 7, 1959 Newport Beach, CA |
| Age | Died at 72 |
| Total Facts | 28 |
According to a 1912 newspaper report, McLaglen participated in a fencing duel with one Carl Brosius in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, prior to that date.
Before becoming an actor, he worked as a carnival boxer. If anyone could stay in the ring with him for one round and not be knocked down, they won a box of cigars.
Born British, McLaglen became a U.S. citizen in January, 1933.
Boxed and wrestled under the nickname 'Sharkey' McLaglen, as well as under his real name, prior to his movie career. His lifetime boxing record (as far as is known) was 11-6-1, with 9 KOs. His 1909 bout with legendary champion Jack Johnson in Vancouver was a six-round exhibition bout.
Brother of actor Cyril McLaglen.
Brother of actor Clifford McLaglen.
Brother of actor Kenneth McLaglen
Brother of actor Leopold McLaglen.
Brother of actor and sculptor Arthur McLaglen.
Claimed he was four years older than he really was so he could enlist in the London Life Guards and fight in the Boer War.
Daughter Sheila McLaglen born 1920.
During the British administration of the League of Nations mandate of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the 1920s, McLaglen, who was a sergeant in the British army, was appointed provost marshal - chief of military police - for Baghdad.
Father of film director Andrew V. McLaglen.
Father-in-law of actress Veda Ann Borg.
First performer to win an Oscar for a performance in a remake. The Informer (1935), the movie that won him an Oscar, was a remake of The Informer (1929).
Grandfather of Mary McLaglen.
Grandfather of Assistant Director and Executive Producer Josh McLaglen.
Grandfather of Director Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
He died about a month after his final role in an episode of "Rawhide" (1959), directed by his son Andrew V. McLaglen.
He left home at fourteen to join the army with the intention of fighting in the Second Boer War. However much to his disappointment, he was stationed at Windsor Castle and was later forced to leave the army when his true age was discovered.
He was cast mostly as Irishmen, particularly by John Ford, but he was actually British, his ancestry being mainly Scot.
In 1932, while still a British citizen, McLaglen captained a band called the Hollywood Light Horse, described as "a military organization formed to promote Americanism and combat Communism and radicalism subversive to Constitutional government." For the most part, McLaglen and his troopers marched around in their specially tailored military uniforms to their favorite restaurants and bars. When that bid for social attention began to wane, Hollywood Light Horse members began drifting over to a parallel organization known as the Hollywood Hussars. The more serious purpose of the Hussars was to invade the Soviet Republic of Georgia to secure drilling rights for an American oil millionaire who was bankrolling their enterprise. At one point, McLaglen was a member along with George Brent, the sheriff of Los Angeles County and the city police chief. Gary Cooper was described as one of the sponsors, but that assertion was withdrawn following protests by Cooper's representatives. In any event the Hussars never got to invade Georgia - their most conspicuous public outing was a march one afternoon down to the Los Angeles newspaper offices of William Randolph Hearst, where they serenaded the publisher from the sidewalk in a group song, in gratitude for his anti-Communi
In spite of being a powerful hulk his whole life (his huge shoulders making even John Wayne's look small), he was sixty-four and in declining health by the time he was in The Quiet Man (1952). Even prickly John Ford had to be sensitive to McLaglen's condition while shooting that movie's grueling fight sequence.
Interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, USA.
Under the pseudonym Paul Romano, McLaglen boxed future heavyweight champion Jess Willard in a four-round exhibition match in Springfield, Missouri, on 26 September 1911.
Was nearly fifty before he became a bankable actor in films like The Lost Patrol (1934) and The Informer (1935).
When he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Quiet Man (1952), he became the first male actor to be nominated for a supporting role after having already won an Oscar for a leading role, having won the Best Actor Oscar for The Informer (1935) seventeen years earlier. The first performer to do this was Jennifer Jones, who won the Best Actress Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and was a Supporting Actress nominee for Since You Went Away (1944).
Younger brother of boxer Fred McLaglen, aka Fred McKay (lifetime boxing record 6-11-2)