Biography From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874) [some sources 1870] Berlin, Prussia, Germany – July 15, 1947, Los Angeles, California) was an American stage and film actor and director.
Kolker came to America at the age of five and his family settled in Quincy, Illinois. Kolker, like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick, had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films.
On stage he appeared opposite such leading ladies as Edith Wynne Matthison, Bertha Kalich and Ruth Chatterton. Kolker is best remembered for his motion picture appearances and for appearing with Barbara Stanwyck in the ground-breaking Pre-Code film Baby Face (1933) as the elderly CEO of the company whom Stanwyck's character seduces. Another well remembered part is as Mr. Seton, father of Katharine Hepburn and Lew Ayres in the 1938 film Holiday directed by George Cukor.
Kolker entered films as an actor in 1915 and eventually ended up trying his hand at directing. Kolker's best known directorial effort is Disraeli (1921), starring George Arliss which is now a lost film with only one reel remaining. Prints however exist in Europe and Russia.
Filmography Sarong Girl
1943
Jefferson Baxter
Details Reunion in France
1942
General Bartholomew (uncredited)
Details Sing for Your Supper
1941
Myron T. Hayworth
Details The Parson of Panamint
1941
Judge Arnold Mason
Details The Great Swindle
1941
Stewart Cordell
Details Las Vegas Nights
1941
William Stevens Sr.
Details The Man Who Lost Himself
1941
T.J. Mulhausen
Details Money and the Woman
1940
Mr. Rollins
Details Grand Ole Opry
1940
William C. Scully
Details Main Street Lawyer
1939
Donnelly, District Attorney
Details Here I Am a Stranger
1939
R.J. Bennett
Details The Real Glory
1939
The General
Details Parents on Trial
1939
James Wesley
Details These Glamour Girls
1939
Philip S. Griswold II (uncredited)
Details Union Pacific
1939
Asa M. Barrows
Details Let Us Live
1939
Chief of Police
Details The Cowboy and the Lady
1938
Horace Smith
Details Too Hot to Handle
1938
Pearly Todd
Details Marie Antoinette
1938
Court Aide (uncredited)
Details Safety in Numbers
1938
Dr. Lawrence Edmonds
Details The Adventures of Marco Polo
1938
Nicolo Polo
Details Love Is a Headache
1938
Mr. Sam Ellinger (uncredited)
Details The Invisible Menace
1938
Col. Hackett
Details Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
1937
"Doc" Godfrey
Details The Devil Is Driving
1937
Charles Stevens
Details Let Them Live
1937
Judge Lederer
Details Maid of Salem
1937
Crown Chief Justice Laughton
Details They Wanted to Marry
1937
Mr. Hunter
Details Once a Doctor
1937
Bruce Nordland
Details Under Cover of Night
1937
District Attorney Pritchard
Details Theodora Goes Wild
1936
Jonathan Grant
Details The Man Who Lived Twice
1936
Judge Henry Treacher
Details Sitting on the Moon
1936
Worthington
Details Romeo and Juliet
1936
Friar Laurence
Details Bullets or Ballots
1936
Mr. Hollister
Details Collegiate
1936
Mr. MacGregor
Details Frisco Waterfront
1935
District Attorney
Details 3 Kids and a Queen
1935
Crippet
Details The Last Days of Pompeii
1935
Warder (uncredited)
Details Shipmates Forever
1935
Doctor (uncredited)
Details I Live My Life
1935
Relative at Mrs. Gage's (Uncredited)
Details Diamond Jim
1935
J.C. Randolf - Bank President
Details Here Comes the Band
1935
Simmon's Attorney
Details The Black Room
1935
Baron de Berghman
Details Honeymoon Limited
1935
Mr. Randall
Details Go Into Your Dance
1935
Doctor
Details Reckless
1935
Mr. Gearhart (uncredited)
Details The Case of the Curious Bride
1935
District Attorney Stacey
Details The Florentine Dagger
1935
Auctioneer
Details A Dog of Flanders
1935
Monsieur LaTour, Art Critic (uncredited)
Details One New York Night
1935
Arthur Carlisle
Details Times Square Lady
1935
Mr. Fielding
Details The Mystery Man
1935
Ellwyn A. 'Jo-Jo' Jonas
Details Red Hot Tires
1935
Martin Sanford
Details Society Doctor
1935
Dr. Harvey
Details Charlie Chan in Paris
1935
Paul Lamartine
Details The Bands Plays On
1934
Professor Hackett
Details Sing Sing Nights
1934
Kurt Nordon
Details The Ghost Walks
1934
Dr. Kent
Details Imitation of Life
1934
Dr. Preston (uncredited)
Details Love Time
1934
Emperor Francis I
Details One Exciting Adventure
1934
Customer, Oscar
Details Million Dollar Ransom
1934
Dr. Davis (Uncredited)
Details She Loves Me Not
1934
Charles M. Lawton
Details Now and Forever
1934
Mr. Clark
Details The Girl from Missouri
1934
Senator Titcombe
Details Name the Woman
1934
Judge Adams
Details Blind Date
1934
J.W. Hartwell Sr.
Details Whom the Gods Destroy
1934
Carlo - the Puppeteer
Details Let's Try Again
1934
Mr. Blake
Details The Hell Cat
1934
C.W. Sloane
Details Black Moon
1934
The Psychiatrist
Details Let's Talk It Over
1934
Doctor
Details Success at Any Price
1934
Hatfield
Details Journal of a Crime
1934
Henri Marcher
Details I've Got Your Number
1934
Lawyer Robert Kirkland
Details Bedside
1934
Maritza's Manager
Details Blood Money
1933
Newspaper Managing Editor (uncredited)
Details Meet the Baron
1933
Baron Munchausen
Details The Power and the Glory
1933
Mr. Borden
Details Gigolettes of Paris
1933
Police Interrogator
Details I Loved a Woman
1933
Mr. Sanborn
Details Golden Harvest
1933
Henry Flint
Details Bureau of Missing Persons
1933
Theodore Arno
Details Notorious But Nice
1933
Defense Attorney Clark
Details The Narrow Corner
1933
Mr. Blake, Fred's Father
Details A Bedtime Story
1933
Agent de Police
Details Hello, Sister!
1933
Jameson Brewster - Bank President
Details The Keyhole
1933
Schuyler Brooks
Details Rasputin and the Empress
1932
Chief of Secret Police (uncredited)
Details Devil and the Deep
1932
Hutton
Details The First Year
1932
Peter Barstow
Details The Washington Masquerade
1932
Stapleton
Details Jewel Robbery
1932
Baron Franz Hohenfels
Details The Yellow Ticket
1931
Passport Clerk
Details The Unholy Garden
1931
Col. Lautrac
Details I Like Your Nerve
1931
Areal Pacheco
Details Quick Millions
1931
District Attorney (uncredited)
Details Don't Bet on Women
1931
Butterfield (uncredited)
Details One Heavenly Night
1930
Prefect of Police
Details Abraham Lincoln
1930
New Englander (uncredited)
Details Du Barry, Woman of Passion
1930
D'Aiguillon
Details The Way of All Men
1930
Sharp
Details Love, Live & Laugh
1929
Enrico
Details Don't Marry
1928
General Willoughby
Details The Beautiful Spy
1928
Viceroy Cisneros
Details Soft Living
1928
Rodney S. Bowen
Details A Kiss in a Taxi
1927
Leon Lambert
Details Hell's Four Hundred
1926
John Gilmore
Details The Palace of Pleasure
1926
Don Sebastian, Premier
Details Sally, Irene and Mary
1925
Marcus Morton
Details Any Woman
1925
Egbert Phillips
Details A Man of Stone
1921
(Uncredited)
Details Blackie's Redemption
1919
Fred the Count
Details The Great Victory, Wilson or the Kaiser? The Fall of the Hohenzollerns
1919
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Details The House of Mirth
1918
Lawrence Selden
Details Social Hypocrites
1918
Dr. Frank Simpson
Details The Shell Game
1918
Lawrence Gray
Details Gloria's Romance
1916
Dr. Stephen Royce
Details How Molly Malone Made Good
1915
Himself
Details