MovieChat Forums > Of Mice and Men (1940) Discussion > Bob Steele

Bob Steele

posted 15 years ago by pjwoodall1
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What imressed my young mind years ago was the scene where Bob Steele tries to beat up Lon Chaney and Chaney lifts him off the floor and crushes his hand. I always thought Steele was perfectly cast as Curly if you had watched him beat up Charles King in countless westerns. The only actor I can remember him fighting his own size was Mickey Rooney in KILLER MCCOY.

I think Steele made a wise career move, similar to Tom Tyler, in taking character rows in A pictures, thus prolonging his career into the 70's.

[–] techniscope 15 years ago

i thought every role in this film was perfectly cast. curly's wife was just as annoying and pathetic like i thought she would be, lenny and george, i don't think i would have changed one thing.

[–] ZevII 15 years ago

I thought Steele as chilling as the killer in The Big Sleep. Then I saw him as the venerable old man with a conscience in Hang Em High and it was hard to believe it was the same actor. He was excellent in this role as well.

[–] pjwoodall1 15 years ago

He also was the hit man in THE ENFORCER again with Bogart. Wayne and Andrew McLaglen used him frequently in cameo roles. I think it was Wayne paying Steele's father Robert Bradbury back for those Lone Star westerns that helped Wayne get the experience he lack in THE BIG TRAIL. I also remember Steele playing Duffy on F TROOP which was a rare venture in comedy for him.

[–] rac701 14 years ago

Bob Steele was certainly an actor with a long and varied career.

I'll never forget the passage in James Jones's novel FROM HERE TO ETERNITY when the late-teen and early-20's-aged Depression-era soldiers discuss how memorable Steele was in the cowboy movies of the 1930's -- and also as "Curley" in OF MICE AND MEN -- that they had seen as kids.

[–] pjwoodall1 14 years ago

One memory I have of Steele was years ago at the AFI in DC where film historian William K. Everson had a special program devoted to B westerns. There was a clip from a 3 Mesquiteers western where Bob Livingston almost wipes out the camera when he loses control of a wagon while Steele fights off the bad guys!

One thing I notice about FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is the number of stuntmen and B actors in the film: Carleton Young, Bob Wilke and John Cason who doubled Corporal(?) during the fight with Clift. According to the commentary, Wilke considered Alvin Sargent's fall during the air attack one of the best stunts he'd ever seen.

Young was a familiar face from serials, western and several John Ford films. He
's the lawyer who lists outlines the case against Holmes.

[–] DaveFairy 14 years ago

My dad loves all those old B westerns from the thirties and forties. My brother got him a lot of them on DVD a few Christmases ago. A lot of Bob Steele movies in that bunch, much to my dad's satisfaction.

I LikE WatcH Tv

[–] pjwoodall1 14 years ago

I found a collection of Billy The Kid westerns split between Buster Crabbe and Bob Steele. Fuzzy appears in all of them, and Carleton Young also appears in the Steele films to form a trio. Young had a very long career and appeared in several Ford films, notably as the editor in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE.

The Steele films seem more serious than the Crabbe films, and there are seems to be a repetory company of actors Kermit Maynard, Charles King, John Merton etc.

A friend on mine Art Mullins was a disc jockey in Tennesse in the 50's who one night had Fuzzy St. John as a guest on his show. Art said he was amazed at the response from listeners. I've only seen Fuzzy in two major films THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLATS where he turns villainous and ARIZONA with William Holden and Jean Arthur where he has a cameo. Of course, you have the Fatty Arbuckle films, He was Arbuckle's uncle.

[–] gkirkbo 14 years ago

Fuzzy St John was Arbuckle's nephew..check out the new book on Fuzzy by Bobby Copeland.