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Ben Welden

{{Short description|American actor (1901–1997)}}

{{Use American English|date=March 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ben Welden

| image = Ben Welden in The Missing Corpse (1945).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Welden in The Missing Corpse (1945)

| birth_name = Benjamin Weinblatt

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|06|12|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Toledo, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1997|10|17|1901|06|12}}

| death_place = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1930–1966

}}

Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt;{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSIhzKnNUf4C&q=%22Ben+Welden%22+actor&pg=PA505|title=Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed.|last1=Room|first1=Adrian|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786457632|page=505|access-date=August 27, 2017}} June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows.

Early years

Welden was born in Toledo, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.{{Citation needed |date=March 2022}}

Career

Welden's film debut occurred in the British production The Man from Chicago (1930).{{cite book |last1=Maxford |first1=Howard |title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2914-8 |page=851 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfp1DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Benjamin+Weinblatt%22&pg=PA851 |access-date=January 12, 2020 |language=en}} After freelancing for several years, he signed with Warner Bros. in 1937.{{cite news |title=Ben Welden, 96 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42125401/ben_welden/ |access-date=January 12, 2020 |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=October 23, 1997 |location=Florida, West Palm Beach |page=26|via = Newspapers.com}}

Short, balding and somewhat rotund, Welden often literally played a "heavy", frequently in a somewhat comical or slightly dim-witted way, offsetting the sinister nature of his character's actions. Among his roles in this vein was as a goon in The Big Sleep (1946), and as a smart-mouth tavern owner in The Roaring Twenties.

Fans of Adventures of Superman remember him well. He appeared in eight episodes, always as a different character and yet really the same character, in a way. His best-known Superman episode might be "Flight to the North", in which he tries (and fails) to outwit a country-bumpkin type (played by Chuck Connors). In 1966, he acted in episodes 47 and 48 of Batman featuring Vincent Price as Special Guest Villain "Egghead". He also played a supporting role in the Three Stooges short, "Three Dark Horses." (1952)

He appeared in six episodes of The Lone Ranger ("Two Gold Lockets", 1951, "Delayed Action", 1952, "Right to Vote", 1953, "Stage to Tishomingo", 1954, "Trouble at Tylerville", 1956, & "Outlaws in Greasepaint", 1957). He continued to work in television until 1966.

Personal life

After retiring from the screen, Welden owned a confection company called Nutcorn, located in Beverly Hills.{{Citation needed |date=January 2022}}

Death

Welden died at age 96 on October 17, 1997, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.{{cite news|title=Ben Welden; Character Actor Appeared in 50 Films|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-22-mn-45451-story.html|access-date=August 27, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 22, 1997|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827193110/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/oct/22/news/mn-45451|archive-date=August 27, 2017}}

Filmography

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References

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External links

{{Commons category}}

  • {{IMDb name|0919700}}
  • {{IBDB name|64432}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Welden, Ben}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1997 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:Male actors from Ohio

Category:20th-century American male actors