Born in Colorado, character actor Walter Sande was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood nobody could ever recognize by name. He showed an early interest in music as a youth and managed by his college years to start his own band. This led to a job as musical director for 20th Century-Fox's theater chain, which, in turn, led him to acting in films in 1937. Usually providing atm ...
show all Born in Colorado, character actor Walter Sande was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood nobody could ever recognize by name. He showed an early interest in music as a youth and managed by his college years to start his own band. This led to a job as musical director for 20th Century-Fox's theater chain, which, in turn, led him to acting in films in 1937. Usually providing atmospheric bits with no billing, he made an initial impression in serial cliffhangers as a third-string heavy with the popular The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1940) and Sky Raiders (1941). His first top featured role, however, would come with The Iron Claw (1941) as Jack "Flash" Strong, a photographer who, uncharacteristically for Walter, served as a comic sidekick to our serial hero. Best of all would be his role in another serial as Red Pennington, the amusing sidekick to Don Winslow of the Navy (1941). Walter repeated his role again in Don Winslow of the Coast (1943), the successful sequel. The Pennington role would spark a long and steady career in movies, usually a step or two behind Hollywood's elite, which included Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not (1944), Gary Cooper in Along Came Jones (1945), Alan Ladd in The Blue Dahlia (1946), Charlton Heston in Dark City (1950) and Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), among hundreds of others. A regular authoritative presence in classic sci-fi films such as Red Planet Mars (1952), The War of the Worlds (1953) and Invaders from Mars (1953), he also had a recurring featured part in the 40s 'Boston Blackie' film series playing Detective Matthews alongside Chester Morris' former thief-turned-crime hero. A primary support player during the 'golden age' of TV, Walter worked on nearly every popular western and crime show available throughout the 50s and 60s. He had a regular series role on "The Adventures of Tugboat Annie" as Captain Horatio Bullwinkle, Annie's tugboat rival, and a recurring one as Inger Stevens' Swedish father, Lars "Papa" Holstrum, on "The Farmer's Daughter" that ran in the 60s. Walter Sande died of a heart attack in 1971 at age 65.
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