Herbert Mundin - The Film Years (1934 - 1935)


Herbert Mundin and wife Ann Shaw
By 1934 Herbert was firmly established in Hollywood as a character actor and he appeared in a further nine films during the year. However, there was some personal sadness as during 1934 he separated from his wife, Kathleen Ann Reed (née Shaw) after nine years (pictured right in happier times). This was his second failed marriage and in correspondence after Herbert's death, his sister Clara revealed that her brother's marital break-up had been kept a secret from his family in England. 'Tommy', as he was known to his friends, jokingly commented on his separation from his wife by saying:

Gosh, how she has suffered, listening to my
stale gags, over and over again!

Kathleen, known as 'Kay' or 'Kam,' devoted herself to charitable work after Herbert's death and founded the Children's Cancer Fund of America. For twenty-six years she gave fundraising balls at top New York hotels which were attended by celebrities like Bob Hope. Through Kathleen's efforts, enough funds were raised for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to almost triple its children's wing.

Of Herbert Mundin's film output during 1934, few titles are remembered today, although Bottoms Up, All Men Are Enemies, Call It Luck and Love Time are worth mentioning. The tag-line for comedy musical Bottoms Up, released in the US in April 1934, was 'For those who like to laugh and sing when tears get in their eyes!' and it was an early vehicle for Spencer Tracy.

Herbert played likeable con man, Limey Brook, who pretended to be a toff called Lord Brocklehurst and so had an upper class accent. At one point the dialogue features references to two of Herbert's previous films, Cavalcade and Chandu The Magician.

Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin in All Men Are Enemies
Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin reunited in All Men Are Enemies of 1934

Also released in April 1934 was All Men Are Enemies, a romantic, war-time melodrama, in which Herbert as Noggins was reunited yet again with Una O'Connor, his fellow Cavalcade star.

Herbert Mundin it Call It Luck
American theater poster for Call It Luck starring Herbert Mundin and Pat Paterson which was released in July 1934

Herbert Mundin it Call It Luck
Actress Pat Paterson had starred with Spencer Tracy in Bottoms Up and she co-starred with Herbert in his next film, Call It Luck. This was released in July 1934 and Mundin played a London taxi driver who won a small fortune on the sweepstakes (pictured left).

As character Herbert Biggelwade, he becomes the prey of a confidence gang who sell him an ex-cavalry horse, claiming that the old nag was the brother of an English Derby races winner.

In Love Time, released in November, Herbert played the character Caesar. He teamed up again with Pat Paterson, who played Valerie, the sweetheart of composer Franz Schubert (Nils Asther). Paterson had been born in Bradford, England and after marrying French movie star Charles Boyer in 1934, retired from the film business five years later. Unusually for Hollywood, their marriage lasted 44 years and ended with Paterson's death from cancer in 1978. Her death led to her husband, who in his day had been a major heart-throb, taking his own life.

Herbert Mundin in the July 1934 edition of Modern Mechanix magazine

Herbert in the July 1934 edition of Modern Mechanix magazine - courtesy http://blog.modernmechanix.com


During 1934, Herbert was so busy that according to the July edition of Modern Mechanix magazine, Fox Studios created a radio communications system to summon him from set to set. Billed as 'The How-To-Do Magazine', Modern Mechanix explained how Herbert could be working on four films at the same time and was unable to keep track of his daily schedule. So radio came to his rescue, although with a "sling strap" attached to his head, Herbert Mundin must have looked a comical sight on the Hollywood lots!

Herbert Mundin in Love Time
Herbert Mundin in Love Time stymies the Austrian Emperor's soldiers who are searching for Valerie (Pat Paterson)

Herbert Mundin as Barkis in David Copperfield 1935

There were eight films in 1935 that Herbert performed in. These included The Widow from Monte Carlo with Mexican beauty Dolores del Rio and Spring Tonic with Zasu Pitts. However, the two productions most remembered were premiered at the beginning and end of the year. These are David Copperfield and Mutiny on the Bounty. The former was released at the beginning of the year by MGM under the full title of The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger. The all-star cast included Basil Rathbone, Lionel Barrymore, W.C. Fields, Roland Young, Maureen O'Sullivan with Freddie Bartholomew as the child David.

Herbert Mundin played the aloof carter, Barkis (pictured left), who would declare his intention to marry Peggotty by saying to David: "Tell her, 'Barkis is willin' ".

In Mutiny on the Bounty, whose New York premiere was on November 8th, 1935, fourth-billed Herbert played bungling cook Smith with Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh and Clark Gable playing Mr. Christian. It was promoted by MGM with the tag-line, A Thousand Hours of Hell For One Moment of Love!, and Herbert was once again charged with lightening the mood of the drama. For example, at one point the cook tosses some rubbish over the side of the boat, which the wind blows straight back into his face. Captain Bligh, who was standing nearby, was far from being amused at Mundin's ineptitude!

Mutiny on the Bounty
The film won one Oscar for Best Picture at the 1936 Academy Awards ceremony and it received seven other nominations. This was the second time that Herbert would perform in an Oscar-winning film and there would be one more to come.
Written and researched by Stephen Wainwright with additional research by Barry Fletcher
and Derek Mundin and contributions from Peter Metcalfe, Jill McManus and Philip G. Cerny