Barton MacLane made hard men feel solid, with a brawny presence and a rasp that suited both criminals and policemen. We value his blunt, useful supporting work, even when the parts gave him little else to do.
Fi1m perspective
Barton MacLane's rasp makes a policeman sound as though his patience has already run out. As Dundy in The Maltese Falcon (1941), he brings that bluntness to his exchanges with Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, useful in a film where the talk can occasionally grow stiff. We enjoyed the friction between them: MacLane's physical weight and hard-nosed manner give Spade someone difficult to talk past. John Huston gets good use from that solidity without requiring MacLane to make a supporting role the centre of the film.
The Warner Bros. supporting work of the 1930s and 1940s repeatedly put him among gangsters, henchmen and hard-nosed police officers. That casting made sense, though it also kept him returning to surliness when a different response might have been welcome. His detective Steve McBride appeared opposite Glenda Farrell in seven Torchy Blane films, a more sustained assignment than another passing heavy. Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937) belongs to the same busy period. These parts made use of his imposing presence, but the repeated casting as heavies left less opportunity to surprise us.
Huston used him again as Pat McCormick, the crooked construction boss in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). The casting puts the familiar tough-guy presence to work in a film unusually frank about greed and its excuses. His size and voice suit a man whose authority comes with no promise of fair dealing. Bogart and Walter Huston are the performances we chiefly recommend the film for, and its occasional lecturing remains a flaw. Here, at least, MacLane's familiar surliness is exactly what the part calls for.
The later television work gave that authority a comic use. In I Dream of Jeannie (1965–69), his recurring General Peterson was a befuddled authority figure, a change from the heavies without discarding the imposing presence. It is a sensible adjustment for an actor whose strength could also become a restriction. Start with The Maltese Falcon, where that rasp has Bogart to contend with.
Biography
Barton MacLane was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, on 25 December 1902, he attended Wesleyan University and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 in The Trial of Mary Dugan and appeared in early films including The Cocoanuts (1929).
MacLane appeared in numerous films from the 1930s to the 1960s, often in supporting roles as tough or abrasive characters. Notable credits include The Maltese Falcon (1941), High Sierra (1941) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). His later television work included the recurring role of General Peterson in I Dream of Jeannie (1965).
MacLane was married to actress Charlotte Wynters from 1939. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his television work. He died in Santa Monica, California, on 1 January 1969.
