Barton MacLane graduated from Wesleyan University where he displayed a notable aptitude for sports in particular football and basketball Not surprisingly his physical prowess led to an early role in The Quarterback 1926 with Richard Dix MacLane once commented that as an actor he needed to have the physical strength to tear the bad guys from limb to limb if necessary Ironically it was usually Barton himself who was destined to be at the end of a hiding when not getting shot instead typically as snarling henchmen outlaws and other assorted dubious or abrasive types throughout most of his 40year acting career In fact Barton became so typecast that his name was for a time used proverbially to generally describe a shouting hardnosed ruffian After training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts MacLane joined a stock company in Brooklyn In 1927 he had his first part on Broadway a brief moment as an assistant district attorney in the melodrama The Trial of Mary Dugan He then played a small featured role as a police officer in Subway Express 192930 a drama enacted in the interior of a subway car In mid1932 MacLane tried his hand at writing his own starring vehicle for the stage entitled Rendezvous While the play closed after just 21 performances it led to a contract with Warner Brothers Barton had already appeared in bit roles for Paramount at their Astoria Studios including The Marx Brothers debut film The Cocoanuts 1929 He portrayed mobster Brad Collins in G Men 1935 with James Cagney which set the tone for most of his future assignments Brawny with squinty eyes and a rasping voice MacLane was the ideal surly tough guy particularly suitable for westerns and the type of films noir Warner Brothers excelled at He was often cast as cops be they bent or honest Some of his most representative performances include gangster Al Kruger in Bullets or Ballots 1936 which won him some of the best critical notices of his career outlaw Jack Slade in Western Union 1941 crooked construction boss Pat McCormick who gets beaten up by Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt over pastdue wages in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 hardnosed cops Detective Dundy in The Maltese Falcon 1941 and Lt Reece in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 1950 MacLane on loan to Universal also had a starring role in Prison Break 1938 as an innocent tuna fisherman who is framed for murder He was prominent as a tough but sympathetic cop foil to sleuthing girl reporter Glenda Farrell in the Torchy Blaine series of the mid to late 1930s In the 1960s Barton began to cultivate a goodguy image as Marshal Frank Caine in the NBC western series Outlaws 1960 as well as showing up in a small recurring role as Air Force Gen Martin Peterson in I Dream of Jeannie 1965 Barton was married to the actress Charlotte Wynters who appeared with him in six of his films When not on the set the couple spent time on their 2000acre cattle ranch in Madera County California For his work in television Barton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
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