- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFranz Reichert
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Though most famous as Capt. Englehorn, the ship captain who carried the expedition to an island to capture the great ape in King Kong (1933)--and its sequel, Son of Kong (1933)--Frank Reicher had a long history as a stage actor and director, and film director, prior to his "Kong" appearances, and in fact has more than 200 film roles to his credit.
Born in Munich, Germany, in 1875, he trained in Europe and then moved to New York in 1899 to act on the stage. His success there got him called to Hollywood in 1915, where he not only acted in films but also directed them. He took a few years off from his film career in 1921 to return to the New York stage, but then came back to Hollywood in 1926 and stayed there. He had a prolific career, acting and directing for most of the major studios, and was highly regarded in Hollywood not only as a filmmaker but as an acting teacher. In the World War II era he often played Nazi officials, or anti-Nazi partisans, and even turned up as a professor in The Mummy's Tomb (1942), a role he repeated in its sequel, The Mummy's Ghost (1944), and he played a succession of mad doctors, or their assistants, in several other Univeral horror films.
He made his final film in 1951, and died in 1965.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpouseElla(? - 1948) (her death)
- Parents
- RelativesHedwiga Reicher(Sibling)
- Solid German character actor in the 1930s who specialized in anti-Nazi war dramas and standard horrors playing unsmiling professional types--professors, doctors, scientists, politicians. Best known for his role as Capt. Engelhorn in the classic ape movies King Kong (1933) and Son of Kong (1933).
- According to director Reginald LeBorg in a 1989 interview, Lon Chaney Jr., as Kharis, went overboard in the scene in The Mummy's Ghost (1944) in which he strangles Frank, although Chaney blocked the camera from picking up Reicher's reaction. The veteran actor was moaning and exclaimed, "He nearly killed me!" According to LeBorg, Reicher was a veteran and didn't make a formal complaint, but the next day the director noticed his neck visibly bore the effects.
- His theatrical career began in Germany but he worked in London before arriving in the US in 1899. Retired in 1951.
- Returned to Hollywood during the advent of sound to direct German-language versions of American films.
- Entered pictures in the mid-teens then left for ten years, returning in 1926.
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