Background

Otto Kruger was born on September 6, 1886 in Toledo, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Bernard Alvin Kruger, an accountant, and Elizabeth Winters. Otto's mother died when he was four. His father's second marriage to a woman from a musical family led to his being urged to pursue a musical career.

Education

Otto's music lessons stopped abruptly when his maternal uncle "discovered jazz creeping into young Otto's interpretation of Chopin. " Although he attended public schools in Toledo, he did not complete his high school education.

Career

During his late teens Kruger seems to have lived a roustabout existence. He earned a little money tuning pianos, working as a telephone lineman, and cow punching. He tramped around the country and even lived in Central America for a brief period. Why and when Kruger turned to acting is unclear, but by his early twenties he was traveling around the country in repertory companies and vaudeville shows. He began as a kind of theatrical jack-of-all-trades with a small Kansas repertory company. He humorously reminisced that his duties included serving as "mimic, bit player, bell ringer and all-around performer" for the munificent wage of nine dollars per week. After rising to the role of leading man in the repertory company, Kruger felt that he was ready for the challenge of Broadway. After moving to New York City, he worked for several stock companies and eventually attracted the attention of major producers.

His stage debut at star level occurred in The Natural Law (1915). His theatrical career was briefly interrupted in 1917 when he volunteered for service in the U. S. Navy.

After the war, in 1919, he immediately returned to the New York stage. Later that year he participated in the Actors' Equity strike.

Kruger rose to top billing on the New York stage during the 1920's.

As the 1930's began, he replaced Noel Coward in the part of Elyot Chase in the actor-playwright's Private Lives and replaced Paul Muni in the part of George Simon in Counsellor-at-Law. His success in the latter role he later considered a liability because he felt it doomed him to too many roles as a lawyer.

Although Kruger had appeared in a silent film, Under the Red Robe, in 1923, his career as a motion picture actor did not begin in earnest until he moved to Hollywood under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1932. His career as a movie actor never brought him the same degree of recognition he had enjoyed during his stage career, yet he always received excellent reviews. Like his motion picture contemporaries Louis Calhern, Douglass Dumbrille, and Henry Daniell, he appeared in so many movies that everyone recognized him, but few other than true film buffs remembered his name. He was often stereotyped as a villain, but he was equally successful in roles of greater breadth. He fell short, however, of winning the status of leading man. Bad films early in his career probably prevented his rise to the first rank of movie stars. Certainly, Turn Back the Clock (1933), Ever in My Heart (1933), Beauty for Sale (1933), and Gallant Lady (1934) were eminently forgettable films. Although the films themselves were panned critics invariably praised Kruger's performances.

In all fairness, it should be added that Kruger also gave first-rate performances in highly praised films such as High Noon (1952) where he played a craven sheriff, and Magnificent Obsession (1954) where he played a benign guru. Despite a succession of short-term film contracts, Kruger was never out of work. In a period of just over thirty years, he was under contract to more than a dozen studios and often returned to one of his former studios after a short interval.

The variety of his roles testified to his versatility in a wide range of parts, including a psychiatrist (in Dracula's Daughter), a Nobel Prize-winning scientist (in Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet), and an Oxford University graduate who becomes a sinister Nazi (in Hitler's Children). A New York Times movie critic sardonically commented that Counsel for Crime (1937) was another setback to the "Get-Kruger-out-of-the-courtroom" movement.

He always retained his love for the stage, returning intermittently to New York to appear in leading roles and also playing in the legitimate theater in Los Angeles. On one occasion he expressed regret for having been passed over by Hollywood for roles that he had played with great success on the stage, including major parts in Parnell, The Male Animal, Accent on Youth, Laura, and Advise and Consent.

Already in his sixties, he became a popular television host and sometime guest star, acting as host of "Lux Video Theatre" and making guest appearances on "Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, " "GE Theater, " "Science Fiction Theater, " "Philip Morris Playhouse, " and the "Perry Mason" series. Admired and respected by his colleagues, Kruger was active in such professional associations as The Lambs and the Motion Picture Relief Fund for retired actors and actresses, serving for many years as vice-president of the latter organization.

Achievements

• Kruger's best-remembered performances included parts in Young America, The Gypsy Trail, Adam and Eve, The Straw, Alias Jimmy Valentine, and The Royal Family.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Woman Who Came Back

    (Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly) on returning to her ancestral...)

  • Turn Back the Clock

    (Joe Gimlet, a Depression-era tobacconist, knows what he w...)

  • Last Command VHS
  • Suspense

Views

Quotations: "For a while I played sad husbands, then I got nothing but lawyers. Then I was a doctor, and during the war I played Nazis. "

Personality

Kruger's age, grayish hair, and sharp features suited him for a variety of character roles rather than romantic leads. Kruger's suave and urbane manner, combined with his excellent diction, added a third dimension to his career when he added radio and television to his repertory.

Quotes from others about the person

• "He was not a major star but his intelligent contribution in major supporting roles lessened the mediocrity of many unworthy films. "

Connections

While engaged in a benefit performance for fellow strikers, Kruger met a young actress, Sue MacManamy, and conducted a whirlwind courtship to win her. They had one child, and their marriage lasted until his death fifty-five years later.

Father:

Bernard Alvin Kruger

accountant

Mother:

Elizabeth Winters

Spouse:

Sue MacManamy

actress