Career
Born Henry Kulakowich, Kulky began boxing in his teenage years. After six bouts, he stopped boxing when he was offered a position training wrestlers at Saint Matthew"s Lyceum in his native Hastings-on-Hudson. Stanislaus Zbyszko convinced Kulky to compete professionally in 1939.
Moving to Argentina, Kulky competed throughout South America under the ring name Bomber Kulkavich.
Like most wrestlers who turned to acting in the 1950s he owed his big break to Mike Mazurki. The two appeared in several parts in the 1940s and 1950s, with Mazurki"s agent getting him a part in Call Northside 777.
Because of his rather tough guy image, Kulky became typecast as military men, thugs, gangsters, bartenders, wrestlers and other "strong guys" who were at times quite friendly and lovable characters contrasting strongly with the tough guy image. In 1949, he began playing Otto Schmidlap in the television series.
In the series, Kulky portrayed a co-worker of series character Chester Riley, a wing riveter at an aircraft plant.
In 1954 he appeared in an episode (#141) of The Lone Ranger. From 1959 to 1962, Kulky was cast in the recurring role as Chief Max Bronsky in forty-six episodes of Jackie Cooper"s Columbia Broadcasting System military sitcom/drama television series, Hennesey. The role was close to Kulky"s heart because during World World War II, he was a boatswain"s mate in the United States Navy.
Kulky"s last role was as Chief Curley Jones in the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Kulky died on February 12, 1965 in Oceanside, California, of a heart attack suffered while he was studying a script.