Walter Long (actor)

Walter Huntley Long (March 5, 1879 – July 4, 1952) was an American character actor in films from the 1910s.

Career


He appeared in many D. W. Griffith films, notably The Birth of a Nation (1915), where he appeared as Gus, an African American, in blackface make-up, and Intolerance (1916).

Long also supported Rudolph Valentino in the films The Sheik, Moran of the Lady Letty, and Blood and Sand. He later appeared as a comic villain in four Laurel and Hardy films during the early 1930s.

Personal life
In 1908, Long married Luray Roble, a stenographer from Wisconsin who later became an actress at Triangle/Fine Arts. They had a son named John. She died in 1918 at age 28, due to the Spanish influenza epidemic. Long never remarried. Walter Long served during World War I and World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel before receiving an honorable discharge at the end of World War II.

Although he was often called upon to play antagonists and villains because of his gravel voice and rugged appearance, many people reported that he was actually a warm, kindhearted man off-camera.

Death
Long died of a heart attack on July 4, 1952 in Los Angeles, California, while watching the fireworks display at The Coliseum, during Fourth of July celebrations.