From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874) [some sources 1870] Berlin, Prussia, Germany – July 15, 1947, Los Angeles, California) was an American stage and film actor and director.
Kolker came to America at the age of five and his family settled in Quincy, Illinois. Kolker, like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick, had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films.
On stage he appeared opposite such leading ladies as Edith Wynne Matthison, Bertha Kalich and Ruth Chatterton. Kolker is best remembered for his motion picture appearances and for appearing with Barbara Stanwyck in the ground-breaking Pre-Code film Baby Face (1933) as the elderly CEO of the company whom Stanwyck's character seduces. Another well remembered part is as Mr. Seton, father of Katharine Hepburn and Lew Ayres in the 1938 film Holiday directed by George Cukor.
Kolker entered films as an actor in 1915 and eventually ended up trying his hand at directing. Kolker's best known directorial effort is Disraeli (1921), starring George Arliss which is now a lost film with only one reel remaining. Prints however exist in Europe and Russia.
Movies
Sing for Your Supper
Myron T. Hayworth
The Black Room
Baron de Berghman
The Bad One
Prosecutor
Name the Woman
Judge Adams
Charlie Chan in Paris
Paul Lamartine
A Woman's Face
Judge
The Great Swindle
Stewart Cordell
Hidden Power
Weston
Baby Face
J.R. Carter
Bullets or Ballots
Mr. Hollister
Mad Love
Prefect Rosset
Black Moon
The Psychiatrist
Bluebeard
Deschamps
The Florentine Dagger
Auctioneer
Good Intentions
Butler
The Way of All Men
Sharp
Holiday
Edward Seton
Great Guy
Abel Canning
Let Us Live
Chief of Police
Love Time
Emperor Francis I
Indiscreet
Mr. Woodward
The Mystery Man
Ellwyn A. 'Jo-Jo' Jonas
Coquette
Jasper Carter
The Unholy Garden
Col. Lautrac
Don't Marry
General Willoughby
The Power and the Glory
Mr. Borden
The Man Who Lived Twice
Judge Henry Treacher
I Loved a Woman
Mr. Sanborn
The Cowboy and the Lady
Horace Smith
The Valiant
Judge
Bedside
Maritza's Manager
The Brat
A Dandy
Wonder Bar
R. H. Renaud
East Is West
Mr. Benson
The Adventures of Marco Polo
Nicolo Polo
I Like Your Nerve
Areal Pacheco
Sing Sing Nights
Kurt Nordon
Sitting on the Moon
Worthington
Faithless
Mr. Carter
Gigolettes of Paris
Police Interrogator
The Keyhole
Schuyler Brooks
Honeymoon Limited
Mr. Randall
A Lost Lady
John Ormsby
Success at Any Price
Hatfield
Money and the Woman
Mr. Rollins
The Narrow Corner
Mr. Blake, Fred's Father
Reckless
Mr. Gearhart (uncredited)
Here I Am a Stranger
R.J. Bennett
Too Hot to Handle
Pearly Todd
Union Pacific
Asa M. Barrows
The Ghost Walks
Dr. Kent
Grand Ole Opry
William C. Scully
Hello, Sister!
Jameson Brewster - Bank President
Sarong Girl
Jefferson Baxter
Soft Living
Rodney S. Bowen
My Marriage
Maj. Vaile
Blood Money
Newspaper Managing Editor (uncredited)
A Bedtime Story
Agent de Police
I've Got Your Number
Lawyer Robert Kirkland
Whom the Gods Destroy
Carlo - the Puppeteer
They Wanted to Marry
Mr. Hunter
Notorious But Nice
Defense Attorney Clark
The Hell Cat
C.W. Sloane
Blind Date
J.W. Hartwell Sr.
One Heavenly Night
Prefect of Police
The Devil Is Driving
Charles Stevens
The Girl from Missouri
Senator Titcombe
The Washington Masquerade
Stapleton
Society Doctor
Dr. Harvey
Theodora Goes Wild
Jonathan Grant
Red Hot Tires
Martin Sanford
One New York Night
Arthur Carlisle
Lady by Choice
Opper
Love, Live & Laugh
Enrico
The Invisible Menace
Col. Hackett
The Bands Plays On
Professor Hackett
Times Square Lady
Mr. Fielding
Let's Try Again
Mr. Blake
Love Is a Headache
Mr. Sam Ellinger (uncredited)
A Dog of Flanders
Monsieur LaTour, Art Critic (uncredited)
The Real Glory
The General
Here Comes the Band
Simmon's Attorney
Journal of a Crime
Henri Marcher
Las Vegas Nights
William Stevens Sr.
She Loves Me Not
Charles M. Lawton
One Exciting Adventure
Customer, Oscar
These Glamour Girls
Philip S. Griswold II (uncredited)
The Crash
John Fair
Now and Forever
Mr. Clark
The Palace of Pleasure
Don Sebastian, Premier
The Yellow Ticket
Passport Clerk
Meet the Baron
Baron Munchausen
Maid of Salem
Crown Chief Justice Laughton
Don't Bet on Women
Butterfield (uncredited)
Once a Doctor
Bruce Nordland
Jewel Robbery
Baron Franz Hohenfels
Midnight Rose
Corbin
Red Salute
Dean
The Parson of Panamint
Judge Arnold Mason
Main Street Lawyer
Donnelly, District Attorney
Parents on Trial
James Wesley
Devil and the Deep
Hutton
Quick Millions
District Attorney (uncredited)
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
"Doc" Godfrey
The Case of the Curious Bride
District Attorney Stacey
The First Year
Peter Barstow
I Live My Life
Relative at Mrs. Gage's (Uncredited)
Diamond Jim
J.C. Randolf - Bank President
How Molly Malone Made Good
Himself
Golden Harvest
Henry Flint
The Man Who Lost Himself
T.J. Mulhausen
Du Barry, Woman of Passion
D'Aiguillon
Under Cover of Night
District Attorney Pritchard
Rasputin and the Empress
Chief of Secret Police (uncredited)
Sally, Irene and Mary
Marcus Morton
Frisco Waterfront
District Attorney
Green Light
Dr. Lane
Bureau of Missing Persons
Theodore Arno
Shipmates Forever
Doctor (uncredited)
Any Woman
Egbert Phillips
Romeo and Juliet
Friar Laurence
The Last Days of Pompeii
Warder (uncredited)
Safety in Numbers
Dr. Lawrence Edmonds
Go Into Your Dance
Doctor
Let's Talk It Over
Doctor
Let Them Live
Judge Lederer
3 Kids and a Queen
Crippet
The House of Mirth
Lawrence Selden
Social Hypocrites
Dr. Frank Simpson
Abraham Lincoln
New Englander (uncredited)
Million Dollar Ransom
Dr. Davis (Uncredited)
Imitation of Life
Dr. Preston (uncredited)
The Beautiful Spy
Viceroy Cisneros
A Kiss in a Taxi
Leon Lambert
Gloria's Romance
Dr. Stephen Royce
Marie Antoinette
Court Aide (uncredited)
Reunion in France
General Bartholomew (uncredited)
Spring Tonic
Mr. Enix
Collegiate
Mr. MacGregor
The Spy
Tchijinski
Hell's Four Hundred
John Gilmore
The Shell Game
Lawrence Gray
A Man of Stone
(Uncredited)
Blackie's Redemption
Fred the Count