Film Stars of Playa Del Rey; Frank Reicher

Attracted to Playa Del Rey by the mild weather and close proximity to the studios, Frank Reicher built a home in Playa Del Rey where he lived until his death in 1965.

Reicher made his Broadway debut the year he came to America playing Lord Tarquin in Harrison Fiske's production of Becky Sharp, a comedy by Langdon Mitchell based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.

His early career was spent in legitimate theater on and off Broadway. He was head of the Brooklyn Stock Company when Jacob P. Adler performed The Merchant of Venice in Yiddish while the rest of the cast remained in English.

Reicher was for a number of years affiliated with the Little Theatre on West Forty-Fourth Street as an actor and manager and would remain active on Broadway as actor, director or producer well into the 1920s. On stage, Reicher starred in such plays as the first Broadway production of Georg Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight (as the cashier), and the original production of Percy MacKaye's The Scarecrow (in the title role).

Frank Reicher is probably more familiar to modern audiences as a supporting character actor in films. He began his cinema career with an uncredited role in the 1915 film The Case of Becky; starring Blanche Sweet (silent), and would go on work in over two-hundred motion pictures, including the "Mummy" pictures, scripted by Griffin Jay. He even appeared in a few Three Stooges comedies.

He was indeed, a very versatile actor.

He is probably best remembered for playing Captain Englehorn in the movies King Kong and The Son of Kong and for such films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950).

His last Hollywood role was in the very first theatrical Superman movie, Superman and the Mole Men, in 1951.

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, South Bay Examiner

Duke is a member of the LA Historical Society, The Westchester/playa Del Rey Historical Society, and the LA Conservancy. His first book: Beach of the King-The Early History of Westchester/Playa Del Rey, California, as well as many other titles, are available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and...

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