Occupation Actor Parents Wilmer Shinn, Loie Shinn Years active 1931–1954 Siblings Loie Bridge | Name Al Bridge Ex-spouse Blanche Bridge Role Character actor | |
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Full Name Alfred Morton Bridge Born February 26, 1891 ( 1891-02-26 ) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA Died December 27, 1957, Los Angeles, California, United States Movies Hail the Conquering Hero, The Miracle of Morgan's, Sullivan's Travels, The New Frontier, The Palm Beach Story Similar People Preston Sturges, Joseph Kane, B Reeves Eason, Alan James, Frank Skinner | ||
Al Bridge (February 26, 1891 – December 27, 1957) was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954. Bridge's persona was an unpleasant, gravel-voiced man with an untidy moustache. Sometimes credited as Alan Bridge, and frequently not credited onscreen at all, he appeared in many westerns, especially in the Hopalong Cassidy series, where he played crooked sheriffs and henchmen.
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Life and career
Bridge and his sister, who would become the actress Loie Bridge, were raised by their mother and stepfather, a Philadelphia butcher. Bridge served in the American infantry during World War I. Joining relatives in a theatrical troupe, Bridge toured the U.S. as an actor and wrote a few scripts. He broke into movies with a pair of minor screenplays (the comedy short Her Hired Husband in 1930 and a Western, God's Country and the Man (1931), in which he also appeared) and spent the next 25 years as a familiar face in B-Westerns and mainstream comedies and dramas. In the forties, Bridge was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in ten of the eleven American films that Sturges wrote and directed. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as "The Mister", the chain-gang boss over Joel McCrea in Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels.
Bridge's television work, which began in 1950 includes appearances on The Range Rider and The Gene Autry Show as well as other programs.
Bridge died on December 27, 1957, in Los Angeles, California.