Years active 1922–1967 Name Gene Roth | Role Film actor | |
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Full Name Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth Born January 8, 1903 ( 1903-01-08 ) Redfield, South Dakota, USA Died July 19, 1976, Los Angeles, California, United States Spouse Dorothy Biddle (m. 1934–1963), Helen Mack (m. 1927–1934), Velda Parsons (m. 1924–1925) Children Dorene Roth, Eugene Arthur Roth, Rosemarie Roth Parents Eugene Stutenroth, Anna Christina Olsen Movies Earth vs the Spider, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Captain Video: Master of, Ghost of Zorro, Casino Royale Similar People Bert I Gordon, Spencer Gordon Bennet, Sam Katzman, Edward Bernds, Jules White |
Gene Roth (January 8, 1903 – July 19, 1976) was an American film actor and film manager.
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Early years

Roth was born Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth in Redfield, South Dakota. He was the son of a German father and a Swedish mother, who raised their three sons after the father left the family. The actor, whose billing names included Gene Stutenroth, Eugene Stutenroth, and Eugene Roth finished high school in 1920 and was a manager of a movie theater before he became an actor.
Film
Roth appeared in over 250 films between 1922 and 1967. His first film was Daughter of the Tong (1939).
As Gene Stutenroth, he became a successful manager of movie theaters in the 1930s, and was working in this capacity when he visited Hollywood in 1944. Stutenroth was watching a film scene being photographed when a member of the film crew noticed that Stutenroth looked like Ernst Hanfstaengl, then a crony of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Stutenroth was promptly fitted with makeup and costume, and became a popular character actor. His burly frame and craggy features made him ideal as an all-purpose menace, gangster, tough guy, or sheriff. Most of his acting jobs in the mid-1940s were in "B" features for Columbia Pictures and Monogram Pictures. In 1949 he abandoned his real name and shortened his screen name to "Roth." He also starred as the master villain in the Columbia serials Captain Video and The Lost Planet.
Roth is remembered for his portrayals of formidable authority figures in Three Stooges comedies such as Slaphappy Sleuths, Hot Stuff, Quiz Whizz, Outer Space Jitters and (as a professor) Pies and Guys. His most memorable role was as Russian spy Bortsch hiding microfilm in Dunked in the Deep (1949), as well as its remake, Commotion on the Ocean (1956). His most famous line was his threat to Shemp Howard: "Give me dat fill-um!" ('fill-um' being 'film' with a Russian accent).
He later made frequent television appearances including seven episodes of The Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1954. His final film appearance with the Stooges was in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.
In the 1960s Roth retired from acting and sold wines and liquors in Hollywood.
Death
Roth was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Los Angeles, California on July 19, 1976.