1901-1972
American actor Kenneth MacDonald (sometimes spelled "McDonald") was born Kenneth Dollins on this date in Portland, Indiana. Like so many actors of the day, he started out on the stage and is well known for his rising popularity in the 1930's Hollywood scene; but he was in at least one film during the silent era dating from 1923. He starred in the Western dramadey Slow As Lightning (which for the time being is available on Amazon Prime); the film features some action sequences that look a great deal like slapstick, despite that the plot is of a more serious bent than straight physical comedy. This would serve him well later on, as he is probably best remembered to fans who are not hard core western aficionados, as being the villainous foil in the Three Stooges shorts. He has been associated with other silent westerns in the 1920's but it is unclear if he is the same person that appears in these films, or another actor with a similar or identical name (it would be great if someone could get to the bottom of this one). Though his voice was sometimes compared to Boris Karloff, he found a much more comfortable niche in character acting throughout the bulk of his career, which included many television roles and appearances. When he began to appear in pictures for a living in the early 1930's, he at first toiled in bit parts. His first sound film, for example, was Dirigible in 1931, starring Jack Holt and Fay Wray, his role as Lt. Fogarty went uncredited. Throughout the 1930's he had a few credited roles, but it was not until after 1938 that his fortunes in this regard changed (though, he was known to take up smaller roles in films throughout the classic Hollywood period). MacDonald made his television debut in 1950 on The Gene Autry Show; by 1952 he was a bit of a television fixture. A goodly number of shows that he appeared in were indeed westerns. The last appearance the MacDonald made in front the camera before his sudden death was in the episode The Test in the series The F.B.I.. Though he had been suffering from lung cancer that had recently spread to his brain, and he was living as a result of this in Motion Picture & Television Country House (located in Woodland Hills) and Hospital, MacDonald died suddenly of a heart attack on the 5th of May in 1972 at the age of 70. He is buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Woodland Hills) Hollywood Hills location.
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