1/29/2008
When I was talking about the Rondo awards- named after Rondo Hatton- I got a few e-mails asking, “who is this guy?” (Rondo, not me!) I feel it’s only fair to fill you in on this unique actor!
Rondo was born in Tampa, Florida in 1894, and went into the military after he graduated from high school. He went to France during World War I, and subsequently, during battle, was exposed to poison gas. He was discharged from the service, and went back home to Florida, where he became a reporter.
However, bizarre changes started to occur with his body. Most reports state that his exposure to the poison gas brought on the condition acromegaly (I think I spelled it correctly this time)- a deforming disease that causes bones in the feet, hands and head to grow and thicken, as well as internal tissues.
A film director was shooting a movie in Tampa, noticed his looks, and offered him a role. Rondo still kept his reporter job, but the disease cost him his wife, who divorced him as he began to change physically.
By 1936, Rondo had re-married, and decided to move to Hollywood, having had a taste of the film business.
He played bit parts in various films, including the Charles Laughton version of “the Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1936- but most of his roles were small, uncredited parts.
He finally got more of the spotlight, when he appeared as “the Creeper” in a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry, “Pearl of Death”- and was then utilized by Universal as a horror star, exploiting him as a “monster without make-up”- not exactly the most kind treatment. Sadly, he continued on for only about another year, after which he suffered a heart attack that took him out of the film business, and led to his passing in 1946.
You may have seen Rondo back when we showed the film “House of Horrors” on Svengoolie (sadly, we no longer have broadcast rights to that film)-where he was a brutish murderer whose life is saved by a demented artist, who then uses him to get revenge on the critics who have thwarted his success. His looks were re-created, via make-up, for the movie “the Rocketeer”-where a fedora-ed, brutish thug was made up to resemble him.
Rondo was, from stories told about him, a sensitive and kind person, who was hurt by the ay he was presented by the studio- but, put up with it, since they kept him working. The Rondo awards are meant as a way to keep his memory alive.
Rondo was born in Tampa, Florida in 1894, and went into the military after he graduated from high school. He went to France during World War I, and subsequently, during battle, was exposed to poison gas. He was discharged from the service, and went back home to Florida, where he became a reporter.
However, bizarre changes started to occur with his body. Most reports state that his exposure to the poison gas brought on the condition acromegaly (I think I spelled it correctly this time)- a deforming disease that causes bones in the feet, hands and head to grow and thicken, as well as internal tissues.
A film director was shooting a movie in Tampa, noticed his looks, and offered him a role. Rondo still kept his reporter job, but the disease cost him his wife, who divorced him as he began to change physically.
By 1936, Rondo had re-married, and decided to move to Hollywood, having had a taste of the film business.
He played bit parts in various films, including the Charles Laughton version of “the Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1936- but most of his roles were small, uncredited parts.
He finally got more of the spotlight, when he appeared as “the Creeper” in a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry, “Pearl of Death”- and was then utilized by Universal as a horror star, exploiting him as a “monster without make-up”- not exactly the most kind treatment. Sadly, he continued on for only about another year, after which he suffered a heart attack that took him out of the film business, and led to his passing in 1946.
You may have seen Rondo back when we showed the film “House of Horrors” on Svengoolie (sadly, we no longer have broadcast rights to that film)-where he was a brutish murderer whose life is saved by a demented artist, who then uses him to get revenge on the critics who have thwarted his success. His looks were re-created, via make-up, for the movie “the Rocketeer”-where a fedora-ed, brutish thug was made up to resemble him.
Rondo was, from stories told about him, a sensitive and kind person, who was hurt by the ay he was presented by the studio- but, put up with it, since they kept him working. The Rondo awards are meant as a way to keep his memory alive.
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