
Harry Cording
Department: Acting
Biography
Hector William “Harry” Cording was a British character actor. Cording was brought up and educated in his native England, and later settled permanently in Los Angeles, where he began a film career in 1925. He appeared in many Hollywood films from then to the 1950s. With an imposing six-foot height and stocky build, Harry the Henchman usually portrayed thugs, villains' henchmen and policemen. Cording's most notable roles were probably as the villainous Dickon Malbete, Captain of the Guard in Errol Flynn's Adventures of Robin Hood and as Thamal, the hulking henchman to Bela Lugosi's character in 1934's Black Cat. As a contract player at Universal Pictures in the 1940s, he turned up in tiny parts in many of their horror films, such as The Wolf Man. Having appeared in a bit role in 20th Century-Fox's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone (1939), he went on to appear in supporting and bit parts in seven of the twelve Universal Studios Sherlock Holmes films in which Rathbone starred.
Known For

Cripple Creek
1952

A Woman's Vengeance
1948

The Ghost of Frankenstein
1942

The Secret Of St. Ives
1949

Dressed to Kill
1946

Hot Cargo
1946

The Black Cat
1934

The House of Fear
1945

The Pearl of Death
1944

The Wolf Man
1941

The House of the Seven Gables
1940

The Invisible Man Returns
1940

Killer Leopard
1954

Man in the Attic
1953

Daredevil's Reward
1928

The Prince and the Pauper
1937

The Big Trees
1952

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
1944

Against All Flags
1952

The Sea Ghost
1931

Crime School
1938

Captain Blood
1935

The Strange Door
1951

The Black Shield of Falworth
1954

Peter Ibbetson
1935

The Iroquois Trail
1950

The Patriot
1928

Fortunes of Captain Blood
1950

They Met in Bombay
1941

Two Tickets to London
1943

The Fatal Witness
1945

Law and Order
1953

Road to Bali
1952

Captain Pirate
1952

King Richard and the Crusaders
1954

Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
1942

Titanic
1953

Sea Devils
1937

Bluebeard
1944

Ambush at Tomahawk Gap
1953

Night Stage to Galveston
1952

Buccaneer's Girl
1950

Sweepings
1933

The Squall
1929

Captured!
1933

Daniel Boone
1936

The Great Alaskan Mystery
1944

Sons of Liberty
1939

Al Jennings of Oklahoma
1951

Narcotic
1933

Bride of the Regiment
1930

Charlie Chan in Paris
1935

New Moon
1930

Rough Romance
1930

Last of the Buccaneers
1950

Captain of the Guard
1930

The Intruder
1933

Strange Wives
1934

Calcutta
1946

Rawhide Rangers
1941

Sutter's Gold
1936

The Moon Is Down
1943

The Mummy's Tomb
1942

That Lady in Ermine
1948

Phantom Lady
1944

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1953

The White Angel
1936

Fool's Gold
1946

Stand Up and Fight
1939

Devil's Island
1939

Son of Frankenstein
1939

Sirocco
1951

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1939

Arizona Legion
1939

The Sun Never Sets
1939

Tower of London
1939

We Are Not Alone
1939

We Live Again
1934

Each Dawn I Die
1939

Mutiny on the Blackhawk
1939

Stage to Chino
1940

Destry Rides Again
1939

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939

The Light That Failed
1939

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1939

The Marshal Of Mesa City
1939

Night Beat
1931

Heart of the North
1938

King of the Royal Mounted
1940

Texas Stagecoach
1940

The Grapes of Wrath
1940

Fugitive from Sonora
1943

The Country Doctor
1936

East of Eden
1955

The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
1940

Little Old New York
1940

Valley of the Giants
1938

The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938

Jungle Gents
1954

Mutiny on the Bounty
1935

Law and Order
1940

Trail of the Vigilantes
1940

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
1941

The Lady from Cheyenne
1941

When the Daltons Rode
1940

Santa Fe Trail
1940

Virginia City
1940

Dark Command
1940

The World and the Flesh
1932

Scarlet Dawn
1932

The Sea Hawk
1940

Strange Cargo
1940

Dangerous Venture
1947

A Dispatch from Reuters
1940

Florian
1940

Don't You Believe It
1943

To the Last Man
1933

Road Gang
1936

Christina
1929

The Girl in 419
1933

Brave Warrior
1952

Riders of the Badlands
1941

Overland Mail
1942

The Man from the Rio Grande
1943

The Marauders
1947

Trail of the Mounties
1947

Badlands of Dakota
1941

Wild Bill Hickok Rides
1942

Ride 'Em Cowboy
1941

The Spoilers
1942

Santa Fe
1951

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
1942

So Ends Our Night
1941

Arabian Nights
1942

Texas Cyclone
1932

Mata Hari
1931

The Spider Woman
1943

A Christmas Carol
1938

Terror by Night
1946

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
1942

The Right of Way
1930

The Soldier and the Lady
1937

Inside Job
1946

Singapore Woman
1941

The Cabin in the Cotton
1932

Tyrant of the Sea
1950

Song of Revolt
1937

The Last Command
1928

Gypsy Wildcat
1944

Sudan
1945

The Conquering Horde
1931

Honor of the Family
1931

For Whom the Bell Tolls
1943

Mission to Moscow
1943

File 113
1933

The Exile
1947

Maid of Salem
1937

Great Expectations
1934

Red River
1948

Rulers of the Sea
1939

Road to Morocco
1942

Convicted
1950

Lydia
1941

Lost in a Harem
1944

Captain Kidd
1945

Ship Cafe
1935

The Knockout
1925

The Man in Half Moon Street
1945

Devotion
1946

Mask of the Avenger
1951

You Only Live Once
1937

Tap Roots
1948

The Great Plane Robbery
1940

Marie Antoinette
1938

Painted Desert
1938

Naughty Marietta
1935

The Story of Dr. Jenner
1939

Merrily We Go to Hell
1932

Black Jack
1927

Sins of the Fathers
1928

Mutiny in the Arctic
1941

Passport to Alcatraz
1940

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
1935

Mrs. Parkington
1944

Black Fury
1935

Raiders of the Desert
1941

13 Lead Soldiers
1948

The Isle of Lost Ships
1929

California
1947

Les Misérables
1935

The House of Rothschild
1934

The Black Arrow
1948

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935

Secrets of the French Police
1932

I Like Your Nerve
1931

Roman Scandals
1933

Treasure of the Golden Condor
1953

Iron Man
1951

Turkish Delight
1927

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
1951

Hopalong Cassidy
1952