---
name: "Charles Middleton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/charles-middleton"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "2 October 1874"
died: "22 April 1949"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:17:20.943121+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Charles Middleton

Actor. Born 2 October 1874 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA. Died 22 April 1949.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 2 October 1874, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA
- **Died:** 22 April 1949
- **Also known as:** Charles B. Middleton, Charlie Middleton, Chas. Middleton, Charles Middletown, Charles Brown Middleton

## Biography

Charles Middleton (also credited as Charles B. Middleton) was an American stage and film actor. Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, he worked in a travelling circus and vaudeville before acting on stage and entering motion pictures in 1920. His film career, which lasted nearly 30 years, included nearly 200 films, often in supporting or uncredited roles as authority figures or villains.

He appeared as the Prosecutor in the Marx Brothers film *Duck Soup* (1933). Middleton is best known for portraying the villainous emperor Ming the Merciless in the three *Flash Gordon* serials made between 1936 and 1940. Other credits include roles in *Gone with the Wind* (1939), *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), *Sergeant York* (1941) and *The Killers* (1946). He died in Los Angeles in 1949.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Duck Soup* (1933), Fi1m 88, as Prosecutor — [page](https://film.one/film/duck-soup.md)

## Also known for

- *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), Leader
- *The Killers* (1946), Farmer (uncredited)
- *Sergeant York* (1941), Mountaineer (uncredited)
- *I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang* (1932), Train Conductor (uncredited)
- *Jezebel* (1938), Officer (uncredited)
- *Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House* (1948), Wrecker (uncredited)
- *The Flying Deuces* (1939), Commandant
- *Batman* (1943), Ken Colton

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/charles-middleton