Eugene Pallette is a reliably funny presence as the father or fixer whose patience has run out. His gravelly voice makes him recognisable, and his timing keeps the familiar grumbling from becoming a nuisance.
Fi1m perspective
In The Lady Eve (1941), Eugene Pallette gives a father’s exasperation a deep, rasping voice and precise comic timing. His Horace Pike belongs in Preston Sturges’s comedy without having to compete with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda for our attention. We laughed at his grumbling because he makes the impatience convincing, rather than delivering it as a request for a laugh. He is a fine supporting actor, particularly when a character’s authority has become hard work. Sturges gives that speciality a good home.
Sound established this familiar Pallette after a different sort of start. He began in silent films around 1913, working as a leading man and stunt performer, before the arrival of sound in the late 1920s extended his career in character parts. His voice became a distinguishing feature through the supporting roles that followed. Alexander Bullock in My Man Godfrey (1936) is another comic patriarch. Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) gives his substantial physical presence and earthy manner a place outside screwball comedy.
In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), he plays Chick McGann, a cynical fixer in Frank Capra’s ensemble. James Stewart and Jean Arthur keep the film’s sentiment lively, while Pallette supplies less trusting company. His gruffness suits a comedy whose faith in personal decency needs something to stop it becoming too comfortable. That rasp is well suited to a man who is not easily impressed. Sturges finds a different use for the same impatience, fitting it into the sharper, more calculating romance of The Lady Eve.
The reservation is that these fathers, fixers and authority figures can begin to resemble one another. His Fray Felipe in The Mark of Zorro (1940) also returns to the stout priest familiar from Friar Tuck. These parts seldom ask him to surprise us. But a supporting actor who can establish a character quickly and time a complaint properly is doing something worth appreciating. Start with The Lady Eve, and listen to how carefully he times the impatience.
Biography
Eugene Pallette was an American actor who appeared in more than 240 films between 1913 and 1946. He began in silent pictures, including uncredited work in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and a role in Intolerance (1916), before becoming a character actor in sound films noted for his stout build and gravelly voice.
Pallette is known for comic roles such as Alexander Bullock in My Man Godfrey (1936), Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Chick McGann in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Friar Felipe in The Mark of Zorro (1940). Other credits include Topper (1937), The Lady Eve (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1943). He was born in Winfield, Kansas, and died in Los Angeles in 1954.
