---
name: "Frank Lanning"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/frank-lanning"
fi1m_id: "frank-lanning"
imdb_id: "nm0486967"
tmdb_id: 98000
wikidata_id: "Q5487854"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "13 August 1872"
died: "17 June 1945"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 80
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-25T06:25:51.083625+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."
---

# Frank Lanning

## Identity

Frank Lanning

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/frank-lanning
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** frank-lanning
- **IMDb ID:** nm0486967
- **TMDB ID:** 98000
- **Wikidata ID:** Q5487854
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lanning, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5487854, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0486967/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/98000

Actor. Born 13 August 1872 in Marion, Iowa, USA. Died 17 June 1945.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 13 August 1872, Marion, Iowa, USA
- **Died:** 17 June 1945
- **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lanning, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5487854, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0486967/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/98000

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Kid Brother*](https://film.one/film/the-kid-brother.md) (81)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Unknown*](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Frank Lanning (14 August 1872 – 17 June 1945) was an American character actor of the silent era. Born in Marion, Iowa, he appeared in more than eighty films between 1910 and 1934, frequently in supporting roles as villains or ethnic characters in Westerns and serials. He worked for studios including Biograph, Kalem, Universal and Pathé.

Lanning is credited as Costra in Tod Browning’s *The Unknown* (1927) and as Sam Hooper in Harold Lloyd’s *The Kid Brother* (1927). Other notable appearances include *Huckleberry Finn* (1920) and *The Victoria Cross* (1916). He was married to Merva Eaton.

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

## On Fi1m (2)

- *The Kid Brother* (1927), Fi1m 81, as Sam Hooper — [page](https://film.one/film/the-kid-brother.md)
- *The Unknown* (1927), Fi1m 80, as Costra — [page](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md)

## Complete filmography (55)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Trapped in Tia Juana* (1932), as The Yaqui Bandit
- *The Lightning Warrior* (1931), as Indian George / Jim (ch 1)
- *The Phantom of the West* (1930), as Francisco Cortez
- *Rough Romance* (1930), as Pop Nichols
- *Mountain Justice* (1930), as Townsman (uncredited)
- *Temple Tower* (1930), as The Nightingale
- *The Lone Defender* (1930), as Burke
- *Tarzan the Tiger* (1929), as Witch Doctor
- *Ships of the Night* (1928), as Moja
- *Black Jack* (1927), as Kentuck
- *The Unknown* (1927), as Costra — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/the-unknown.md)
- *The Kid Brother* (1927), as Sam Hooper — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/the-kid-brother.md)
- *The Two Fister* (1927), as The Indian (uncredited)
- *The Ace of Spades* (1925), as Francois Bonaparte
- *The Red Rider* (1925), as Medicine Man
- *The Fighting Ranger* (1925), as Komi
- *Ten Scars Make a Man* (1924), as Aztinca
- *The Bad Man* (1923), as Indian Cook
- *Drifting* (1923), as Chang Wang
- *The Remittance Woman* (1923), as Tsang Tse
- *East Is West* (1922), as Hop Toy
- *The Storm* (1922), as Manteeka
- *Out of the Silent North* (1922), as Jean Cour
- *Step on It!* (1922), as Pidge Walters
- *Cameron of the Royal Mounted* (1921), as Little Thunder
- *That Girl Montana* (1921), as Jim Harris
- *The Adventures of Daredevil Jack* (1920), as MacManus, the Indian
- *The Third Woman* (1920), as Tonnawanna
- *Huckleberry Finn* (1920), as Huck's Father
- *Haunting Shadows* (1919), as Morgan
- *The Prince and Betty* (1919), as The Shepherd
- *Fighting Cressy* (1919), as Old Man Harrison
- *Desert Gold* (1919), as Papago Indian Son
- *The Blue Bandanna* (1919), as Ben Cowan
- *A Sage Brush Hamlet* (1919), as Two-Gun Dan
- *Bare-Fisted Gallagher* (1919), as Aliso Pete
- *The Mints of Hell* (1919), as Manny
- *Whitewashed Walls* (1919), as Guard
- *The Goddess of Lost Lake* (1918), as Eagle
- *The Craving* (1918), as Commander at War
- *Huck and Tom* (1918), as Injun Joe
- *North of Fifty-Three* (1917), as Nig Geroux
- *The Squaw Man's Son* (1917), as Appah
- *A Kentucky Cinderella* (1917), as Frank Long
- *The Victoria Cross* (1916), as Cassim
- *The Three Godfathers* (1916), as Bill Kearny
- *John Needham's Double* (1916), as Cruet
- *The Spanish Jade* (1915), as Tormillo
- *Buckshot John* (1915), as Bad Jake Kennedy
- *The Oubliette* (1914), as Oliver Le Dain
- *The Severed Hand* (1914), Actor
- *Slim Jim's Last Chance* (1911), as Man in Prison Office
- *The Hero Track Walker* (1911), as Pinto Joe
- *The Lad from Old Ireland* (1910), as Man in Campaign Office
- *The Navajo's Bride* (1910), Actor

## Gallery

- ![Frank Lanning](https://film.one/media/person/3850472/gallery-6e5998f754ce.jpg) Frank Lanning — Harold Lloyd, Lewis Milestone and Ted Wilde., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Frank_Lanning%2C_The_Kid_Brother.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![A scene from the American film Huckleberry Finn (1920) which played at the Coliseum Theater, Seattle. Date stamped June 29, 1920. Includes Lewis Sargent. Subjec (1919)](https://film.one/media/person/3850472/gallery-e85c955c0748.jpg) A scene from the American film Huckleberry Finn (1920) which played at the Coliseum Theater, Seattle. Date stamped June 29, 1920. Includes Lewis Sargent. Subjec (1919) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/A_scene_from_%22Huckleberry_Finn%22_%28SAYRE_14159%29.jpg/1280px-A_scene_from_%22Huckleberry_Finn%22_%28SAYRE_14159%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Frank Lanning and Louise Glaum in The Goddess of Lost Lake (1918) - publicity still](https://film.one/media/person/3850472/gallery-0dc4c19713b9.jpg) Frank Lanning and Louise Glaum in The Goddess of Lost Lake (1918) - publicity still — unknown (W. W. Hodkinson Corp.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/The_Goddess_of_Lost_Lake_%281918%29_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Frank Lanning](https://film.one/media/person/3850472/gallery-db1f28bb1a06.jpg) Frank Lanning — Image via TMDB

---
© 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/frank-lanning