ROGER IMHOF

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Roger Imhof  (1875 – 1958)  was a film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter. 

Early years

Imhof was born in Rock Island, Illinois on April 15, 1875   to Nicholas Imhoff, from Switzerland, and Susan McCluen Imhoff, from Ireland. 

Career

Imhof began his career as a clown with the Mills Orton Circus,  and as an "Irish" comedian.   He "toured in vaudeville and burlesque between 1895 and 1930."  By 1897, he was "teamed with Charles Osborne in a comedy contortion and burlesque acrobatics act."  Around this time, he dropped an "f" from his last name.

In the 1902–1903 season, he first worked with longtime vaudeville partner Hugh Conn, an association that lasted into the 1920s or possibly 1930s.  Marcel Corinne (1888 – 1977), sometimes spelled Coreene, joined the act sometime in the 1910s. She and Imhof married in 1913.  The trio of Imhof, Conn and Corinne toured in two comic sketches, "The Pest House" and "Surgeon Louder, U.S.A.", the latter "a military comedy" Imhof had written.   "The Pest House" was "the most popular and longest running of several sketches starring the portly pair Roger Imhof and Marcel Corinne".   According to an October 1920 edition of the Oregon Daily Journal, the sketch involved Imhof playing an Irish peddler who spends a mishap-filled night at an inn.  In 1923, he appeared in the Broadway play Jack and Jill.  

He reportedly invested in Chicago and Los Angeles real estate, but lost most of his money in the stock market and during the Great Depression. 

He became involved early on in the nascent Hollywood film industry, apparently "as a presenter, promoter, or agent".  As an actor, he appeared in films from 1932 to 1944, many with Will Rogers, but also including Ford’s Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) andThe Grapes of Wrath (1940) and This Gun for Hire (1942).

Of the songs he composed, eleven are extant, including the 1906 "Old Broadway". 

Imhof died on April 15, 1958, and was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery. 

Papers

Collections of his papers and other material are held by the Green Library (Special Collections M0611), Department of Special Collections, Stanford University,  and the Spencer Research Library (MS 121), University of Kansas. 

Partial filmography

Me and My Gal (1932) - Down and Outer 

Paddy the Next Best Thing (1933) - Micky

Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933) - The Beachcomber

Hoop-La (1933) - Colonel Gowdy

David Harum (1934) - Edwards

Ever Since Eve (1934) - Dave Martin

Sleepers East (1934) - MacGowan

Wild Gold (1934) - James 'Pop' Benson

Grand Canary (1934) - Jimmie Corcoran

Handy Andy (1934) - Doc Burmeister

Judge Priest (1934) - Billy Gaynor

Love Time (1934) - Innkeeper

Music in the Air (1934) - Burgomaster

Under Pressure (1935) - George Breck

One More Spring (1935) - Mr. Sweeney

Life Begins at 40 (1935) - Pappy Smithers

George White's 1935 Scandals (1935) - Officer Riley 

The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935) - Samson 'Sam' Weaver

Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) - Pappy

Riffraff (1936) - 'Pops'

Three Godfathers (1936) - Sheriff

Roaming Lady (1936) - Captain Murchison

San Francisco (1936) - Alaska

A Son Comes Home (1936) - Detective Kennedy

In His Steps (1936) - Adams

North of Nome (1936) - Judge Bridle

Red Lights Ahead (1936) - Pa Wallace

Girl Loves Boy (1937) - Charles Conrad

Sweetheart of the Navy (1937) - Commander Lodge

High, Wide, and Handsome (1937) - Pop Bowers

There Goes the Groom (1937) - Hank

Every Day's a Holiday (1937) - Trigger Mike

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) - Judge Logan at Jim's Trial  

Tell No Tales (1939) - Taxi Driver 

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939) - Sheriff Barney Riggs

They Shall Have Music (1939) - Michael - Deputy  

No Place to Go (1939) - Old Soldier  

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) - Gen. Nicholas Herkimer

Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) - Mr. Crimmin

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - Mr. Thomas

Little Old New York (1940) - John Jacob Astor

I Was an Adventuress (1940) - Henrich Von Korgen

The Way of All Flesh (1940) - Franz Henzel

Lady with Red Hair (1940) - Pat - the Lamplighter  

Victory (1940) - Captain Davidson  

The Lady from Cheyenne (1941) - Uncle Bill

Man Hunt (1941) - Captain Jensen

Mystery Ship (1941) - Capt. Randall

This Woman is Mine (1941) - John Jacob Astor (replaced by Sig Ruman)  

This Gun for Hire (1942) - Senator Burnett

It Happened in Flatbush (1942) - Mr. Maguire

Tennessee Johnson (1942) - Hannibal Hamlin  

Casanova in Burlesque (1944) - Joseph M. Kelly Sr.

Home in Indiana (1944) - Roger - Old Timer  

Wilson (1944) - Minor Role   (final film role) 

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