Al Mulock

Al Mulock
Al Mulock as "Knuckles" in Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968.
Born
Alfred Mulock Rogers

(1926-06-30)June 30, 1926
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedMay 1968 (aged 41)
Guadix, Granada, Spain
OccupationActor
Years active1955–1968
Known for"One-armed bounty hunter" in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
"Knuckles" in Once Upon a Time in the West
SpouseSteffi Henderson (? – 1967; her death)
Children1
RelativesSir William Mulock (great grandfather)

Alfred Mulock Rogers (June 30, 1926 – May 1968), better known as Al Mulock or Al Mulloch, was a Canadian character actor.[1]

Early life

Alfred Mulock Rogers was born on June 30, 1926, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the only child of Adèle Cawthra Mulock and Alfred Rogers. Maternally he was descended from the Mulock family, headed by Sir William Mulock KCMG, the former Postmaster-General of Canada and one of the wealthiest families in Canada.

Career

He attended the Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in New York City, United States. Then, with David de Keyser, he started The London Studio, which taught method acting to British actors. Mulock became active in the British film industry in the 1950s and early 1960s, making numerous appearances in various British television series and films.

He is best known for his roles in Spaghetti Western films, most notably in his two collaborations with Sergio Leone, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West. He appears, and is memorably shot in each film: by Eli Wallach's character, Tuco, in the former and by Charles Bronson's character (in a shoot out along with two others) in the opening scene of the latter.

Death

Mulock died by suicide by jumping from his hotel room in Guadix, Granada, Spain, in May 1968, while filming for Once Upon a Time in the West.[2] He was wearing his cowboy-style costume at the time of his fall.[3] Mickey Knox, screenwriter for the film, and production manager Claudio Mancini witnessed Mulock's suicide as his body passed their hotel window near the end of the shoot. Mulock survived the fall, but suffered a pierced lung from a broken rib during the bumpy ride to the hospital. Before being taken away in the ambulance, director Sergio Leone shouted, "Get the costume, we need the costume."[4]

Family

Al Mulock was the great-grandson of Sir William Mulock, the former Canadian Postmaster-General. He was married to actress Steffi Henderson; she died in 1967. They had one child named Robin Mulock - now named Eclipse Neilson who is a screenwriter and artist.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Al Mulock". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Martínez, D. (May 15, 2018). "50 años del rodaje de 'Hasta que llegó su hora' en Almería". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Almería: Joly Digital. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Abella, Anna (April 17, 2016). "El 'voyeur' Hitchcock y los once dedos de Marilyn". El Periódico (in Spanish). Grupo Zeta. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Frayling, Christopher (2012). Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death. University of Minnesota Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-8166-4683-8.