John Qualen

John Qualen is best remembered for his role as Muley in the John Ford classic, The Grapes of Wrath. Born John Mandt Kvalen, he moved with his family to the United States. He spent his school years in Illinois where he studied oratory and flute. After winning some oratory contests he aspired to a performing career and he began acting in traveling “tent shows” and later in stock. He auditioned for various plays on Broadway and his persistence eventually won him a role in Street Scene in 1929. Two years later he would make his movie debut reprising his stage role from the play for the 1931 movie also titled, Street Scene. That same year he met the legendary director John Ford and immediately became a featured player in Ford’s stock company of actors.

Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release

Street Scene (debut – 1931)
Arrowsmith (1931)
The Devil’s Brother (1931)
Counselor-at-Law (1933)
Upperworld (1934)
Straight Is The Way (1934)
Sing and Like It (1934)
Servants’ Entrance (1934)
Private Scandal (1934)
Let’s Fall in Love (1934)
Hi Nellie! (1934)
He Was Her Man (1934)
Our Daily Bread (1934)
365 Nights in Hollywood (1934)
Thunder in the Night (1935)
The Three Musketeers (1935)
Silk Hat Kid (1935)
Orchids to You (1935)
One More Spring (1935)
Man of Iron (1935)
The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
Doubting Thomas (1935)
Chasing Yesterday (1935)
Black Fury (1935)
Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)
The Great Hotel Murder (1935)
Cheers of the Crowd (1935)
Whipsaw (1936)
The Country Doctor (1936)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Girls’ Dormitory (1936)
Reunion (1936)
Ring Around the Moon (1936)
Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Seventh Heaven (1937)
Fifty Roads to Town (1937)
Angel’s Holiday (1937)
She Had to Eat (1937)
Fit for a King (1937)
Bad Man of Brimstone (1938)
The Chaser (1938)
Joy to Living (1938)
Outside the Law (1938)
Five of a Kind (1938)
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Stand Up and Fight (1939)
Honeymoon in Bali (1939)
Mickey the Kid (1939)
Thunder Afloat (1939)
Four Wives (1939)

His Girl Friday (1940)
Blondie on a Budget (1940)
Angels Over Broadway (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
On Their Own (1940)
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Youth will be Served (1940)
Ski Patrol (1940)
Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
Million Dollar Baby (1941)
Out of the Fog (1941)
The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)
Here is a Man (1941)
Model Wife (1941)
All That Money Can Buy (1941)
New Wine (1941)
Larceny Inc. (1942)
Jungle Book (1942)
Tortilla Flat (1942)
Arabian Nights (1942)
Casablanca (1942)
Swing Shift Maisie (1943)
The Impostor (1944)
The American Romance (1944)
Dark Waters (1944)
Roughly Speaking (1945)
River Gang (1945)
Captain Kidd (1945)
Adventure (1946)
The Fugitive (1947)
Song of Scheherazade (1947)
High Conquest (1947)
My Girl Tisa (1948)
Alias a Gentleman (1948)
Sixteen Fathoms Deep (1948)
Hollow Triumph (1948)
The Big Steal (1949)
Captain China (1949)

The Buccaneer Girl (1950)
The Jackpot (1950)
Woman on the Run (1950)
Flying Missile (1951)
Belle Le Grande (1951)
Goodbye My Fancy (1951)
Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
I, the Jury (1953)
Student Prince (1954)
The High and the Mighty (1954)
Passion (1954)
The Other Woman (1954)
Unchained (1955)
The Sea Chase (1955)
At Gunpoint (1955)
The Searchers (1956)
Johnny Concho (1956)
Country Doctor (1956)
The Big Land (1957)
The Gun Runners (1958)
Terror in the Haunted House (1958)
Revolt in the Big House (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Hell Bent for Leather (1960)
North to Alaska (1960)
Two Rode Together (1961)
The Cammancheros (1961)
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
The Prize (1963)
The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Those Calloways (1964)
A Patch of Blue (1965)
I’ll Take Sweden (1965)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
Firecreek (1967)
P.J. (1968)
Hail Hero (1969)

Getting Away from it All (TV-1971)
Fraser the Sensuous Lion (1973)