Big, burly Richard Alexander had actually been in films for several years before he made his “big screen debut” in “All Quiet On the Western Front” (1930), it was just he hadn’t been noticed yet (hard to believe for someone so huge I know). While he would appear in such films as “The Front Page” (1931), “A Tale of Two Cities” (1935), and “Destry Rides Again” (1939) during his heyday in the thirties, it was his serials that really cemented him in the public’s eye.

Alexander made many serials during this time. Starting with Mascot he played henchmen in “The Law of the Wild” (1934) and “The Fighting Marines” (1935), before popping over to Stage and Screen for a brief appearance in “The Clutching Hand” (1936). That same year he went through a minor change in status and played one of his more popular characters for Universal, the heroic Prince Barin in “Flash Gordon” (1936) and “Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars” (1938).

But it was in between these two serials that Alexander worked at Republic in serials that would catapulted his status as a major villain into the stratosphere. His first one cast him his as a mute and homicidal giant unquestioningly loyal to Bela Lugosi in “SOS Coastguard” (1937). He followed it with his best role yet, the vicious and nasty El Lobo in “Zorro Rides Again” (1937). Alexander’s last major serial role was as one of an outlaw gang fighting Universal’s “Rider’s of Death Valley” (1941) along side Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford and jack Rockwell.

Though he would not garner major screen time again, Alexander continued working and appeared in “The Ghost of Frankenstein” (1942), the Sherlock Holmes mystery “The House of Fear” (1944), the original “The Father of the Bride” (1950), and “The Great Race” (1965). Toward the end of his career, Alexander worked for the Screen Actor’s Guild, representing Hollywood extras.