Max Wagner

His most notable appearance in films came in 1953 with the role of Sgt. Rinaldi in the cult sci-fi classic "Invaders from Mars. " The same year he was also cast in "Donovan's Brain," another cult favorite.

He entered Alcoholics Anonymous in 1950, but resumed acting the following year.

Enlisted in the U.S. Army on Oct. 27, 1942, and served as a private in the North African and Tunisian campaigns in 1943 during World War II. He was honorably discharged on March 3, 1944.

Max was a regular in the Charlie Chan series and was a company player with Preston Sturges, appearing in such films as "The Palm Beach Story" (1942), "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944), "The Great Moment" (1944) and "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1946). During World War II, he took a break to serve in the U. S. Army in North Africa. His tough, brawny appearance made him a casting director's perfect choice for gangster roles, giving him unlimited work as a henchman in dozens of Warner Bros.

The United Press reported on the set of The Mad Doctor (1941), also titled A Date with Destiny, that Wagner "traveled" 50,000 miles as an on-screen taxi driver during his acting career. "I was cast as a taxi driver about five years ago," Wagner told a reporter. "And was typed.".

While most of Max's work was with major studios, he was a regular with Mascot, the low-budget studio that churned out serials including "The Lost Jungle (1934) and Tom Mix's "The Miracle Rider" (1935).

Max Wagner, who was raised in Mexico, was an accomplished piano player and often composed and sang Mexican folk ballads. One of his arrangements, "Pedro Rudarte y Simon," appeared in The Last Trail (1933).

films in the 1930s. Los Angeles newspaper gossip columnists used to jokingly chart his rise from Gangster No. 4 (no gun, no dialog) to Gangster No. 2 (gun and dialog). A lifelong heavy drinker, Max struggled off and on with alcoholism.

In April 1927, Wagner was the key prosecution witness in the trials of actors Paul Kelly and Dorothy Mackaye. Wagner was Kelly's roommate and was present when Kelly beat to death Mackaye's husband, Ray Raymond, at an alcohol-fueled party on April 16. Kelly served two years in prison on a manslaughter conviction. Mackaye was sentenced to 10 months on an accessory conviction.

Jack was working on a Harry Langdon film in 1924 and helped Max secure his first acting part. His early experiences at Mack Sennett honed his talent in physical comedy that would serve him well throughout his career. During the early talkie period studios often made Spanish-language versions of their popular films. Max, fluent in Spanish, acted in many such films in supporting roles under the name of Max Baron. Studios often went to him to serve as a Spanish-language coach for actors. He appeared alongside Lupe Velez in the "Mexican Spitfire" series and when he wasn't acting, he monitored Velez's ad-libbing in Spanish to spot any profanity.

Like thousands of "day actors' during Hollywood's Golden Era, Max Wagner toiled in relative obscurity in supporting and bit roles with the occasional meaty character part. It was a film career that sustained him as a durable and dependable actor from the mid-1920s through the '70s. The youngest of five boys, Wagner was born in Mexico, the son of William W. Wagner, a railroad conductor. His mother, Edith Wagner, was a writer and correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor during the Mexican Revolution. He was 10 years old when Mexican rebels fatally wounded his father. His mother then brought him to Salinas, California, where he struck up a lifelong friendship with John Steinbeck. Wagner served as a model for the boy in Steinbeck's novel "The Red Pony" and he would appear in many of the films based on Steinbeck's books. Max's brothers - Jack, Blake, and Bob - were already in Hollywood working on films. Jack and Blake worked under D. W. Griffith at Biograph as cameramen and later went to work for Hal Roach and Mack Sennett. Bob worked on the First National lot as an assistant cameraman. At 23 years old, Max joined his brothers in Hollywood.