On this date, 119 years ago, the great actor John Carradine was born in New York City.
Over the course of his career, Carradine worked for just about everyone. He appeared on stage. He appeared in film and television. He played the great roles of Shakespeare and he also played Dracula. He was a part of both the John Ford and the Fred Olen Ray stock companies. He had a reputation for taking almost any role offered to him and, as a result, his huge filmography offers up a wonderful amount of variety.
He was also a singer! Here he is performing today’s song of the day, Night Train to Mundo Fine! This song was featured Coleman Francis’s Red Zone Cuba. Say what you may about the song or the film, how can you not love Carrdine’s dramatic (and perhaps slightly mocking) delivery of the lyrics?

Wow, who knew? He was well before my time, but thanks to the cult film Directors who hired him late in his life, I’ve seen him hamming it up in a variety of “B” movies – and he gave them gravitas indeed!
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