Today, we celebrate the 120th birthday of actor John Carradine.

John Carradine appeared in over 300 movies over the course of a career that spanned nearly a century.  Born in 1906, Carradine made his film debut in 1930 and worked steadily until his death in 1988.  He was so prolific that films featuring him were still being released for years after his passing.  Though he’ll probably always be most-associated with the low-budget horror and thriller films that he appeared in, Carradine was also a favorite of directors like Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford.  He played key roles in such Ford films as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  Carradine, however, often said that his true loves were Shakespeare and the theater and that the films were just something he did so he could afford to work on stage.

In this scene from 1945’s Fallen Angel, John Carradine plays a traveling fortune teller named Prof. Madley.