 | The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc. |
 (Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer) |  | Karl Hackett Real name: Carl Ellsworth Germain 1893 - 1948 Sometimes known as: William Karl Germain William Karl Hackett |
| Special thanks to Thomas McGeeney for sharing information and photos on his grandfather, P. S. McGeeney, Sr. and actor Karl Hackett. Tom McGeeney - appears your old e-mail addresses are no longer valid. Please send an e-mail to ye Old Corral webmaster. |
| Karl Hackett was born Carl Ellsworth Germain in Carthage, Missouri. Many biographies on Hackett list his real name as William Karl Germain and that he arrived in Hollywood circa 1935 - when he was around 43 years of age. And for the next dozen or so years, he was typecast as a villain, most often wearing a suit and portraying the brains heavy ... or crooked lawyer or judge, a gambler, the saloon owner, etc. In the 1940s, an older and grayer Hackett turned up on the good side of the law as a maligned rancher, father of the heroine, or a peace officer. Les Adams has him in about 150 films, most of which were westerns as well as a couple handfuls of cliffhangers. Included in that number are about three dozen films for Republic Pictures in 1936 - 1947, and most are oaters. His early work at Republic was in mid 1930s Bob Steele adventures which were produced by A. W. Hackel (Supreme Pictures). Republic bought and released these during their first couple years of existence. Karl also became a member of prolific director Sam Newfield's "stable of regulars", and he appeared in over fifty oaters helmed by Newfield. I always think of Hackett as one of the gutless baddies, who would always squeal or turn tail when the hero applied pressure. Hackett also seemed to have two approaches in delivering lines: if forceful, his voice had a villainous ring; but with normal dialog, he was monotone. Les Adams describes him as "bland". He certainly didn't ooze malevolence and have the screen presence or size of Roy Barcroft, Harry Woods, Fred Kohler, Sr., or LeRoy Mason. On a positive note, lots of B western fans remember Karl Hackett ... and they even remember his name. So he did make an impression. My favorite Hackett performance: in the Maynard-Gibson-Steele Trail Blazers adventure DEATH VALLEY RANGERS (Monogram, 1943), Weldon Heyburn and gang (Charlie King, George Chesebro, Al Ferguson, Lee Roberts) are robbing stagecoaches of their gold bullion shipments. Hackett plays alcoholic "Doc Thorne", a nervous and slightly off-kilter geologist / chemist, who has invented a formula to melt the stolen gold back into what looks like newly mined ore coming out of Heyburn's mine. And ol' "Doc Thorne" also likes to play with nitroglycerin. Definitely an offbeat role which brings a smile to my face. In their Best Of The Badmen book, Boyd Magers, Bob Nareau and Bobby Copeland report that Hackett did some work in Chicago stock and, at the time of his death in 1948, he was divorced from Ruby Germain. Hackett passed away on October 24, 1948 at the Veterans Administration National Military Hospital in Los Angeles County where he'd been a patient for about five months. Cause of death was bronchopneumonia aggravated by cirrhosis of the liver. True! And I've been able to add lots more details on his life. |
| Karl Hackett in B-westerns from 1935 - 1947 |
 (Courtesy of Jack Tillmany) Karl Hackett - circa 1937 and around age 44.  (From Old Corral collection) Above from left to right are Jack Rockwell, Karl Hackett, John Merton, Tim McCoy, Joe Girard and Lafe McKee in a lobby card from LIGHTNIN' BILL CARSON (Puritan, 1936).  Above is a crop from the pressbook cover for Tim McCoy's THE TRAITOR (Puritan, 1936). Faces above are all Texas Rangers - left to right are Jack Rockwell (upper left), Karl Hackett (lower left), Tim McCoy, Jack King, and Hal Taliaferro.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is the title lobby card for PAROLED - TO DIE (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1938). In the bottom right circular inset are Steele and heroine Kathleen Eliot. Karl Hackett is wearing the black suit. Steve Clark is between Steele and Hackett. And Horace Murphy is on the far right.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a title card included in the pressbook for WESTERN MAIL (Monogram, 1942). In this one, Tom Keene wore twin gunbelts buckled in the back rather than his usual single gun rig (buckled in the back). The baddies in the background are, from L-to-R, Sherry Tansey, Rocky Camron (Gene Alsace), Karl Hackett and Fred Kohler, Jr.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) L-to-R are Lee Powell, John Elliott and Karl Hackett in the Frontier Marshal trio adventure ROLLING DOWN THE GREAT DIVIDE (PRC, 1942). Hackett would have been 48-49 years old when he did this film. |
| Hackett wasn't a newcomer to films in the mid 1930s. His cinema career began around 1919, probably soon after being discharged from World War I duty in the US Army. He may have done film work a few years earlier. Jack Tillmany was able to locate the military/draft registration for Hackett/Germain: he's listed as 23 years old (based on an 1893 birth year, that would equal 1916 as the year he registered). Birth location of Carthage, Missouri, his birth date, etc. are in synch with the info below. His wife's name is not listed. He registered in Missouri and his home address was "Carthage, Mo.", profession was "actor", employed by "Ed Williams", and where employed is "anywhere". On subsequent webpages, you'll see a young William Karl Hackett / William K. Hackett in press materials and scene stills from several silent era oaters, and the probable filming dates/release dates were 1919 - 1922. There are also several photos of Hackett and his wife Ruby circa early 1920s. But during the period 1918 - early 1930s, most of his income came from a very busy life in plays and vaudeville for various stock theater companies. He even did a play on Broadway. And in the 1920s, he formed the "Hackett Players" company and did hundreds of performances in Ohio, Indiana, South Dakota, many other locales. Newspaper reports mention there were about twenty five members of Hackett's troupe. In 1928, he disbanded the "Hackett Players" and hired on with other stock theater organizations. Then came the 1929 stock market crash, Depression, and arrival of talking pictures ... and stock theater and vaudeville were severely impacted. Karl headed west to Hollywood and movie work. At the Internet Movie Database, AFI database, and Internet Broadway Database, there are references to a William Hackett / William A. Hackett doing silent films circa 1918 - 1925 as well as plays in 1903 - 1906 and mid 1920s. Guessing that most is for our Carl Germain / Karl Hackett ... except for the person in early 1900s stage plays. |
 (Courtesy of Thomas McGeeney) Tom McGeeney provided the above 1948 newspaper obituary on Germain/Hackett. Surviving family members included wife Ruby, a brother George, a half-brother Harold, and half-sister Mrs. Mike Minelli. Note that there is no mention of any children from Karl and Ruby. |
 (Courtesy of Dale Crawford & Jim Sorensen) Thanks to Jim and Dale for taking the photo of Karl Hackett's grave marker at the Los Angeles National Cemetery (military / veterans cemetery). |
