Charles Kemper (September 6, 1900 – May 12, 1950) was an American character actor born in Oklahoma. The heavy-set actor was for decades a successful stage actor.
Movie career
Like many actors in New York, Charles Kemper worked in short comedies filmed at the Pathé, Vitaphone, and Paramount studios, beginning in 1929. In 1936 he was featured in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1936, and he was signed by Educational Pictures as a leading comic, playing timid characters in the tradition of Educational's silent-era star Lloyd Hamilton. He soon became a foil for Educational's newest find Danny Kaye, who was then a dialect comedian. Kemper and Kaye might have continued in these miniature sketches, but the studio ceased production in 1937; the last of the Kemper comedies was released in mid-1938.
In 1945 Kemper returned to films as a character actor in Hollywood. Kemper had memorable supporting roles in films including The Southerner (1945), Scarlet Street (1945), Gallant Journey (1946), The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947), and the film noir On Dangerous Ground (as Pop Daley, his last film role).
Kemper died at the age of 49 when he was involved in a car accident in Burbank, California.