Quick Facts
Biography
Gene Roth (January 8, 1903 – July 19, 1976) was an American film actor and film manager. Born in Redfield, South Dakota, Roth was born Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth. He appeared in over 250 films between 1922 and 1967.
As Gene Stutenroth, he became a successful manager of movie theaters in the 1930s, and was working in this capacity when he visited Hollywood in 1944. Stutenroth was watching a film scene being photographed when a member of the film crew noticed that Stutenroth looked like Ernst Hanfstaengl, then a crony of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Stutenroth was promptly fitted with makeup and costume, and became a popular character actor. His burly frame and craggy features made him ideal as an all-purpose menace, gangster, tough guy, or sheriff. Most of his acting jobs in the mid-1940s were in "B" features for Columbia Pictures and Monogram Pictures. In 1949 he abandoned his real name and shortened his screen name to "Roth." He also starred as the master villain in the Columbia serials Captain Video and The Lost Planet.
Roth is remembered for his portrayals of formidable authority figures in Three Stooges comedies such as Slaphappy Sleuths, Hot Stuff, Quiz Whizz, Outer Space Jitters and (as a professor) Pies and Guys. His most memorable role was as Russian spy Bortsch hiding microfilm in Dunked in the Deep (1949), as well as its remake, Commotion on the Ocean (1956). His most famous line was his threat to Shemp Howard: "Give me dat fill-um!" ('fill-um' being 'film' with a Russian accent).
He later made frequent television appearances including seven episodes of The Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1954. His final film appearance with the Stooges was in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.
In the 1960s Roth retired from acting and sold wines and liquors in Hollywood. He was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Los Angeles, California on July 19, 1976.
Selected filmography
- San Diego, I Love You (1944)
- Shake Hands with Murder (1944)
- Gas House Kids in Hollywood (1947)
- Red Snow (1952)
- Torn Curtain (1966) - Guard in Post Office (uncredited)