Ethan Laidlaw Movies
An outdoorsman from an early age, gangling Montana-born actor
Ethan Laidlaw began showing up in westerns during the silent era. Too menacing for lead roles, Laidlaw was best suited for villains, usually as the crooked ranch hand in the employ of the rival cattle baron, sent to spy on the hero or heroine. During the talkie era, Laidlaw began alternating his western work with roles as sailors and stevedores; he is quite visible chasing the
Marx Brothers around in
Monkey Business (1931). Though usually toiling in anonymity,
Ethan Laidlaw was given prominent billing for his "heavy" role in the 1936
Wheeler and Woolsey sagebrush spoof
Silly Billies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
