He formed a uniformed private army in the early 1930s made up of British and Irish World War I veterans. He called it the California Light Horse Troop and gave himself the rank of colonel. At one point it numbered 800 members, with 150 airmen. Public opinion at the time was very negative but, according to writer Philip Blzeibfred, the entire group volunteered for service during World War II and was accepted.
4
He became a bodyguard for an Indian rajah. After one of his employer's guests accidentally shot him in the leg during a hunt, he was promoted to food taster. Luckily for McLaglen he quit the job--before the rajah was poisoned to death.
5
Victor and brother Fred did a strongman/boxer vaudeville act in Canada and were billed as "The Romano Brothers." They posed as 'living statue,' recreated the boxing styles of well-known pugilists, and Fred crushed rocks on Victor's chest using a sledgehammer.
6
Prospected for gold and silver during strikes in Cobalt, Ontario just after the turn of the century.
7
McLaglen and brother Arthur at one time hunted lions in Africa,.
8
Claimed he was four years older than he really was so he could enlist in the London Life Guards and fight in the Boer War.
Grandfather of Assistant Director and Executive Producer Josh McLaglen.
11
He died about a month after his final role in an episode of Rawhide (1959), directed by his son Andrew V. McLaglen.
12
When he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Quiet Man (1952), he became the first male actor to be nominated for a supporting role after having already won an Oscar for a leading role, having won the Best Actor Oscar for The Informer (1935) seventeen years earlier. The first performer to do this was Jennifer Jones, who won the Best Actress Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and was a Supporting Actress nominee for Since You Went Away (1944).
13
He left home at 14 to join the British army with the intention of fighting in the Second Boer War. However, much to his disappointment, he was stationed at Windsor Castle and was later forced to leave the army when his true age was discovered.
14
In 1932, while still a British citizen, McLaglen captained a band called the Hollywood Light Horse, described as "a military organization formed to promote Americanism and combat Communism and radicalism subversive to Constitutional government." For the most part, McLaglen and his troopers marched around in their specially tailored military uniforms to their favorite restaurants and bars. When that bid for social attention began to wane, Hollywood Light Horse members began drifting over to a parallel organization known as the Hollywood Hussars. The more serious purpose of the Hussars was to invade the Soviet Republic of Georgia to secure drilling rights for an American oil millionaire who was bankrolling their enterprise. At one point, McLaglen was a member along with George Brent, the sheriff of Los Angeles County and the city police chief. Gary Cooper was described as one of the sponsors, but that assertion was withdrawn following protests by Cooper's representatives. In any event the Hussars never got to invade Georgia - their most conspicuous public outing was a march one afternoon down to the Los Angeles newspaper offices of William Randolph Hearst, where they serenaded the publisher from the sidewalk in a group song, in gratitude for his anti-Communist editorials.
15
During the British administration of the League of Nations mandate of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the 1920s, McLaglen, who was a sergeant in the British army, was appointed provost marshal - chief of military police - for Baghdad.
16
Born British, McLaglen became a U.S. citizen in January, 1933.
17
First performer to win an Oscar for a performance in a remake. The Informer (1935), the movie that won him an Oscar, was a remake of The Informer (1929).
18
According to a 1912 newspaper report, McLaglen participated in a fencing duel with one Carl Brosius in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, prior to that date.
19
Under the pseudonym Paul Romano, McLaglen boxed future heavyweight champion Jess Willard in a four-round exhibition match in Springfield, Missouri, on 26 September 1911.
20
Younger brother of boxer Fred McLaglen, aka Fred McKay (lifetime boxing record 6-11-2)
21
Boxed and wrestled under the nickname 'Sharkey' McLaglen, as well as under his real name, prior to his movie career. His lifetime boxing record (as far as is known) was 11-6-1, with 9 KOs. His 1909 bout with legendary champion Jack Johnson in Vancouver was a six-round exhibition bout. Two years later, he boxed Jess Willard, the "Great White Hope" who eventually beat Johnson in a heavyweight title bout in 1915.
22
He was cast mostly as Irishmen, particularly by John Ford, but he was actually British, his ancestry being mainly Scot.
23
Was nearly 50 before he became a bankable actor in films like The Lost Patrol (1934) and The Informer (1935).
24
In spite of being a powerful hulk his whole life (his huge shoulders making even John Wayne's look small), he was 64 and in declining health by the time he was in The Quiet Man (1952). Even prickly John Ford had to be sensitive to McLaglen's condition while shooting that movie's grueling fight sequence.
25
Before becoming an actor, he worked as a carnival boxer. If anyone could stay in the ring with him for one round and not be knocked down, they won a box of cigars.
