Watch Glenn Strange Videos

Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series. Strange was of Irish and Cherokee descent and was a cousin of the Western film star and narrator Rex Allen. Strange was born some thirteen years prior to New Mexico statehood near Alamogordo in tiny Weed in Otero County northeast of El Paso, Texas. He was born as George Glenn Strange, the fourth child... MORE

Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series. Strange was of Irish and Cherokee descent and was a cousin of the Western film star and narrator Rex Allen. Strange was born some thirteen years prior to New Mexico statehood near Alamogordo in tiny Weed in Otero County northeast of El Paso, Texas. He was born as George Glenn Strange, the fourth child of William Russell Strange and the former Sarah Eliza Byrd. He was an eighth generation grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe of Jamestown, Virginia. Strange grew up in tiny Cross Cut (formerly known as Cross Out) in Brown County (county seat: Brownwood), some fifty miles east of Abilene in West Texas. His father was a bartender and later a rancher. Strange learned by ear how to play the fiddle and guitar. By the time he was twelve, young Glenn was performing at cowboy dances. By 1928, he was on radio in El Paso. He was a young rancher, but in 1930, he came to Hollywood as a member of the radio LESS