HOLLYWOOD HEAVYWEIGHT
The life and career of Victor Mclaglen, the British boxer who fought Jack Johnson and became a Hollywood star
THE silver screen has had many recruits from the boxing world, but to my knowledge only one who really made the grade. This was Victor Mclaglen, a British-born Oscar winner who appeared in over 100 films, most notably opposite John Wayne in seven John Ford Westerns. Naturally, Mclaglen’s time in film is well documented, but his career as a professional boxer isn’t. And although Victor didn’t set the fistic world alight, he did share a ring with the legendary Jack Johnson.
Although much of his life was spent in America, Mclaglen was born in east London in December 1886, the son of a South African bishop. Wikipedia states that Victor moved to South Africa as a child, but the English censuses (taken every 10 years) show the Mclaglens living in Limehouse, east London, in 1891 when Victor was four, and again in 1901 when Victor was 14. So clearly, if the family did leave Britain, they returned within a few years.
At 14, Mclaglen left home to join the British Army, hoping to see action in the Second Boer War. However, instead, he was stationed at Windsor Castle and jettisoned from the Army when he was found to be underage. In his late teens, Victor moved to Winnipeg in Canada and tried his hand at all manner of things. He was a prospector in the Cobalt silver and Kalgoorlie gold rushes, a policeman, bartender, circus performer, professional wrestler and professional boxer. Mclaglen’s 6ft 3in 200lb frame made him a good-sized heavyweight for the day, and he met with mixed success in the rings of Canada and the US.
In March 1909, just over two months after tearing the world heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in Australia, Jack Johnson arrived in Victoria from Sydney. Although he had not planned to fight in Canada, he was persuaded to box a sixround exhibition in aid of the Vancouver Athletic Club on March 10. It was, in fact, Johnson’s first post-championship bout, although it isn’t in his record because it was an exhibition.
Initially, Johnson was supposed to meet Denver Ed Martin, but when Martin withdrew, Mclaglen was brought in as a late substitute. As you’d expect, the bout was dominated by Johnson, who almost certainly ‘carried’ the game but outclassed Brit until the final bell. In a newspaper article in 1937, Jack described Victor as “a dandy fighter and a dandy fellow [who] deserved the great break he got later”.
After another spell in the army, Mclaglen finished his ring career in London with a string of fights at the National Sporting Club. In November 1919, he was bombed out in three by British heavyweight champion Frank Goddard. And although Victor whipped Newcastle’s Frank Ray and Australia’s Gordon Coghill, he ended his career in October 1920 with a seventh-round KO defeat to Birkenhead’s Arthur Townley. That year, the 33-year-old Mclaglen got his lucky break when asked to play the lead in the British silent film The Call of The Road despite having never acted. Multiple film roles followed and in 1925 he moved to Hollywood where his rise to fame was rapid.
Victor’s crowning glory was winning an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in The Informer (1935). “I had always wanted to be the champion prizefighter of the world,” he said. “I hung up my gloves when I realised I would never make it. The night they handed me that Oscar I said to myself, ‘Well, at least I’m a champion actor – champ for a year.’” Victor wasn’t the only thespian in his family – four of his brothers (Arthur, Clifford, Cyril and Kenneth) were actors too. In fact, youngest brother Kenneth also followed Victor into the prize ring. But Ken’s short pro career ended suddenly. After a November 1922 bout against Canada’s Soldier Jones in Shepherd’s Bush, Ken suffered temporary paralysis. He never fought again.