Remember Hollywood's 'Creeper'? He was Hagerstown native Rondo Hatton
The Washington County Historical Society was thrilled to host local historian Steve Bockmiller for its July Culture and Cocktails event.
Bockmiller gave a presentation on Florence MacMichael, an actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. MacMichael, a Hagerstown native, was best known for playing Winnie Kirkwood in the television series Mister Ed, her other roles included appearances in The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dennis the Menace and The Donna Reed Show.
An actress in television, movies and on Broadway, MacMichael worked with many A-List celebrities throughout a career that spanned decades until her death in 1999 at the age of 80.
But Florence MacMichael was not the only Hagerstown local to make it big in Old Hollywood.
Actor and journalist Rondo Hatton was promoted to horror-movie stardom following his role as the “Hoxton Creeper” in Universal’s The Pearl of Death (1944).
Born in 1894 in Hagerstown, Hatton moved to Florida with his family in 1912. After high school, he joined the Florida National Guard, seeing battle in the Mexican Border War and later in France as a soldier in World War I.
While in Europe, Hatton was exposed to poison gas and medically discharged from the service. Returning home, he became a reporter for the Tampa Tribune, where he worked until 1936 when he moved to Hollywood.
Sometime after his exposure to poison gas, Hatton began to develop acromegaly — a progressive medical condition in which a person begins to develop abnormal growth of the hands, feet and face. The condition is caused by overproduction of growth hormone in the pituitary gland; the body resumes production of growth hormone, but bone structure can no longer continue symmetric growth. French wrestler André Roussimoff (more commonly known as André the Giant) also suffered from this condition.
According to available sources, Hatton’s acromegaly was almost certainly caused by poison gas exposure, though it is most often caused by a tumor on the pituitary.
Regardless, Hatton’s disfigurement led to his first movie role. While he was covering the filming of the movie Hell Harbor (1930), director Henry King noticed him and offered him a role.
Hatton appears to then have subsisted primarily on uncredited roles, mainly working bit parts or as an extra. His role as the “Hoxton Creeper” in The Pearl of Death (1944) signified Universal trying to launch him into stardom: Universal ordered a series of movies about a spine-breaking maniac known as ‘The Creeper.’
Don't miss:In the 19th century, you could wear your campaign slogans around your neck
More local history:A growing town, a Rebel invasion: Saving the documents that tell county's story
But toward the end of 1945 Hatton suffered a mild heart attack. One month later, he suffered a more severe heart attack, a common complication of acromegaly, and passed away.
His last two films, House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946), both of which he featured Hatton as ‘The Creeper,’ were released posthumously.
His legacy lives on, with his name and face becoming motifs in pop culture. Since 2002, the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards have paid tribute to him, and a book published in 2019 by Scott Gallinghouse called Rondo Hatton: Beauty Within the Brute aims to tell his life story, and the story of Universal horror films, sensitively.
Want to know more about local celebrities and icons? Washington County Historical Society is available for further research at 135 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Universal's 'The Creeper' was Hagerstown native Rondo Hatton
