Scott Kolk

Biography

A tall, amiable, good-looking, wavy-haired second-string film singer and actor during the 1930s, (Walter) Scott Kolk was born in Baltimore, Maryland of privilege and attended that city's McDonough Academy. Following his father's death, the family moved to a farm in Portland, Maine where he later studied at Thornton Academy. He began his career singing in orchestras and made his Broadway debut in the musical "Take the Air" in 1927. He met Hearst paramour Marion Davies while singing in Venice, Italy and she cast him in a featured part in both the silent and talking versions of her movie Marianne (1929). Showing great promise, Universal signed him and he appeared opposite Laura La Plante in Hold Your Man (1929) and then scored a supporting soldier role in the classic anti-war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as well as the William Powell vehicle For the Defense (1930). A lull in film work occurred and he relocated to the East Coast appearing on Broadway for the next several years, including the plays "Brief Moment," "Personal Appearance" and "Baby Pompadour". Universal later starred him in the serial cliffhanger Secret Agent X-9 (1937) and in The Wildcatter (1937), in which the studio changed his name to Scott Colton, which he kept. Dropped by the studio, he was later picked up by Columbia, who cast him in very minor "B" film fare such as Murder in Greenwich Village (1937), All-American Sweetheart (1937), Little Miss Roughneck (1938), Women in Prison (1938) and Extortion (1938). Following an unbilled appearance in I Am the Law (1938), Scott abandoned Hollywood. Back on Broadway and in stock shows ("I Must Love Someone," "Watch on the Rhine"), Scott Colton happily retreated to Maine, where he stayed. He did appear as a radio announcer and at one point became a ranger. Married three times, Scott died at age 88 and was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Wilton, Maine.