George Zucco's widow ''hated'' the Mummy movies her husband starred in
A talented actor, Zucco brought elegance to every role he played.
As a character actor, horror films were George Zucco’s bread and butter. Zucco became known for his take on terrifying characters like Professor Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). Later, the British actor would star in the 1940 film, The Mummy’s Hand.
But years later, Zucco’s widow, Stella, admitted that her husband began to feel stifled by his villain type-casting.
“They really overdid it here,” said Mrs. Zucco, according to Hollywood’s Maddest Doctors by Gregory Mank. “I really don’t think Hollywood did the best they might have done with George. And when they started making him do horror movies, then I think it was a mistake - a big mistake. I hated those Mummy movies - they weren’t good enough for him!”
Despite her reservations, Stella Zucco commended her husband on remaining a master of his craft.
“Always, no matter what he was doing, George was a real professional,” said Zucco. “I don’t think he could go on and give a bad performance. He loved what he did - which is one of the reasons why he was so very good.”
On screen, Zucco remained professional, though he was just as appreciated off-screen. John Howard, who starred opposite Zucco in Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939), had nothing but kind words to say about his co-star. “George Zucco was a strange fellow but awfully nice,” Howard said, according to Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, by Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas. “Completely different from the characters he always played. He wasn’t the slightest bit menacing at all. He was a pussycat. It was as though he had a dark secret he didn’t want anyone to know about.”
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