William Ruhl

Movies

California Passage
Townsman (uncredited)
A series of reversals bring two desperate people together. When a saloon owner is framed by his partner for a stagecoach robbery, he fights to secure an acquittal.
The Great Jewel Robber
Officer (uncredited)
Director Peter Godfrey's 1950 drama, inspired by true events, dramatizes the crime spree of the notorious jewel thief known as "The Hollywood Raffles", whose famous robbery victims included such real-life celebrities as Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith and Dennis Morgan. David Brian stars in the title role, and he's supported by John Archer, Marjorie Reynolds, Jacqueline de Wit, Alix Talton, Ned Glass, Perdita Chandler and columnist Sheilah Graham, playing herself.
Code of the Silver Sage
Major Duncan
Arizona Territory is in the grip of outlaw terror and killer outlaws, secretly organized by Hulon Champion, who covers his power ambitions with the guise of a respectable firearms merchant. Hoping to eradicate the lawlessness plaguing the newspaperman Fred Gately prints a letter asking the president to visit the area. But Fred's killed by secret gang leader Champion, who also plans to assassinate the president. Undercover officer Rocky Lane teams with his assistant, Nugget, and Fred's spunky daughter to combat Champion's head gunslinger.
Western Renegades
Bartender Curly
Brown's principal antagonist this time is the town boss, an outlaw who has killed the community's leading citizen. The dead man's grown children want to investigate the killing, but the outlaw puts a stop to this by hiring a dance-hall dame to pose as the kids' long-lost mother. Johnny isn't fooled by this subterfuge nor is his sidekick.
Haunted Trails
Gorman
Singing cowboy Whip Wilson, the foreman on a cattle drive, quits his job to pursue five bank robbers who murdered his brother.
Impact
Fingerprint Expert
After surviving a murder attempt, an auto magnate goes into hiding so his wife can pay for the crime.
Smuggler's Cove
Ryan, Building Manager
Slip and Sach are working as cleaners in a high rise building. They enter an office to clean it when a messenger hears them use Slip's given name, Terrance Mahoney. The messenger has a letter for "Terrance Mahonoey, Esq." and mistakenly delivers it to Slip. The letter informs Slip that he has inherited a mansion in Long Island. The boys then make their way to the mansion and find that it is inhabited by diamond smugglers. The real owner of the house shows up and helps save the day and defeat the smugglers and gives the boys the house as a reward.
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
Talbot's Manager
Joe is scheduled for the big fight as usual. This one has more fight sequences than plot.
Cowboy Cavalier
Mason
Jimmy Wakely and "Cannonball" Taylor protect shipments along a stage and freight line from villainous bandits.
Jinx Money
Police Detective Sgt. Ryan
A man wins $50,000 in a card game with gamblers, but is soon found dead and the money missing. Slip and Sach find the money near where the body was discovered, and soon find themselves the target of both the police and the gamblers.
I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes
Police Lieutenant
Around Christmas time, a woman tries to prove the innocence of her dancer husband jailed for a crime she just knows he didn't commit.
Frontier Agent
Marshal
Johnny Mack Brown is sent to the badlands to round up an elusive outlaw gang.
Song of My Heart
Cesar Cui
The portrait of Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky focuses on his failed love affair.
Rocky
Drew
Out fishing one day, painter John Hammond and his son Chris come across Bert Hillman, the foreman of a local ranch. He and his ranch hand are searching for a wild dog that killed one of their sheep. They find the animal and kill it, along with one of its puppies, but after they leave Hammond and his son discover another puppy still alive. They take it home and call it Rocky. John believes that a dog descended from sheep-killers will himself become a sheep-killer someday, but e gives his son a chance to raise and train the dog, hoping that he can train the killer instinct from it. Unfortunately, local farmers have reported an epidemic of sheep-killings, and they suspect that Rocky is responsible for them.
Song of the Drifter
Philip Judson
Jimmy joins Cannonball on a visit to the widow Fennamore, Cannonball's old girlfriend, at Firehole. Engineer Colton is killed by henchman Smoky Morgan and Philip Judson hides the body. The engineer, at the request of the widow's niece, Martha, had come to inspect a polluted reservoir. Land Company head Turner and Judson contaminated the water to get the ranchers to vacate so they can grab the land. Judson hires Easy to pose as the engineer, and he reports the reservoir useless but Jimmy's test proves the waters are not deeply polluted. Judson kills Easy to keep him from talking, and casts the blame on Cannonball. But Jimmy has a trick up his sleeve, right after the next song.
Always Together
Reporter (uncredited)
An old millionaire, who believes he's dying, bequeaths his fortune to a young woman with a fanatical obsession with movie stars. But then the elderly tycoon recovers from his illness and decides he wants his money back. Comedy most notable for its numerous unbilled cameos by Warner Bros. actors.
Prairie Express
Gordon Gregg
Johnny Mack Brown comes to the aid of a beleaguered female freight line operator in this standard Monogram oater directed by veteran Lambert Hillyer. Having saved his old friend Faro Jenkins and young Dave Porter from marauding outlaws, Ranger Johnny Hudson learns that the attack may be part of a concerted effort by bandits to drive Dave's sister Peggy out of the freight business. Unbeknownst to Johnny and the Porters, the crimes are committed on behalf of local banker Gordon Gregg who wants to bankrupt the freight business in order to take over the valuable Porter ranch.
The Law Comes to Gunsight
Brad Foster
Brown arrives in the town of, yes, Gunsight, in the company of saddle pal Raymond Hatton. Like a new broom, Brown sweeps clean, going after the town's corrupt element.
Hard Boiled Mahoney
McGregor - Apartment Manager
Sach just lost his job as an assistant to a private detective, but he wasn't paid. Slip goes with him down to the detective's office to demand payment, but finds the office empty. A woman enters the office and mistakes Slip for the detective and convinces him to take on a case to find her sister after offering a $50 retainer.
Unexpected Guest
Sheriff
At the reading of his late cousin's will, California learns the estate will be divied among whoever remains of the seven relatives. With one already dead, another immediately murdered, and the Lawyer telling them the ranch is almost worthless, Hoppy investigates.
The Brute Man
Policeman at Helen's Apartment (uncredited)
A facially disfigured and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those he blames for his condition.
The Killers
Fran (uncredited)
Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
Below the Deadline
Welsh
A veteran, Joe Hilton, returns from the war to find that his brother Jeffrey Hilton, a gangster, has been killed. His quest for revenge leads him to take over his brother's illegal operations but his sweetheart, Lynn Turner, persuades him to change his ways and return to the straight and narrow.
Bowery Bombshell
Henchman Spike
Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall), Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Whitey (William Benedict) and Chuck (David Gorcey) unsuccessfully try to sell a dilapidated car to a street cleaner for a fabulous amount, so they can get enough money to save Louie's (Bernard Gorcey) Malt Shop. Sidewalk photographer Cathy Smith (Teala Loring) snaps a pictures of three bank robbers as they are fleeing a robbery but when the Bowery Boys and Cathy realize that Sach is also in the photograph, they break into the photo lab to destroy the negative, which might make the police think Sach was involved in the robbery.
Mildred Pierce
Personnel Man (uncredited)
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
Adventures of Kitty O'Day
Michael Tracey
A telephone operator plays homicide detective with her boyfriend, making it harder for the police.
The Great Alaskan Mystery
Agent Grey
The obsessive scientist Dr. Miller is working on a matter-transmitter invention called the Paratron; a conspiratorial team of spies and no-goods pursue him to Alaska, trying to steal the device.
The Mad Ghoul
Stagehand (uncredited)
Dr. Alfred Morris, a university chemistry professor, rediscovers an ancient Mayan formula for a gas which turns men into pliant, obedient, zombie-like ghouls. After medical student Ted Allison becomes a guinea pig for Morris, the professor imagines that Allison's fiancée, a beautiful concert singer Isabel Lewis, wants to break off the engagement because she prefers the professor as a more "mature" lover but in reality loves Eric, her accompanist. In order to bring Ted back from his trance-like states, Morris commands him to perform a cardiectomy on recently deceased or living bodies in order to use serum from their hearts as a temporary antidote. When the serial murders seem to coincide with Isabel's touring schedule, ace reporter "Scoop" McClure gets on the mad scientist's trail.
So's Your Uncle
Crell
Circumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds himself pursued by his girlfriend's aunt, who does not approve of their relationship.
Hit the Ice
Sheriff (uncredited)
Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Weejie McCoy (Lou Costello) take pictures of a bank robbery. Lured to the mountain resort hideout of the robbers and accompanied by Dr. Bill Elliott (Patric Knowles) and Peggy Osborn (Elyse Knox), they also meet old friend Johnny Long (Johnny Long) and his band and singer Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms). Dr. Elliott and Peggy are being held in a remote cabin by the robbers, but Weejie rescues them by turning himself into a human snowball that becomes an avalanche that engulfs the crooks.
Mister Big
Producer
Students at the Davis School of the Theatre are assigned "Antigone" as their class play, but they conspire to do a swing musical instead.
Days of Old Cheyenne
Steve Brackett
Clint Ross's skill at fisticuffs earns him the town marshal's job in Cheyenne. Thanks to the string-pulling of political boss Big Bill Harmon, Ross makes it all the way up to the governor's office. But when Ross figures out that Big Bill is a big crook, it's showdown time.
The Devil with Hitler
Gestapo Guard (uncredited)
Adolf Hitler, Benito and Suki Yaki are placed in a series of Three-Stooges routines, with the premise that the Board of Directors of Hell has put the Devil on notice they intend to replace him with Adolf Hitler unless he can get Hitler to commit a good deed. The devil has his work cut out for him, and doesn't appear likely to escape being replaced by the German leader.
My Favorite Spy
Major Allen's Friend
The Army takes a bandleader (Kay Kyser) away from his bride (Ellen Drew) and sends him on a spy mission with a woman (Jane Wyman).
A Gentleman After Dark
Detective
A greedy woman betrays her jewel thief husband to the police, for the reward. Her husband's friend, a detective, adopts the couple's child and raises her as his own. Eighteen years later the husband, still in prison, finds out that his ex-wife is now blackmailing their daughter. He vows to break out and put a stop to her once and for all.
Unseen Enemy
Detective Callahan
The Unseen Enemy in this wartime meller is Nick (Leo Carrillo), the outwardly effusive manager of a San Francisco waterfront café. To make enough money to ensure his daughter Gen's (Irene Hervey) entree into society, Nick sells his services to a gang of foreign spies, who then use Nick's establishment as a rendezvous point. The plan is to covertly send out a Japanese vessel for the purpose of raiding and destroying American merchant ships. The spies' secret code is hidden in the lyrics of a song called "Lydia", which the unwitting Gen performs on request day after day.
Treat 'Em Rough
Police Sergeant
When his father is accused of graft, a former boxer returns home to clear his name.
Appointment for Love
Reporter (uncredited)
Charming Andre Cassil woos physician Jane Alexander and the two impulsively get married. The honeymoon ends very quickly when Jane voices her progressive views on marriage which include the two having separate apartments. Andre then tries to make his wife jealous in order to lure her into his bedroom.
Gauchos of El Dorado
Sam Tyndal
It's "The Three Mesquiteers" again. Gaucho escapes from Braden's gang only to be shot by them. The Mesquiteers drive away the outlaws and take his money on to his mother. But Isabella thinks Tucson is her long lost son and they don't have the heart to tell her he is dead.
Badlands Of Dakota
Ship's Officer
Up-and-coming Universal leading man Robert Stack made his western-movie debut in Badlands of Dakota. Set in the Dakotas during the days of the Great Gold Boom, the story finds brothers Jim and Bob Holliday (Stack and Broderick Crawford) dukeing it out over the affections of pretty Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford). While all this is going on, Wild Bill Hickok (Richard Dix) does his best to neutralize the local criminal element-and to fend off the romantic overtures of boisterous Calamity Jane (Frances Farmer).
Hold That Ghost
Night Club Patron Who Falls (uncredited)
Two bumbling service station attendants are left as the sole beneficiaries in a gangster's will. Their trip to claim their fortune is sidetracked when they are stranded in a haunted house along with several other strangers.
Criminals Within
Capt. Gray
A young soldier uncovers a ring of spies when he investigates his brother's mysterious murder.
The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
J.E. Lynch - Gang Attorney
Second serial featuring The Green Hornet and Kato.
Texas Terrors
Henchman Ashley
A lawyer by training, Bob Millburne (Don "Red" Barry) believes in relying on the legal system to exact justice. But he can no longer sate his thirst for vengeance, fueled by the death of his parents at the hands of a bloodthirsty mine jumper. Frustrated and fed up, Bob decides it's time to dust off his guns and holsters.
Diamond Frontier
Kendis
Story of the early days of the diamond-mining era in South Africa.
Oklahoma Renegades
Mace Liscomb
Stony Brooke, Rusty Joslin and Rico, known as The Three Mesquiteers, return to Oklahoma at the close of the Spanish-American War, and are concerned that some of their wounded buddies have no prospects for a satisfactory future. When the government offers preferred homesteads in the newly-opened Oklahoma territory to war veterans, they send word for their pals to join them there. Once there, the veterans meet a hostile reception as the cattlemen resent the influx of "nesters" and are determined to drive them out. Mace Liscomb and his brother Orv plan not only to drive out the homesteaders, but to also double cross the cattlemen and gain exclusive titles to the range lands for themselves. Stony and his pals eventually show the honest cattlemen that there is room for the settlers and that both are fighting a common enemy. Written by Les Adams
Gaucho Serenade
Henchman Carter
Gene Autry and sidekick Frog Millhouse depart Madison Square Garden and NYC heading west for home in their car and a horse trailer carrying Gene's horse, Champion. They discover that Ronnie Willoughby, a young boy just off the boat from school in England, has hitched a ride, thinking that Gene and Frog were sent by his father to meet him. Ronnie thinks his father is a big rancher in the west and doesn't know that his father, Alfred Willoughby, is serving time in San Quentin prison because of a frame-up by the officials of a packing company. To keep the father from testifying against them, the packing company officials, Carter, Jenkins and Martin, have arranged for the boy to be kidnapped. Along the way a runaway bride, Joyce Halloway, and her young sister Patsy join the troupe.
It's a Date
Ship's Officer (uncredited)
An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.
Black Friday
G-Man
University professor George Kingsley is struck by gangsters while crossing the street, leaving him with brain damage and one of the gangsters, Cannon, paralyzed. Kingsley's friend Dr. Sovac attends to both men, and when Cannon offers him a reward for aiding his recovery, Kovac transplants part of Cannon's brain into the dying Kingsley's skull, creating a dual personality.
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
Doctor
Scotty Hamilton is a reporter who works for a crooked editor. Bill Banning is another reporter who is about to expose the editor's ties to the mob. When the editor is killed, both reporter Banning and mobster Tony Garcia are suspected.
Sabotage
(uncredited)
The night before his grandson, Tommy Grayson, a mechanic at the Midland Aircraft Corporation, is to marry Gail, a former showgirl, Major Matt Grayson, a war veteran and watchman at the plant, catches two men breaking into the machine shop. The men run, but the major shoots one of them.....
I Stole a Million
Detective (uncredited)
A cabbie and petty thief dreams of the big heist that will end his thieving ways.
Code of the Streets
Police Lieutenant Welles
Frankie Thomas plays Bob Lewis, leader of a gang consisting of Sailor (Harris Berger), Murph (Hally Chester), Monk (Charles Duncan), Trouble (Billy Benedict) and Yap (David Gorcey). The son of disgraced police officer Lt. Lewis (Harry Carey), Bob vows to clear his dad's name, and also to prove that accused murderer Tommy Shay (Paul Fix) is innocent.
Star Reporter
Lane
An idealistic young newspaper reporter crusades against organized crime.
Scouts to the Rescue
G- Man Hal Marvin
Filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Sonora, California, this Universal serial is Universal's 40th sound-era serial. Eagle Scout Bruce Scott, leader of Martinsville Troop Number One, and his pack sets off in search of lost treasure and finds adventure
Pirates of the Skies
Cafe waitress Barbara Whitney refuses to acknowledge her marriage to Air Policeman Nick Conlon until he upgrades his career. He does so by infiltrating a hi-jacking gang, posing as passengers, that robs airplanes carrying valuable items and money, and parachuting their escape from the scene of the crime.
Tough Kid
Monk -Club Owner
Skipper Murphy is serving as trainer and inspiration for his brother Red Murphy training for a world championship title bout. Trouble comes for the Murphys when Red runs up against a gambling syndicate and is put on the spot to throw the fight.
Red Barry
C.E. Mannix
A police detective is caught up in a plot to steal two million dollars in bonds.
Small Town Boy
A Waiter
Henry Armstrong was past being a spring chicken, still believes in Santa Claus and the maxim that "honesty is the best policy", but lack of money keeps him from marrying Molly and buying a little home, and his is threatened with the loss of the petty job he has had for four years with old Curtis French, Molly's uncle, because he can not sell enough insurance policies. And, then, he finds a thousand dollar bill. His honesty makes him advertise the find, but no one claims the money. When he is convinced that the owner will not turn up and that the money is his to keep, he becomes a changed, more aggressive and self-confident person. He begins to make sales as fast as he can make the pitch and he insists that he and Molly be married at once. While getting dressed for the ceremony, he places the $1000 bill in one of his father's old suits, and Pa Armstrong, trying to raise money to buy his son a wedding present, sells the suit to a passing junk man.
Let Them Live
Matthew
A young man goes up against a crooked town boss.
You Only Live Once
Guard (uncredited)
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.
Crash Donovan
Driver (uncredited)
A California Highway Patrolman gets involved with a smuggling ring.
Spendthrift
Radio Operator
A profligate, polo-playing playboy (Henry Fonda) is married to a beautiful but superficial heiress (Mary Brian). They divorce, and the wife gets all the money. But the humbled (and impoverished) Fonda finds true love in the arms of Pat Paterson, who cares nothing for material things.
Sutter's Gold
Aide
Story of the gold strike on an immigrant's property that started the 1849 California Gold Rush.
3 Kids and a Queen
Reporter
An eccentric, wealthy spinster, 'Queenie' Baxter is erroneously presumed to be kidnapped. She subsequently pretends to indeed be kidnapped, , in order to allow a reward of $50,000 to benefit an impecunious family headed by Tony Orsatti and his three sons, Blackie, Doc and Flash.
The Daring Young Man
Coroner
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system.
Circus Shadows
Dave Zirillo
A phoney "psychic" ring tricks a pretty young circus performer into working for them.
Rendezvous at Midnight
Schultz
There are plenty of suspects when an unscrupulous, blackmailing businessman turns up dead, especially the Police Commissioner's current paramour, who actually confessed to the killing before it was committed.