Una Merkel
3 credits on HibingeTV
American actress, born in 1903. A blonde comic actress often compared to Jean Harlow, she played sharp-tongued supporting roles in dozens of films from the early sound era onward. She appears as Ann Rutledge in D.W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930) and as the wisecracking friend in 42nd Street (1933). She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Summer and Smoke (1961). She died in 1986.
Acted In
Biography, Drama
D.W. Griffith's first all-talking picture is a biographical portrait of Abraham Lincoln, from his youth as a rail-splitter and storekeeper in New Salem through his romance with Ann Rutledge, his marriage to Mary Todd, his legal career, his election to the presidency, and his leadership during the Civil War, ending with his assassination at Ford's Theatre. Walter Huston plays Lincoln with a plainspoken gravity, and Una Merkel is Ann Rutledge. The film, scripted in part by Stephen Vincent Benét, was Griffith's penultimate film and one of his last major productions. It was not a commercial success on release but has been reassessed as a late work of a foundational director. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.
Biography · Drama · History
Abraham Lincoln
1930 - as Ann Rutledge
Comedy
A comedy based on the wildly popular radio character Senator Beauregard Claghorn, played by Kenny Delmar on the Fred Allen show. Claghorn is a blustering Southern politician whose every sentence begins with "I'm from the South, suh!" and ends with "That's a joke, son!" In the film, the senator opposes his daughter's romance with a Yankee and gets entangled in a political scheme involving a corrupt party boss. The Claghorn character was the direct inspiration for Warner Bros.' cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn, who borrowed Delmar's voice and catchphrases. The film is in the public domain.
Comedy
It's a Joke, Son!
1947 - as Mrs. Claghorn
Mystery, Crime
A 1930 pre-Code mystery film directed by Roland West and produced by Joseph M. Schenck for United Artists. Based on the 1920 play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, the film follows the mysterious criminal known as "The Bat" who terrorizes the occupants of a lonely country mansion. Notable as one of the first widescreen films, West shot the picture in both standard 35mm and an experimental 65mm format requiring two cameramen. The film stars Chester Morris, Una Merkel, and Grayce Hampton, and is widely cited as an inspiration for Bob Kane's Batman. Long thought lost, a nitrate print was discovered at the Mary Pickford Estate in 1987 and restored by UCLA. The film is in the public domain.
Mystery · Crime · Thriller
The Bat Whispers
1930 - as Dale Van Gorder