Skelton Barnaby Knaggs (27 June 1911 – 30 April 1955) was an English stage actor who also appeared in films, especially in horror films.
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Biography
Knaggs was born in the Hillsborough district of Sheffield, England. (A published source referred to Knaggs as "The London-born actor ...") He moved from England to Syracuse, New York, in 1923 and finished Porter School in 1924. After attending Roosevelt Junior High School, he graduated from Vocational High School in 1929. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Knaggs, and he had two brothers.
Knaggs acted in stock theater in Syracuse before he moved to London where he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and subsequently became a Shakespearean actor. In addition to appearing on stage in George Bernard Shaw's adaptation of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, Knaggs appeared in a few British films, debuting in Everything Is Thunder. He had an uncredited role as a German orderly in Michael Powell's The Spy in Black.
At some point he moved to Los Angeles, California, and found work as a character actor in Hollywood. Diminutive and distinctive-looking, with a strongly featured pock-marked face and charismatically voiced with an English Midlands provincial accent, he was cast in sinister roles, often in horror films. These ranged from uncredited bit parts to prominent roles in the Sherlock Holmes thriller Terror by Night, the all-star monster rally House of Dracula and three Val Lewton productions including The Ghost Ship. In the last, a voice-over narrative by Knaggs is heard, representing the thoughts of his character, a mute seaman.
Back in London, he married Thelma Crawshaw in 1949, then returned to Hollywood. The last film in which he appeared was Fritz Lang's period adventure based on J. Meade Falkner's novel Moonfleet.
Death
An alcoholic, Knaggs died of cirrhosis of the liver in Hollywood, California, on May 1, 1955, aged 44. His body was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
