Ralf Harolde
American actor (1899-1974)
Ralf Harolde (born Ralph Harold Wigger, May 17, 1899 – November 11, 1974) was an American character actor who often played gangsters. Between 1920 and 1963, he appeared in 99 films, including Smart Money with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, Jimmy the Gent with James Cagney and Bette Davis, Night Nurse with Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable, I'm No Angel with Mae West, Baby Take a Bow with Shirley Temple, A Tale of Two Cities with Ronald Colman, Our Relations with Laurel and Hardy, and Murder, My Sweet with Dick Powell.
Harolde was born Ralph Wigger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, William Wigger, operated a tobacco store in Pittsburgh. When Harolde finished grade school, he began working at a bank in Pittsburgh and taking night classes at Allegheny High School. He later was secretary to the director of the Sarah Heinz House, but his real interest was acting. He became an extra in productions at the Empire Theatre in Pittsburgh, and his first speaking part came in the comedy Officer 666 in March 1917. He changed his name to Ralf Harolde for the program of that play.
Harolde enlisted in the U. S. Marines during World War I and spent seven months at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. His scheduled transfer to overseas duty was canceled after the armistice was settled four days before he was to leave.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ralf Harolde” as american actor (1899-1974). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor (1899-1974). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15069921. VIAF identifies the subject as 21701424. The Library of Congress control number is no90002447. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1974, 1920 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ralf Harolde” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.