Henry Kulky

Acting

Henry Kulky

Born 1911-08-11 · Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, USa

Henry Kulky (born Henry Kulakowich; August 11, 1911 – February 12, 1965) was an American actor and professional wrestler from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, probably best remembered as Chief Petty Officer Curly Jones from season 1 of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Kulky began boxing in his teenage years. After six bouts, he stopped boxing when he was offered a position training wrestlers at St. Matthew's Lyceum in his native Hastings-on-Hudson. Stanislaus Zbyszko convinced Kulky to compete professionally in 1939. Moving to Argentina, Kulky competed throughout South America under the ring name Bomber Kulkavich. The number of matches in which he competed is uncertain; one claim states that he won 172 of 175 matches. Kulky, however, claims that he won nearly all of 7,000 matches. While in South America, he is also said to have won the continent's judo crown. Like most wrestlers who turned to acting in the 1950s he owed his big break to Mike Mazurki. The two appeared in several parts in the 1940s and 1950s, with Mazurki's agent getting him a part in Call Northside 777. Because of his rather tough guy image, Kulky became typecast as military men, thugs, gangsters, bartenders, wrestlers and other "strong guys" who were at times quite friendly and lovable characters contrasting strongly with the tough guy image. From 1953 to 1958, he played Otto Schmidlap in the television series The Life of Riley. In the series, Kulky portrayed a co-worker of series character Chester Riley, a wing riveter at an aircraft plant. In 1952 he appeared in an episode (#11) of Adventures of Superman, as a wrestler working for a crooked promoter. In 1954 he appeared in an episode (#141) of The Lone Ranger. From 1959 to 1962, Kulky was cast in the recurring role as Chief Max Bronsky in forty-six episodes of Jackie Cooper's CBS military sitcom-drama television series Hennesey. The role was close to Kulky's heart because during World War II, he was a boatswain's mate in the United States Navy. Kulky's last role was as Chief Curley Jones in the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He died on February 12, 1965, in Oceanside, California, of a heart attack suffered while he was studying a script.

Acting credits

Call Northside 777 poster
6.7

In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal to look into the case. For some time, McNeal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.

Call Northside 777

1948

Mighty Joe Young poster
6.4

A young woman, Jill Young, grew up on her father's ranch in Africa, raising a large gorilla named Joe from an infant. Years later, she brings him to Hollywood to become a star.

Mighty Joe Young

1949

A Star Is Born poster
7.1

A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

A Star Is Born

1954

A Foreign Affair poster
7.1

In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the US congresswoman investigating her.

A Foreign Affair

1948

Love Me or Leave Me poster
6.9

A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.

Love Me or Leave Me

1955

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing poster
6.0

Broadway showgirl Evelyn Nesbit is the object of affection of two men: playboy architect Stanford White and the wealthy but unstable Harry Thaw. Nesbit marries Thaw, but White’s continued pursuit puts him in the path of Thaw’s volatile temper. A fictionalized account of true events that occurred at the turn of the 20th century.

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing

1955

It's Always Fair Weather poster
6.9

Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.

It's Always Fair Weather

1955

Army Daze poster
10.0

Joe is drafted into the army of Starvania, and falls in love with Olga, a beautiful Starvanian WAC, but Joe's sergeant also has his eyes on Olga. But Joe wins her hand when he captures two spies in the Colonel's office.

Army Daze

1956

Illegal poster
6.5

A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.

Illegal

1955

The World in His Arms poster
6.6

A boisterous sea captain in the Pacific Coast, circa 1850, has a plan to buy Alaska from the Russians… if they don’t kill him first.

The World in His Arms

1952

New Faces poster
5.9

New Faces was a musical revue with songs and comedy skits tied together by a quirky plot. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped jump start the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Carol Lawrence, performer/writer Mel Brooks (as Melvin Brooks), and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. The film was basically a reproduction of the stage revue with a thin plot added. The plot involved a producer and performer (Ronny Graham) in financial trouble and is trying to stave off an angry creditor long enough to open his show. A wealthy Texan offers to help out, on the condition that his daughter be in the show.

New Faces

1954

Hell and High Water poster
6.0

A privately-financed scientist and his colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer to conduct an Alaskan submarine expedition in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American plot that may lead to World War III. Mixes deviously plotted schoolboy fiction with submarine spectacle and cold war heroics.

Hell and High Water

1954

Phantom of the Rue Morgue poster
6.2

When several women are found mutilated and murdered, the Paris police are baffled as to who the killer may be. All evidence points to Dupin, but soon it becomes apparent that it is someone (or something) stronger and deadlier than a human.

Phantom of the Rue Morgue

1954

Phantom of the Rue Morgue poster
6.2

When several women are found mutilated and murdered, the Paris police are baffled as to who the killer may be. All evidence points to Dupin, but soon it becomes apparent that it is someone (or something) stronger and deadlier than a human.

Phantom of the Rue Morgue

1954

I'll Cry Tomorrow poster
6.2

Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Lillian Roth becomes a star of Broadway and Hollywood before she is twenty. Shortly before her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, he dies and Lillian takes her first drink of many down the road of becoming an alcoholic.

I'll Cry Tomorrow

1955

Red Skies of Montana poster
6.0

When a large forest fire breaks out in the mountains of Montana, a squad of 'Smoke Jumpers', the paratroop-corps of fire-fighters in the U. S. Forest Service, is flown to the scene from their regional headquarters in Missoula, Montana. The Forest Rangers, under Cliff Mason, put out the blaze, but several of the fire-fighters are killed. Ed Miller, son of one of the dead rangers, thinks he died because Mason was a coward, and sets out to prove it.

Red Skies of Montana

1952

Fixed Bayonets! poster
6.5

The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one, Corporal Denno's superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsibility.

Fixed Bayonets!

1951

Bombers B-52 poster
5.8

Sgt. Chuch Brennan always disliked playboy and hotshot, Col. Jim Herlihy. Now Chuck has even more reason to, Jim is dating his daughter, Lois.

Bombers B-52

1957

Love Nest poster
5.5

Jim and Connie's postwar New York building troubles keep Jim from working on his novel. Ex-WAC from Jim's army days Roberta moves in, further upsetting Connie but pleasing Jim's friend Ed. Tenant Charley, who marries tenant Eadie, loans money to Jim to help him keep the building, money which this Casanova obtains from rich widows.

Love Nest

1951

Up Periscope poster
6.3

Lieutenant Braden discovers that Sally, the woman he's been falling in love with, has actually been checking out his qualifications to be a U.S. Navy frogman. He must put his personal life behind him after being assigned to be smuggled into a Japanese-held island via submarine to photograph radio codes.

Up Periscope

1959

Guns of the Timberland poster
6.2

Logger Jim Hadley and his lumberjack crew are looking for new forest to cut. They locate a prime prospect outside the town of Deep Wells. The residents of Deep Wells led by Laura Riley are opposed to the felling of the trees, believing that losing them would cause mudslides during the heavy rains. Conflict between the town's residents and the loggers is inevitable.

Guns of the Timberland

1960

The Red Danube poster
6.7

A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.

The Red Danube

1949

Tarzan's Magic Fountain poster
5.9

An expedition tries to enlist Tarzan's help in finding the secret Blue Valley, which legend says is the location of a miraculous fountain of youth.

Tarzan's Magic Fountain

1949

Tobor the Great poster
5.3

To avoid the life-threatening dangers of manned space exploration, Professor Nordstrom creates highly advanced form of artificial intelligence capable of piloting a starship to other worlds. In order to transmit alien data, the extraordinary robot is infused with a powerful telepathic device that enables it to instantly read and even feel emotions. Danger strikes when a sinister band of covert agents kidnaps Gadge, the professor's 10-year-old grandson. But Gadge has a powerful ally. For he has developed a psychic, emotional bond with his grandfather's robot. And now Gadge's captors must suffer the wrath of his protective friend. They must face a mechanical monstrosity bent on a killing rampage of revenge and destruction.

Tobor the Great

1954