Prolific "heavy" in American films of the silent and early talkie eras. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Kohler left home as a teenager, working various jobs while trying to establish a career in vaudeville. During this time, according to his son, actor 'Fred Kohler Jr.' novels, Kohler not only played the heavy, but also repeated some of the roles when these films were remade as talkies a decade later. His career lasted without let-up until his sudden death from a heart attack at 50 in 1938.
Both Fred Kohler and Fred Kohler Jr. appeared in Cecil B. DeMille s The Plainsman .
Although he forged a successful Hollywood career playing brutal thugs, in person Kohler was known as a passive, mild-mannered gent. He took a stab at directing in the 1920s but gave it up because he couldnt bear telling people what to do. Having suffered countless violent deaths in his films, Kohlers real passing came peacefully, in his sleep, from apparent heart failure.
Kohler is buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Memorial Park in Inglewood, California, A Plot, Lot 1866.
