Trivia

At age 15 he lied about his age to enlist in the US Army during World War I. He was sent to France and was wounded in action a year later, being sent home and discharged at age 16.

He had created such an indelible image as a western heavy that in the late 1960s, interviewers would express surprise at finding what a charming and friendly man he really was.

Was such a fixture in low-budget westerns that as soon as his face appeared on screen, every kid in the audience knew who the bad guy was. Of course, it took the good guy 60 minutes to figure it out.

Served two hitches in the US Army, from 1915-18 (he was wounded in action in World War I and was discharged) and from 1923-26. After the stock market crash of 1929, he traveled to California with his family, looking for work. In 1931 he heard of a movie studio that was looking for well-disciplined ex-soldiers as extras in a film, and because of his military past was hired to play a soldier in the Greta Garbo film Mata Hari (1931), beginning his long and extensive acting career.

During his years as a freelance, he became such an asset as the villain in low-budget westerns that in 1943 Republic signed him to an exclusive ten-year contract.

Claimed that his favorite role was as the reincarnated pirate Captain Mephisto in the non-western Republic serial Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945). Also among his favorites were the serials The Purple Monster Strikes (1945) and Haunted Harbor (1944).

Although his birth name is usually given as Howard Clifford Ravenscroft, both the California Death Index and the 1910, 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census list him as Howard H. Ravenscroft.

Patterned his screen persona after Harry Woods, one of the movies' greatest villains. He even tried to imitate Woods' voice. Barcroft's off-screen voice was different from the one he always used when in front of the camera.

Considerable confusion exists concerning his birthplace. Most sources cite Weeping Water, TX, while others cite Crab Orchard, NE. However, there is no town in Texas called Weeping Water; there is though, a Weeping Water in Nebraska, quite near Crab Orchard, and it is likely that Barcroft was born there and raised in nearby Crab Orchard.