John Kitzmiller

John Kitzmiller Biography

John Kitzmiller as Quarrel

John Kitzmiller was an American actor best known for portraying Quarrel in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No. He was born into a working class family on December 4 1913 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

A young John Kitzmiller had a genuine interest in chemistry and joined a Chemistry Club at school. He later graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Chemical Engineering in 1937.

During World War II, Kitzmiller was commissioned in the US Army, where he was stationed in Italy. He fell in love with the country and people and ended up staying there after both his parents passed while he was away.

Kraken

After the war, he began his acting career in Italy in the late 1940s with Italian dramas and films, including Senza Pieta (1948) and the award-winning Luci Del Varietà (1950).

In 1957, he became the first African-American to win a Cannes award for his role in Dolina Miru (1956), a Yugoslavian wartime drama. John Kitzmiller’s only Hollywood role was in the first Bond movie Dr. No, where he played an early ally of James Bond.

He made only 5 more films after starring as Quarrel in Dr No, his last outing as lead role Uncle Tom in the 1965 movie Uncle Tom’s Cabin. John Kitzmiller passed away in 1965 due to liver cirrhosis.