Al Kikume
American actor and musician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Al Kikume (born Elmer Kikumi Gozier;[3] October 9, 1894 – March 27, 1972) was an American actor, musician, and bandleader of Hawaiian descent. He was a frequently featured musical performer—on radio,[4][5] preceding silent film screenings,[6] and at miscellaneous live events[7][5]—during the 1920s and early thirties, as well as a familiar face among supporting actors in Hollywood jungle movies during the thirties, forties and fifties.[8]
October 9, 1894
Al Kikume | |
|---|---|
Kikume in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, 1952 | |
| Born | Elmer Kikumi Gozier October 9, 1894 Kauaʻi County, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Died | March 27, 1972 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Elmer Kikume |
| Occupations | Actor, stuntman, musician, bandleader |
| Years active | 1933–1954 |
| Spouse(s) | Virgil Edna Smith (m. circa 1911;[1] died 1925[citation needed]) |
| Children | Bernard Kikume Gozier (aka Bernie Gozier)[2] |
Early life and career
Kikume was born in Kauaʻi County, Hawaii.[3] Known for his association with Honolulu's Royal Hawaiian Band, as well as revivals of the Broadway play, Bird of Paradise,[9] Kikume's first credited screen appearance was as "Chief Mehevi" in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937).[8]
Personal life and death
By no later than 1911, Kikume was married to Virgil Edna Smith, with whom he had one son, Bernard Kikume Gozier,[10] aka Bernie Gozier.[2] Gozier went on to have a substantial Hollywood career of his own, both as bit player and stuntman,[11] appearing in at least one film, Green Dolphin Street, alongside his father.[12]
Kikume died in Los Angeles on March 27, 1972.[13]
Partial filmography
- Hula (1937) – Native musician accompanying Clara Bow's hula dance[14]
- Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
- The Perils of Pauline (1933) serial
- The Hurricane (1937) – Chief Mehevi
- Air Devils (1938) – Don Kahano
- Mandrake the Magician (1939) serial
- Typhoon (1940)
- South of Pago Pago (1940)
- Jungle Girl (1941) serial
- Perils of Nyoka (1942) serial
- White Savage (1943)
- She Gets Her Man (1945) – Joe
- Song of the Sarong (1945)
- Green Dolphin Street (1947)
- On the Isle of Samoa (1950) – Chief Tihati
- Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
