
Hector William “Harry” Cording was a British character actor. Cording was brought up and educated in his native England, and later settled permanently in Los Angeles, where he began a film career in 1925. He appeared in many Hollywood films from then to the 1950s. With an imposing six-foot height and stocky build, Harry the Henchman usually portrayed thugs, villains' henchmen and policemen. Cording's most notable roles were probably as the villainous Dickon Malbete, Captain of the Guard in Errol Flynn's Adventures of Robin Hood and as Thamal, the hulking henchman to Bela Lugosi's character in 1934's Black Cat. As a contract player at Universal Pictures in the 1940s, he turned up in tiny parts in many of their horror films, such as The Wolf Man. Having appeared in a bit role in 20th Century-Fox's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone (1939), he went on to appear in supporting and bit parts in seven of the twelve Universal Studios Sherlock Holmes films in which Rathbone starred.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939 · as Guard (uncredited)

The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938 · as Dickon Malbete

Red River
1948 · as Gambler (uncredited)

East of Eden
1955 · as Bouncer (uncredited)

The Grapes of Wrath
1940 · as Deputy (uncredited)

The Wolf Man
1941 · as Wykes (uncredited)

Captain Blood
1935 · as Kent

Sirocco
1951 · as Master Sergeant (uncredited)

Mutiny on the Bounty
1935 · as Soldier (uncredited)

Peter Ibbetson
1935 · as Guard (uncredited)

Titanic
1953 · as Boiler Room Engineer (uncredited)

Law and Order
1953 · as Townsman (uncredited)

The Black Cat
1934 · as Thamal

Son of Frankenstein
1939 · as Bearded Gendarme (uncredited)

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
1944 · as Mahmoud

The Sea Hawk
1940 · as Slavemaster

Les Misérables
1935 · as Beam Warder

Tap Roots
1948 · as Leader (uncredited)