Harold McNulty

born: 16 March 1901
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
United States of America
died: (ca.) late May 1978
Los Angeles, California,
United States of America
(age 77)

Short American actor and extra who had a 50-year career in the motion picture industry beginning in 1918. He was one of a number of children born to Pittsburgh native Frances Bridget (née Doris, 1858-1944) and Irish-born James McNulty (1840s-1932), who married around 1880. A 1928 Variety article claims Harold was the "son of a wealthy Pittsburgh politician"; census records reveal that James was actually a laborer and gardener.
Harold's Variety obituary (14 June 1978) sheds some insight on his career and later years: a heart attack, combined with multiple nerve damage, restricted his movements and ultimately forced his retirement in 1968. Despite his limited mobility, he insisted on keeping his own apartment at the Park La Brea Towers (357 South Curson Avenue) in Los Angeles. In his later years, Harold kept in contact with two nieces, one of whom was unable to get a hold of him on the phone for several days. On the morning of 5 June 1978, the niece trying to contact him asked the other to check on him. After getting no response at the door, the other niece asked the apartment manager to let her in, where they found Harold's body; he had evidently been dead for several days. The copy of his death certificate available for viewing at FamilySearch.org does not mention a cause of death, nor does his funeral service record, although the latter does include a handwritten note: "Badly Decomposed (7-10 days)." He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.
Real name: Harold Patrick McNulty
Height: 5'6"
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

2


1925
The Uneasy Three
Party guest

1926
Mama Behave
Cafe Riskae patron

MISCELLANEOUS
(click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG7R-T52 (1910 Census)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHQ2-ZBS (1920 Census)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCVG-V8S (1930 Census)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9Z4-HD8 (1940 Census)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGFW-JNPX (WWII draft reg. card)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGF-52CK (1950 Census)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPNT-F24 (CA Death Index)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8L4X-Z8MM (death certificate)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HGWX-RDW2 (death/burial record)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BC-J3KK-Q (funeral service record)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V3LB-9NL (Social Security Death Index)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116672072 (Find a Grave)
https://archive.org/details/motionpicturerev00moti/page/35/mode/1up?q=%22harold+mcnulty%22 (Motion Picture Review, Dec 1926)
https://archive.org/details/variety92-1928-08/page/n4/mode/1up?q=%22harold+mcnulty%22 (Variety, 01 Aug 1928)
https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1978-06-14_291_6/page/83/mode/1up?q=mcnulty (Variety, 14 Jun 1978)
Jesse Brisson (bio notes and research; identification in Mama Behave, The Uneasy Three)

This page was last updated on: 11 January 2026