Brown-haired American character actor, a former bank clerk, began his stage career at the tender age of 16 with a Pittsburgh stock company, despite having little formal training. His initial paychecks amounted to a modest $15 a week. After a year's hiatus serving in the Marine Corps towards the end of World War I, he returned to the theatre with another troupe of Pennsylvania players and went on to portray a wide range of characters, from youngsters to old timers.
As he worked his way up to leading man, Harolde seized an opportunity to act in a Pacific Coast touring production of 'The Front Page', which proved to be a success, leading to interest from various film studios, including Warner Brothers.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Harolde was in high demand as a supporting actor, notable for his ability to convincingly portray a variety of unsavory characters, including sleazebags, lounge lizards, convicts, junkies, stool pigeons, and henchmen. His characters rarely ended well, and he himself remarked in 1936, "I don't mind dying in a picture but I'd like to be given the opportunity to die just once under circumstances which would permit the audience to be at least indifferent about my death, instead of being glad about it."
In 1937, Harolde was involved in a traffic accident that ultimately resulted in the death of fellow actor Monroe Owsley, leading to a two-year absence from the screen. Upon his return in 1939, he appeared in a number of Poverty Row productions, looking rather more haggard than before.
In his private life, Harolde was an avid collector of firearms and enjoyed a variety of hobbies, including horse riding, boxing, and pistol shooting.
