The story had been told before in the Oscar winning 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola.
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However, he also played gruff authoritarian figures, such as Monsieur Cavaignac, who, contrary to history, demands the resignation of those responsible for the Dreyfus coverup, in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), as well as Don Alejandro de la Vega, whose son appears to be a fop but is actually Zorro, in the 1940 version of The Mark of Zorro, starring Tyrone Power.
His credits include Hell's Angels (1930), Little Caesar (1931), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937), God's Country and the Woman (Warner Bros.' first Three-strip Technicolor film, 1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), High Sierra (1941), Days of Glory (1944), and The Red Pony (1949).