- Was a talented musician playing piano, flute and saxophone in travelling concert parties. He became involved in acting while touring in Canada.
- Turner Classic Movies network aired a short-feature profile of John Qualen in August 2020 as part of its "What a Character" series. The moving tribute noted that one tragically bitter scene-stealing performance Qualen gave in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) brought director John Ford to tears.
- Though some reference works list his birth name as Oleson or Olson, in actuality Qualen's grandfather changed the family name from Olson to Kvalen long before Qualen's birth. Qualen's father subsequently changed the name from Kvalen to Qualen, after Qualen's birth. Originally pronounced identically to the previous spelling ("Kvah-len"), John Qualen himself changed the pronunciation to "Kway-len."
- In 1930, although working in New York, his home base was at 328 Sidney Street West, St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Of Norwegian parentage.
- Appeared with John Wayne in nine films: The Long Voyage Home (1940), The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), The High and the Mighty (1954), The Sea Chase (1955), The Searchers (1956), North to Alaska (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Donovan's Reef (1963) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).
- Teamed with Paul Fix 5 times. They started in The Road to Glory (1936) and finished in Winterkill (1973). In between, they made featured appearances in 3 John Wayne movies: The High and the Mighty (1954), The Sea Chase (1955) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).
- He has appeared in seven films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: His Girl Friday (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Knute Rockne All American (1940), Casablanca (1942), The Searchers (1956), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
- Was in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: Arrowsmith (1931), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Long Voyage Home (1940), Casablanca (1942) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Even though Casablanca was filmed in 1942, and released in 1943. It won Best Picture of 1944.
- He is often erroneously credited with the bit role of the bull owner in the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy film The Devil's Brother (1933). However, it is clearly not him nor is it his voice.
- He was in nine John Ford films (three of them in uncredited roles).
- John Qualen speaks his lines with virtually no European or Scandinavian accent. in the film, Woman on the Run (1950). This was very rare and unusual for this actor, a pronounced accent having been his trademark..
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