James Dunn
Birthday: Born in 1901-11-02 in New York City, New York, USA
Deathday: 1967-09-03
James Dunn worked on the stage, in vaudeville and as an extra in silent movies before he was signed by Fox in 1931. His first movie with Fox was 1931's Sob Sister (1931). While at Fox, he appeared with Shirley Temple in her first three features: Baby Take a Bow (1934), Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) and Bright Eyes (1934). Dunn's screen character was usually the boy next door or the nice guy. In 1935 musicals at the new 20th Century-Fox were out and Dunn would move to the "B" list, from which he would never return. In The Payoff (1935) he plays the nice guy newspaper columnist whose wife ruins his career. By the late 1930s he was drinking heavily and become unemployable. He would appear in small roles in films during the early 1940s, but those parts were few. In 1945 he was able to make a comeback and win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), but his rejuvenated career would not continue. By 1951 he would again be unemployed and bankrupt. Television would later supply some work and he would be a regular on the series It's a Great Life (1954). Dunn was born 2 November 1901, New York City, New York, USA, and he died 1 September 1967, Santa Monica, California, USA (following abdominal surgery)
TV Credits
The Great Adventure
Character: Indian Agent McLean
The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, narrated each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented a weekly one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important historical events in American History....
Route 66
Character:
After discovering that his late father has gone through most of the family fortune, Tod Stiles hits the title trans-America highway in his Corvette in search of adventure with friend Buz Murdock, a survivor of New York's mean streets. The two work odd jobs as they meet and interact with colorful characters and find themselves plunged into one situation after another, some of them romantic, some of them very dangerous. Later, Linc Case, a Vietnam war hero trying to find himself, takes over as Tod...
Naked City
Character: Peter Wilkin
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”....
Studio One
Character:
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
General Electric Theater
Character:
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Going My Way
Character:
Going My Way is an American comedy-drama series...
Rawhide
Character:
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama....
The Fugitive
Character: Lou Bragan
Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard....
The Virginian
Character: Congressman Matthew J. Cosgrove
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western....
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character:
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season....
Lux Video Theatre
Character: Joey
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
Climax!
Character: Eldon Abernathy
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live....
Matinee Theater
Character:
Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter...
Branded
Character:
Branded is an American Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice....
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Gabe Henshaw
Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big ...
Ben Casey
Character:
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff was a medical consultant for the show and may have influenced the personality of the title character....
Robert Montgomery Presents
Character:
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on....
It's a Great Life
Character: Earl Morgan
It's a Great Life is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956. Frances Bavier, six years before being cast as Aunt Bee in CBS's The Andy Griffith Show, played a somewhat similar role as Mrs. Amy Morgan, the owner of a boarding house....
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character: Dan McLain
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season....
Studio One
Character: Frank Gabriel
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Climax!
Character: Warren
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live....
Screen Director's Playhouse
Character: Sheriff Garrett
Presented by Eastman Kodak, this show was a series of original scripts directed by acclaimed directors and featuring well-known performers. The stories ranged from musicals to comedies and dramas....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: J. Henry Newman
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
The Investigators
Character: Chief Reynolds
The Investigators is a short-lived American adventure/drama television series that aired on CBS from October 5, to December 28, 1961....
Bonanza
Character: Danny Lynch
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community....
Rawhide
Character: Dr. Soloman Flood
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama....
Movie Credits
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Character: Johnny Nolan
In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young Francie's desire to transfer to a better school...if irresponsible Papa can get his act together....
Baby Take a Bow
Character: Eddie Ellison
Eddie Ellison is an ex-con who spent time in Sing-Sing prison. Kay marries him as soon as he serves his time. Five years later, Eddie and his ex-convict buddy Larry, have both gone straight, and Eddie and Kay have a beautiful little girl named Shirley. However, Welch has kept a close eye on them for years. He believes in "once a criminal, always a criminal." Then, when Eddie's employer's wife's pearls go missing, it comes out that Eddie and Larry both spent time in prison, and they're fired. Wel...
Welcome Home
Character: Richard Foster
A con artist attends a reunion in his hometown and discovers that his former classmates are trying to trick an old millionaire into returning to build a factory....
The Living Ghost
Character: Nick Trayne
A detective investigating kidnapping case discovers the victim, who may be a zombie....
Bright Eyes
Character: Loop Merritt
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody....
Stand Up and Cheer!
Character: Jimmy Dugan
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department....
The Ghost and the Guest
Character: Webster Frye
Newlyweds Webster and Jackie Frye spend their honeymoon in a sinister old country house. Before long, they are besieged by a gang of crooks, searching for a fortune in diamonds. With the help of chauffeur Harmony Jones, the honeymooners attempt to outsmart the villains....
Government Girl
Character: Sergeant Joe Blake
An aviation engineer and a government secretary are thrown together by the war effort....
Bad Girl
Character: Eddie Collins
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage....
The Oscar
Character: TV executive
An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win....
Killer McCoy
Character: Brian McCoy
Tommy McCoy grew up poor and scrappy. As a young man he discovers that he can fight with his powerful right arm. He becomes successful at boxing, however he has an alcoholic father....
Hearts in Bondage
Character: Lt. Kenneth Reynolds
Best friends Kenneth Reynolds and Raymond Jordan are U.S. Navy officers, and Kenneth is engaged to Raymond's sister. But the eruption of the Civil War divides them, as Raymond stands by his native Virginia while Kenneth remains on duty as a Northern officer. Kenneth's uncle, John Ericsson, designs a new kind of ship, an ironclad he calls the Monitor. Eventually the war pits Kenneth, on board the Monitor, against his friend Raymond, serving aboard the South's own ironclad, the Merrimac (as it is ...
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
Character: Telegrapher
Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an alcoholic advanceman for a burlesque show. After failing to get a job as reporter in New York, he enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. His camaraderie with fellow soldiers and...
The Caribbean Mystery
Character: Mr. Smith
The Caribbean Mystery is a remake of Mr. Moto on Danger Island (1939)-which in turn was a remake of Murder in Trinidad. James Dunn stars as Mr. Smith, a Columbo-like Brooklyn detective who pops up on a tropical island to track down some missing geologists....
Two-Fisted Gentleman
Character: Mickey
Mickey, is a prizefighter whose bright career hits the skids when he comes under the guidance of Ginger, a female fight promoter, when he becomes involved with June Prentice and her high-society crowd....
The Girl in 419
Character: Dr. Daniel French
A hospital surgeon (James Dunn) protects a mystery woman (Gloria Stuart) who knows too much about a card-game murder....
Arizona to Broadway
Character: Smiley Wells
A team of con men trying to double-cross a woman they are supposedly helping to get some stolen money back wind up getting crossed themselves... by the mob....
Mr. Broadway
Character:
A musical television special chronicling the early career of playwright George M. Cohan, focusing primarily on his vaudeville years as part of his family singing group "The Four Cohans."...
George White's 1935 Scandals
Character: Eddie
A Broadway producer discovers new talent in a small Georgia town and brings them to New York for his new show....
The Payoff
Character: Joe McCoy
An honest sports columnist's greedy wife persuades him to go easy on a cheat, famous for crooked sports deals....
Hold That Woman!
Character: Jimmy Parker
A skip tracer--someone who collects late payments from people who've purchased appliances, etc., or takes them back them when they don't pay--repossesses a small radio from a deadbeat who's skipped payments. What he doesn't know is that a gang that has stolen diamonds from a Hollywood movie star has stashed them inside the radio, and they start hunting for him....
Have a Heart
Character: James 'Jimmie' Flaherty
Sally (Jean Parker) is engaged to be married, loves dancing and kids. But her life is ruined when an accident cripples her and her betrothed magnanimously offers to not back out of the marriage. After rejecting his offer she starts a doll shop and tries to save for an operation. From her doll shop window she watches children and talks to Jimmie (James Dunn) the ice cream man. She wants to know Jimmie better, but is terrified of rejection....
That Brennan Girl
Character: Denny Reagan
Raised by Natalie Brennan, a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother, who wants everyone to think they are sisters, and then from Denny Reagan, an older man. He starts teaching her his tricks of the trade and she falls right in line with his crooked ways. Then one night she meets Martin J. 'Mart' Neilson, a tall, handsome, honest farmer boy who's a...
We Have Our Moments
Character: John Wade
A trio of American crooks board a ship bound for Europe, intending to get rid of $100,000 in stolen dough. With detective John Wade breathing down their necks, the crooks stash the loot in the trunk belonging to vacationing schoolmarm Mary Smith....
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Character: Mike
Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she's a nice girl, named Perry, running away from a job at a gasoline station. Soon they're off to New York together, but part ways once they arrive. Time passes and Eddie is failing to sell his play; Perry ...
Change of Heart
Character: Mark McGowan
Catherine and Mack and their close friends Chris and Madge graduate from a West Coast college and fly to New York City to find work....
Hello, Sister!
Character: Jimmy
Peggy and her friend Millie are strolling down Broadway while Jimmy and Mac are trolling Broadway, and the four get together......
Society Girl
Character: Johnny Malone
Johnny is training for a championship fight. Judy distracts him, so his manager Briscoe walks out on him. Then so does Judy....
Over the Hill
Character: Johnny Shelby as an Adult
In their farm house in a New York village, Ma Shelby prepares breakfast for her four children, Isaac, Tommy, Johnny and Susan, and then awakens them. The racket the boys make as they play and fight awakens their father, who spanks the eldest, Isaac. When a visitor chides Pa for not working, Ma sticks up for her husband, saying that he has a weak back and that he is waiting for a promised government job....
Sailor's Luck
Character: Jimmy Fenimore Harrigan
U.S. sailor Jimmy Harrigan, on shore leave in San Pedro, meets and falls for Sally Brent She promises to wait for him when he ships out to San Francisco, but Jimmy becomes jealous and tells her off when he learns Sally has entered a marathon dance contest sponsored by a lecherous snake named Baron Portola. Along with several of his Navy pals, Jimmy goes to the ballroom the night of the dance marathon, to try to change Sally's mind and win her back....
Shadows Over Shanghai
Character: Johnny McGinty
A pilot carrying a valuable amulet is shot down over China by a ruthless Russian agent, who also wants the amulet....
365 Nights in Hollywood
Character: James 'Jimmy' Dale
Down-on-his-luck film director Jimmie Dale takes a job at a fly-by-night acting school. He is drawn into the plans of the school's owner to bilk a wealthy young man out of the funds he has supplied to shoot a movie starring pretty student Alice Perkins. But Jimmie hopes to bilk the bilkers by actually completing the movie as ostensibly planned....
Bad Boy
Character: Eddie Nolan
An unemployed loafer who spends his time playing pool decides he's ready to look for a job so he can secure his girlfriend's parents' approval for their marriage....
Mysterious Crossing
Character: Addison Francis Murphy
While crossing on the train ferry to New Orleans, roving reporter Addison Francis Murphy borrows money from singing hillbilly "Carolina," then loses it all in a crap game. Outside on deck, Murphy sees two men shaking hands, and after he looks away, hears a splash of water and discovers both men have disappeared......
Living on Love
Character: Gary Martin
A man and a woman, who have never met, are forced by pecuniary circumstances to share the same basement apartment in shifts....
Shadow Over Elveron
Character: Luke Travers
A corrupt sheriff knows the secrets of everyone in town and uses that information to go unchallenged. But after the arrest of an innocent teenager, the new doctor cannot keep quiet and tries to get the community to stand up for what is right....
The Daring Young Man
Character: Don McLane
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system....
Hold That Girl
Character: Barney Sullivan
"That girl" is newspaper sob-sister Tony Bellamy (Claire Trevor), whose nose for news gets her into one jam after another, especially when she poses as an exotic dancer to get the goods on a gangster....
The Golden Gloves Story
Character: Joe Riley
Joe Riley is a boxing referee whose life-code is the same as the sporting rules of the prizefight ring. Two Golden Glove (a tournament for amateur prizefighters) contestants Nick Martel, a tough, pugnacious kid from Chicago who has had to fight for everything he has in life, and Bob Gilmore, from the other side of life's tracks, are also competing for the affections of Riley's daughter, Patty....
The Bramble Bush
Character: Stew Schaffer
A young doctor returns to his Massachusetts home town at the request of a terminally ill old friend....
The Ninth Day
Character:
After World War III a small group of people live in the desert. A young man tries to run away, hoping to find other communities of survivors, but is told by the elders that he must stay and marry the group's only young woman....
Dance Team
Character: Jimmy Mulligan
Jimmy Mulligan and Poppy Kirk, both out of work, strike up a conversation outside a radio shop and discover a shared dream of hitting it big dancing and decide to team up. As “Mulligan & Kirk” they have their highs and lows while falling in love but eventually find enormous success. Their personal relationship, however, hits a few snags on the way to a happy ending....
Son of the Navy
Character: Chief Gunners Mate Mike Malone
A runaway boy pretends to be the son of a Navy man, only to turn both their lives upside down....
The Song Plugger
Character: Man in Record Shop
'Blind Bob' has written a song and the folks at the music publishing company think that Joe Frisco, his old friend from the Bowery is just right for it. So we see Joe at stage doing his peddler routine. He goes over to the publishing company, where he flirts with a girl act, and then tries out some eccentric dancing to the new song, which happens to be 'Get Happy.'...
Come Closer, Folks
Character: Jim Keene
A fast-talking pitchman working the con-games on the streets, works himself up into an executive position of a large department store, with the aide of his shill, Mae. But the owner, Elmer Woods, of the department store has a blonde-beauty daughter, Peggy, who goes to work on him....
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character: Self (archive footage)
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression....
Jimmy and Sally
Character: Jimmy O'Connor
Jimmy is a wiseguy press agent whose efforts to promote a meat-packing firm come to naught. Our hero is fired from his job, whereupon his sweetheart Sally steps in, immediately succeeding where Jimmy had failed....
Take It or Leave It
Character: (archive footage) (uncredited)
A young husband becomes a game-show participant in the hopes of winning the cash to pay his pregnant wife's doctor....
Handle with Care
Character: Bill Gordon
Bill Gordon (James Dunn), whose lot-in-life is rising, falls in love with Helen Barlow (Boots Mallory), who is raising two cute motherless children who nearly wreck her romance when they can't understand why grown-ups kiss...and other complications....
Hollywood’s Children
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary about child actors, since the beginning of motion pictures (narrated by Roddy McDowell)....
Hold Me Tight
Character: Chuck Evans
Newly married sweethearts Chuck Evans and Molly Roberts work at Blair's Department Store and Molly plans to quit to be a stay-at-home wife and mother. But Chuck unexpectedly and unfairly gets fired so Molly stays on. She catches the eye of Dolan, the crooked store detective, and he makes a play for her, trying to make Chuck, who is still unemployed, small in her eyes. Meanwhile, Dolan puts into action his plan to steal the store's fur coats by hiring his girlfriend, Trudie Holmes, and Molly to d...
Sob Sister
Character: Garry Webster
Jane Ray, a very clever reporter of crimes of passion, or "sob sister," for a New York tabloid, begins to feel depressed by the sordidness of her latest assignment, the investigation of a young woman's murder by her husband. Despite her growing distaste for her profession, Jane gets her story and, with typical ingenuity, frustrates her competitors' attempts to follow her lead....
Night Ripper
Character: (archive footage)
Scored by Girl Talk and produced by Junk Food Dinner, NIGHT RIPPER is a visual essay about a different time and place....