Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

James Gleason

 
American Theater Guide: James Gleason
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > American Theater Guide

Gleason, James (1886–1959), actor and playwright. Born in New York into an old family of troupers, he was carried on stage at the age of two, then performed around the country with numerous touring and stock companies. Gleason returned to New York in 1914 to appear in Pretty Mrs. Smith, then soon graduated to such important roles as the pretend millionaire Nathaniel Alden in Like a King (1921) and the disillusioned playwright James Leland in The Deep Tangled Wildwood (1923) before scoring a major success as the tough‐talking fight manager “Hap” Hurley in Is Zat So? (1925), which he wrote with Richard Taber. Later that same season he collaborated with George Abbott to write another hit, The Fall Guy (1925). With his wife, Lucille Webster, he wrote the successful comedy The Shannons of Broadway (1927), and he also produced several plays. With the coming of sound films, Gleason moved to Hollywood, where he was long typecast in tough guy roles.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Works: Works by James Gleason
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Works by Authors
(1882-1959)

1925The Fall Guy. The first of Gleason's two comedies to run during the 1925 season deals with the comic implications of prohibition. The other is Is Zat So? about down-on-their-luck boxers who agree to impersonate a butler and a footman. Gleason was a veteran stage actor since childhood; Abbott was an actor, playwright, director, and producer who would be responsible in some capacity for hits such as Broadway (1926), Twentieth Century (1932), Pal Joey (1940), The Pajama Game (1954), and Damn Yankees (1955).

Actor: James Gleason
Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: May 23, 1886 in New York City, New York
  • Died: Apr 12, 1959 in Woodland Hills, California
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer, Director
  • Active: '30s-'50s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: The Yellow Cab Man, The Life of Riley, Mammy
  • First Major Screen Credit: Count of Ten (1928)

Biography

Character actor James Gleason usually played tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold. He is easily recognized for his tendency to talk out of the side of his mouth. Gleason's parents were actors, and after serving in the Spanish-American War, Gleason joined their stock company in Oakland, California. His career was interrupted by service in World War I, following which he began to appear on Broadway. He debuted onscreen in 1922, but didn't begin to appear regularly in films until 1928. Meanwhile, during the '20s he also wrote a number of plays and musicals, several of which were later made into films. In the early sound era, Gleason collaborated on numerous scripts as a screenwriter or dialogue specialist; he also directed one film, Hot Tip (1935). As an actor, he appeared in character roles in over 150 films, playing a wide range of hard-boiled (and often semi-comic) urban characters, including detectives, reporters, marine sergeants, gamblers, fight managers, and heroes' pals. In a series of films in the '30s, he had a recurring lead role as slow-witted police inspector Oscar Piper. James Gleason was married to actress Lucille Webster Gleason; their son was actor Russell Gleason. ~ All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: James Gleason
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For the politician, see James P. Gleason.
James Gleason

in Meet John Doe (1941)
Born May 23, 1882(1882-05-23)
New York City, U.S.
Died April 12, 1959 (aged 76)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Years active 1922–1959
Spouse(s) Lucille Gleason (1905-1947) (her death)

James Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.

Career

Balding and slender with a craggy voice and a master of the double-take, Gleason portrayed tough but warm-hearted characters, usually with a New York background. He appeared in several movies with his wife Lucille.

Gleason co-wrote The Broadway Melody, the second film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and had a small uncredited role in it. Gleason also co-wrote and briefly appeared as a hot dog vendor in the 1934 Janet Gaynor vehicle Change of Heart. He played a milk cart driver who gives lessons in marriage to Judy Garland and Robert Walker in the 1945 film, The Clock, while Lucille played his wife. In the same year, he played the bartender in the film adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Gleason also is remembered for playing police Inspector Oscar Piper in a series of Hildegarde Withers mystery films during the 1930s (which first starred Edna May Oliver in the role of the schoolteacher detective in three films. Helen Broderick starred in one and Zasu Pitts finished out the series with two movies.)

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as boxing manager Max 'Pop' Corkle in the 1941 film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

James and Lucille Gleason had a son, Russell Gleason, who briefly worked as a film actor before being drafted into the army during World War Two. He died in unexplained circumstances (officially an accident), falling out the window of a Manhattan hotel shortly before his regiment was due to leave for a combat posting in Europe. Russell Gleason was married to Cynthia Lindsay, a former Busby Berkeley chorus girl who later wrote a biography of family friend Boris Karloff.

James Gleason was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Partial filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz James "Jimmy" Tierney Also credited with writing dialogue
The Matrimonial Bed Gustave Corton
1931 A Free Soul Eddie
1932 Lady and Gent Pin Streaver
Penguin Pool Murder Police Inspector Oscar Piper
1933 Mister Mugg Comedy short
1934 Murder on the Blackboard Inspector Oscar Piper
Change of Heart Hot Dog Vendor Also credited as screenwriter
1935 Murder on a Honeymoon Inspector Oscar Piper
West Point of the Air Joe "Bags"
1936 The Ex-Mrs. Bradford Inspector Corrigan
Yours for the Asking Saratoga
1941 Meet John Doe Henry Connell
Here Comes Mr. Jordan Max Corkle Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Babes on Broadway Thornton Reed
1942 Tales of Manhattan "Father" Joe
1943 A Guy Named Joe "Nails" Kilpatrick
1944 Once Upon a Time McGillicuddy, aka the "Moke"
The Keys of the Kingdom Reverend Dr. Wilbur Fiske
Arsenic and Old Lace Police Lieutenant Rooney
1945 This Man's Navy Jimmy Shannon
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Bartender
The Clock Milk Cart Driver
1947 Down to Earth Max Corkle
The Bishop's Wife Sylvester
Tycoon Pop Mathews
1950 The Yellow Cab Man Mickey Corkins
Riding High Racing Secretary
The Jackpot Harry Summers
1951 I'll See You in My Dreams Fred Thompson
1952 We're Not Married! Duffy
What Price Glory? General Cokely
1954 Suddenly Peter "Pop" Benson
1955 The Night of the Hunter Birdie Steptoe
1957 Loving You Carl Meade
1958 The Last Hurrah "Cuke" Gillen

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Gleason
Stub icon This article about a United States film actor born in the 1880s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James Gleason".  Read more