Jimmy Conlin

Jimmy Conlin
Born	14 October 1884 Camden, New Jersey U.S.
Died	7 May 1962 (aged 77) Encino, California U.S.
Occupation	actor
Years active	1928–1959
Spouse(s)	Myrtle Glass Dorothy Ryan

Jimmy Conlin (14 October 1884–7 May 1962) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32 year career.^[1]

Career

Conlin was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1884, and his acting career started out in vaudeville, where he and his first wife Myrtle Glass played the Keith and Orpheum circuits billed as "Conlin & Glass", a song-and-dance team.^[2] They also starred together in two short films, Sharps and Flats (1928) and Zip! Boom! Bang! (1929) for Vitaphone.^[2]

Conlin made another comedy short without Glass in 1930 (A Tight Squeeze), but his film career started for good in 1933, and for the next 27 years, with the single exception of 1951, ever year saw the release of at least one film in which Conlin appeared – at the height of his career, often more than a dozen of them.^[1] Recognizable by his small size and odd appearance, Conlin played all sorts of small roles and bit parts, many times not receiving an onscreen credit.

In the 1940s, Conlin was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in nine films written and directed by Sturges.^[3] His roles in Sturges' films were often sizable and often came with good billing. One of his best performances came in Sturges' The Sin of Harold Diddlebock in 1946, when he play "Wormy", the racetrack tout who convinces Harold Lloyd to have his first drink, setting off the events of the film. The loyalty between Sturges and Conlin ran both ways, and when the former golden boy of Hollywood fell on hard times, Conlin remained a friend, stayed in contact, and helped out in any way he could.^[2]

Conlin did not make many television appearances, but he did have a regular role on Duffy's Tavern, a syndicated series from 1954.^[2] He made his final film in 1959, when he played a habitual criminal in Anatomy of a Murder

Jimmy Conlin died in Encino, California on 7 May 1962 at the age of 77.

Selected filmography

in Second Chorus

• Footlight Parade (1933) - in "Honeymoon Hotel"
• Find the Witness (1937)
• Second Chorus (1940)
• The Great McGinty (1940)
• The Lady Eve (1941)
• Sullivan's Travels (1941)
• The Palm Beach Story (1942)
• Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
• The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1946)
• The Hucksters (1947)
• The Seven Little Foys (1955)
• The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Notes

External links

• Jimmy Conlin at the Internet Movie Database
• Jimmy Conlin at Allmovie
• Jimmy Conlin at the TCM Movie Database