James Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.
Balding and slender with a craggy voice, 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
1930
The Matrimonial Bed
Gustave Corton
1931
A Free Soul
Eddie
1932
Lady and Gent
Pin Streaver
1932
Penguin Pool Murder
Police Inspector Oscar Piper
1933
Mister Mugg
1934
Murder on the Blackboard
Inspector Oscar Piper
1934
Change of Heart
Hot Dog Vendor
1935
Murder on a Honeymoon
Inspector Oscar Piper
1935
West Point of the Air
Joe "Bags"
1936
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Inspector Corrigan
1936
Yours for the Asking
Saratoga
1941
Meet John Doe
Henry Connell
1941
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Max Corkle
1941
Babes on Broadway
Thornton Reed
1942
Tales of Manhattan
"Father" Joe
1943
A Guy Named Joe
"Nails" Kilpatrick
1944
The Keys of the Kingdom
Reverend Dr. Wilbur Fiske
1944
Arsenic and Old Lace
Police Lieutenant Rooney
1945
This Man's Navy
Jimmy Shannon
1945
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Bartender
1945
The Clock
Milk Cart Driver
1947
Down to Earth
Max Corkle
1947
The Bishop's Wife
Sylvester
1947
Tycoon
Pop Mathews
1950
The Yellow Cab Man
Mickey Corkins
1950
Riding High
Racing Secretary
1950
The Jackpot
Harry Summers
1951
I'll See You in My Dreams
Fred Thompson
1952
We're Not Married!
Duffy
1952
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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
James Gleason
James Gleason at the Internet Movie Database
Persondata
NAME
Gleason, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Actor
DATE OF BIRTH
1882-5-23
PLACE OF BIRTH
New York City, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
1959-4-12
PLACE OF DEATH
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
This article about a United States film actor born in the 1880s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gleason"
Categories: American film actors | American stage actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | People from New York City | Irish-Americans | Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery | 1882 births | 1959 deaths | Deaths from asthma | American film actor, 1880s birth stubs
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