Loading amazing content...
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
June 5, 1875
Died
August 2, 1952
Place of Birth
Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Also Known As
- Joseph Farrell MacDonald
- John Farrell MacDonald
- Farrell Macdonald
- J. Farrell McDonald
- J.F. McDonald
J. Farrell MacDonald
0.4 Popularity
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a 41-year career from 1911 to 1951, and directed forty-four silent films from 1912 to 1917. MacDonald was the principal director of L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Manufacturing Company, and he can frequently be seen in the films of Frank Capra, Preston Sturges and, especially, John Ford. Early in his career, MacDonald was a singer in minstrel shows, and he toured the United States extensively for two years with stage productions. He made his first silent film in 1911, a dramatic short entitled The Scarlett Letter made by Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), the forerunner of Universal Pictures,. He continued to act in numerous films each year from that time on, and by 1912 he was directing them as well. The first film he directed was The Worth of a Man, another dramatic short, again for IMP, and he was to direct 43 more films until his last in 1917, Over the Fence, which he co-directed with Harold Lloyd. MacDonald had crossed paths with Lloyd several years earlier, when Lloyd was an extra and MacDonald had given him much-needed work – and he did the same with Hal Roach, both of whom appearing in small roles in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, which MacDonald directed in 1914. When Roach set up his own studio, with Lloyd as his principal attraction, he hired MacDonald to direct. By 1918, MacDonald, who was to become one of the most beloved character men in Hollywood, had given up directing and was acting full-time, predominantly in Westerns and Irish comedies. He first worked under director John Ford in 1919's A Fight for Love. In all, Ford would use MacDonald on twenty-five films between 1919 and 1950. With a voice that matched his personality, MacDonald made the transition to sound films easily, with no noticeable drop in his acting output – if anything, it went up. In 1931, for instance, MacDonald appeared in 14 films – among them the first version of The Maltese Falcon, in which he played "Detective Tom Polhaus" – and in 22 of them in 1932. Although he played laborers, policemen, military men and priests, among many other characters, his roles were usually a cut above a "bit part". His characters usually had names, and he was most often credited for his performances. A highlight of this period was his performance as the hobo "Mr. Tramp" in Our Little Girl with Shirley Temple (1935). In the 1940s, MacDonald was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in seven films written and directed by Sturges. MacDonald appeared in Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Great Moment, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Unfaithfully Yours and The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, Sturges' last American film. Earlier, MacDonald had also appeared in The Power and the Glory, which Sturges wrote. His work on Sturges' films was generally uncredited. He was notable in 1946 in John Ford's My Darling Clementine in which he played "Mac," the bartender in the town saloon. MacDonald also had uncredited roles in It's a Wonderful Life and Here Comes The Groom.
Known For
7.5
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
1997
5.3
Pop Shannon
Superman and the Mole Men
1951
5.2
Husband on Airplane (uncredited)
Here Comes the Groom
1951
6.6
Mr. Kroeger
Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
1951
6.8
Cap, the Retired Ferryboat Captain
Woman on the Run
1950
2.3
Mr. Lane (uncredited)
Hostile Country
1950
2.0
Alvin
The Daltons' Women
1950
6.8
Gilby - Pharmacist (uncredited)
When Willie Comes Marching Home
1950
5.0
Ellis
Dakota Lil
1950
3.0
Judge Price
The Dalton Gang
1949
Credits
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
as Self (archive footage)
1997
7.5
Superman and the Mole Men
as Pop Shannon
1951
5.3
Here Comes the Groom
as Husband on Airplane (uncredited)
1951
5.2
Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
as Mr. Kroeger
1951
6.6
Woman on the Run
as Cap, the Retired Ferryboat Captain
1950
6.8
Hostile Country
as Mr. Lane (uncredited)
1950
2.3
The Daltons' Women
as Alvin
1950
2.0
When Willie Comes Marching Home
as Gilby - Pharmacist (uncredited)
1950
6.8
Dakota Lil
as Ellis
1950
5.0
The Dalton Gang
as Judge Price
1949
3.0
You're My Everything
as Doorman (uncredited)
1949
3.8
🎬
Streets of San Francisco
as Pop Lockhart
1949
0.0
Trouble Preferred
as Apartment House Manager (uncredited)
1948
0.0
Whispering Smith
as Bill Baggs
1948
6.6
Shep Comes Home
as Sheriff Cap Weatherby
1948
6.0
The Walls of Jericho
as Bailiff (uncredited)
1948
4.9
Belle Starr's Daughter
as Doc Benson
1948
4.1
Fury at Furnace Creek
as Pops Murphy (uncredited)
1948
6.0
Sitting Pretty
as Cop (uncredited)
1948
7.0
Panhandle
as Doc Cooper
1948
5.7
If You Knew Susie
as Police Sergeant (uncredited)
1948
7.5
Thunder in the Valley
as McPherson - Innkeeper
1947
7.5
Christmas Eve
as Policeman (uncredited)
1947
5.1
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
as Mac, Bailiff (uncredited)
1947
6.9
Keeper of the Bees
as Postmaster
1947
0.0
Web of Danger
as Scotty MacKronish - Bus Driver
1947
4.8
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
as Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
1947
6.3
It's a Wonderful Life
as Man Whose Grandfather Planted Tree (uncredited)
1946
8.3
Goodbye, Weeds
as Gardener
1946
0.0
My Darling Clementine
as Mac the barman
1946
7.4
Smoky
as Jim, the Cook
1946
5.2
Joe Palooka, Champ
as Long-Count Bowman
1946
0.0
Pillow of Death
1945
6.5
Fallen Angel
as Bank Guard (uncredited)
1945
6.5
Johnny Angel
as Capt. Angel
1945
5.9
Circumstantial Evidence
as Jury Foreman
1945
4.8
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
as Mr. Carney The Junkman (uncredited)
1945
7.5
Hangover Square
as Street Vendor (uncredited)
1945
6.9
Greenwich Village
as O'Shea, policeman
1944
6.0
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
as Sheriff (uncredited)
1944
6.8
The Great Moment
as The Priest
1944
5.6
Texas Masquerade
as John Martindale
1944
3.0
True to Life
as Man (uncredited)
1943
6.0
Tiger Fangs
as Geoffrey MacCardle
1943
4.0
The Ape Man
as Captain O'Brien
1943
4.3
Harrigan's Kid
as Frank (uncredited)
1943
0.0
The McGuerins from Brooklyn
as Cop
1942
5.5
Bowery at Midnight
as Capt. Mitchell
1942
5.0
Phantom Killer
as Police Captain
1942
4.5
The Palm Beach Story
as Officer O'Donnell (uncredited)
1942
7.0
The Living Ghost
as Police Lt. 'Pete' Peterson
1942
4.1
One Thrilling Night
as Police Sergeant Haggerty
1942
5.2
Reap the Wild Wind
as Port Captain
1942
6.4
Captains of the Clouds
as Dr. Neville
1942
6.4
Wild Bill Hickok Rides
as Henry Hathaway
1942
4.7
Private Snuffy Smith
as Gen. Rosewater
1942
3.8
Law of the Timber
as Adams
1941
6.0
Riders of the Timberline
as Jim Kerrigan
1941
2.0
Broadway Limited
as Mulcahey
1941
4.6
The Great Lie
as Dr. Ferguson
1941
6.9
In Old Cheyenne
as Tim Casey
1941
4.1
Meet John Doe
as 'Sourpuss'
1941
7.3
Friendly Neighbors
as Sheiff Potts
1940
0.0
Untamed
as Dr. Billar
1940
4.2
Pony Express Days
as Nevada Jim
1940
6.0
Stagecoach War
as Jeff Chapman
1940
4.0
The Last Alarm
as Jim Hadley
1940
4.3
Prairie Law
as Sheriff Jim Austin
1940
5.5
I Take This Oath
as Insp. Tim Ryan
1940
4.3
The Light of Western Stars
as Bill Stillwell
1940
2.5
Dark Command
as Dave
1940
6.3
Knights of the Range
as Cappy
1940
0.0
The Gentleman from Arizona
as Wild Bill Coburn
1939
0.0
The Housekeeper's Daughter
as Captain
1939
3.5
Full Confession
as Joe, Police Sergeant (uncredited)
1939
4.7
They Shall Have Music
as Police Chief (uncredited)
1939
6.2
Coast Guard
as Capt. Hansen (uncredited)
1939
5.0
Conspiracy
as Captain of the Falcon
1939
5.5
Mickey the Kid
as Sheriff J.J. Willoughby
1939
0.0
Susannah of the Mounties
as Pat O'Hannegan
1939
6.3
Zenobia
as Judge
1939
4.6
East Side of Heaven
as Doorman (uncredited)
1939
7.1
The Lone Ranger Rides Again
as Craig Dolan
1939
6.0
🎬
Little Orphan Annie
as 'Pop' Corrigan
1938
0.0
Submarine Patrol
as CWO 'Sails' Quincannon
1938
6.6
Come On, Rangers
as Colonel Forbes
1938
6.0
Gang Bullets
as Chief Reardon
1938
5.7
The Last Express
as William Barton (Detective Agency Head)
1938
1.0
There Goes My Heart
as Officer
1938
7.1
The Crowd Roars
as Father Patrick Ryan
1938
6.5
Barefoot Boy
as Warden
1938
4.8
White Banners
as Dr. Thompson
1938
5.8
Numbered Woman
as Capt. Ryan
1938
0.0
Extortion
as Coach Pearson
1938
5.0
State Police
as Charlie Wheeler
1938
6.0
My Old Kentucky Home
as Mayor Jim Hopkins
1938
5.0
Courage of the West
as Buck Saunders
1937
0.0
County Fair
as Calvin Williams
1937
6.0
The Game That Kills
as Joe Holland
1937
5.3
My Dear Miss Aldrich
as 'Doc' Howe
1937
6.1
Topper
as Policeman
1937
6.7
Roaring Timber
as Andrew MacKinley
1937
5.0
Flying Fists
as Bill 'One-Punch' Fagin
1937
5.0
Slim
as Pop
1937
6.3
Slave Ship
as Proprietor
1937
4.5
Parnell
as Irish Laborer (uncredited)
1937
4.1
Parnell
as Irish Laborer
1937
4.1
The Hit Parade
as Sgt. O'Hara
1937
5.0
Maid of Salem
as Captain of Ship
1937
5.9
The Great Barrier
as Major Rogers
1937
5.0
Mysterious Crossing
as Police Chief Bullock
1936
0.0
Show Boat
as Windy MacLaine
1936
6.8
Florida Special
as Harrigan
1936
6.0
Exclusive Story
as Michael Devlin
1936
6.5
Riffraff
as 'Brains'
1936
4.9
Hitch Hike Lady
as Judge Hale
1935
6.8
Fighting Youth
as Coach Parker
1935
7.0
Stormy
as Trinidad Dorn
1935
0.0
Waterfront Lady
as Capt. O'Brien
1935
4.0
Danger Ahead
as Harry Cromwell
1935
4.2
The Irish in Us
as Capt. Jackson
1935
7.6
Front Page Woman
as Hallohan
1935
5.8
Shadows of the Orient
as Inspector Sullivan
1935
4.8
The Arizonian
as Marshal Andy Jordan
1935
0.0
The Healer
as Applejack
1935
5.8
Let 'em Have It
as Mr. Keefer
1935
7.0
Swellhead
as Umpire
1935
0.0
Star of Midnight
as Inspector Doremus
1935
5.8
The Whole Town's Talking
as Prison Warden (uncredited)
1935
6.8
Northern Frontier
as Inspector
1935
0.0
Square Shooter
as Sheriff
1935
5.2
The Best Man Wins
as Captain--Harbor Patrol
1935
5.8
Maybe It's Love
as The Cop
1935
6.0
Romance in Manhattan
as Murphy
1935
7.8
Our Little Girl
as Hobo
1935
4.3
Beggar's Holiday
as Pop Malloy
1934
0.0
Once to Every Woman
as Flannigan
1934
6.0
The Crime Doctor
as Kemp
1934
2.7
The Crosby Case
as The Doorman--Mike Costello
1934
4.4
Man of Two Worlds
as Michael
1934
6.0
Murder on the Campus
as Police Capt. Ed Kyne
1933
5.5
🎬
Under Secret Orders
as John Burke
1933
0.0
Myrt and Marge
as Grady
1933
3.7
The Power and the Glory
as Mulligan
1933
5.7
I Loved a Woman
as Shuster
1933
4.5
🎬
How to Break 90 #6: Fine Points
as Himself
1933
0.0
Laughing at Life
as Prison Warden
1933
6.0
Peg o' My Heart
as Patrick Shamus 'Pat' O'Connell
1933
4.4
The Working Man
as Henry 'Hank' Davis
1933
6.6
The Vanishing Frontier
as Waco
1933
0.0
The Iron Master
as J.C. Stillman
1933
5.0
No Man of Her Own
as "Dickie" Collins
1932
6.5
The Racing Strain
as Mr. Martin
1932
0.0
Me and My Gal
as Pop Riley
1932
6.3
Men Are Such Fools
as Prison Warden Randolph
1932
0.0
The Pride of the Legion
as Chief Scott
1932
6.0
Heritage of the Desert
as Adam Naab
1932
4.5
This Sporting Age
as Jerry O'Day
1932
0.0
70,000 Witnesses
as State Coach
1932
5.0
Hearts of Humanity
as Tom O'Hara
1932
4.0
The Phantom Express
as D.J. 'Smokey' Nolan
1932
4.7
The Thirteenth Guest
as Captain Ryan
1932
4.9
The Hurricane Express
as Jim Baker
1932
5.2
Madame Racketeer
as John Adams
1932
4.8
Week-End Marriage
as Mr. Davis
1932
5.0
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
as Police Sgt. J.B. Antrim (uncredited)
1932
5.9
Scandal for Sale
as Treadway
1932
7.0
Probation
as George Holman
1932
5.0
Steady Company
as Hogan
1932
0.0
Hotel Continental
as Detective Martin
1932
6.0
Discarded Lovers
as Sommers
1932
4.3
Under Eighteen
as Pop Evans
1932
6.2
Touchdown!
as Pop Stewart
1931
0.0
The Spirit of Notre Dame
as The Coach
1931
6.3
The Brat
as Timson, the butler
1931
5.2
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 9: 'The Driver'
1931
0.0
Sporting Blood
as MacGuire
1931
5.1
Stranger in Town
as Scout
1931
3.0
The Squaw Man
as Big Bill
1931
5.0
The Maltese Falcon
as Det. Sgt. Tom Polhaus
1931
6.3
Too Young to Marry
as Rev. Stump
1931
0.0
The Millionaire
as Dan Lewis
1931
7.5
Woman Hungry
as Buzzard
1931
0.0
The Stolen Jools
as Policeman
1931
5.6
The Easiest Way
as Ben Murdock
1931
5.1
The Painted Desert
as Jeff Cameron
1931
4.7
Other Men's Women
as Peg-Leg
1931
5.5
The Truth About Youth
as Colonel Graham
1930
5.7
River's End
as O'Toole
1930
6.2
The Girl of the Golden West
as Sonora Slim
1930
0.0
Song o' My Heart
as Rafferty
1930
4.1
Men Without Women
as Costello
1930
6.3
South Sea Rose
as Hackett
1929
0.0
The Painted Angel
as Pa Hudler
1929
0.0
Happy Days
as Train Conductor
1929
6.0
Masquerade
as Joe Hickey
1929
0.0
Masked Emotions
as Will Whitten
1929
0.0
Strong Boy
as Angus McGregor
1929
5.0
In Old Arizona
as Stage Passenger (uncredited)
1928
5.3
Riley the Cop
as James 'Aloysius' Riley
1928
5.6
4 Devils
as The Clown
1928
7.0
None But the Brave
as John Craig
1928
0.0
Abie's Irish Rose
as Patrick Murphy
1928
0.0
Bringing Up Father
as Jiggs
1928
3.0
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
as Patrick Kelly
1928
0.0
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
as The Photographer
1927
7.8
East Side, West Side
as Pug Malone
1927
7.2
Paid to Love
as Peter Roberts
1927
6.0
Cradle Snatchers
as George Martin
1927
2.7
Ankles Preferred
as McGuire
1927
0.0
Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl
as Sloan
1926
0.0
The Country Beyond
as Sgt. Cassidy
1926
0.0
The Family Upstairs
as Joe Heller
1926
0.0
3 Bad Men
as Mike Costigan
1926
6.8
The Last Frontier
as Wild Bill Hickok
1926
0.0
A Trip to Chinatown
as Benjamin Strong
1926
0.0
The Shamrock Handicap
as Con O'Shea
1926
5.1
The Dixie Merchant
as Jean Paul Fippany
1926
0.0
The First Year
as Mr. Barstow
1926
0.0
The Fighting Heart
as Jerry
1925
5.0
Thank You
as Andy
1925
3.7
The Iron Horse
as Corporal Casey
1925
6.7
Kentucky Pride
as Donavan
1925
5.9
The Lucky Horseshoe
as Mack
1925
0.0
Lightnin'
as Lemuel Townsend
1925
6.1
Let Women Alone
as Commodore John Gordon
1925
0.0
Those Who Dare
1924
0.0
The Brass Bowl
as Hickey
1924
0.0
Gerald Cranston's Lady
as Rennie
1924
0.0
The Signal Tower
as Pete
1924
5.2
Western Luck
as 'Chuck' Campbell
1924
0.0
Mademoiselle Midnight
as Duc de Moing (Prologue)
1924
5.4
The Storm Daughter
as Con Mullaney
1924
0.0
Fashionable Fakers
as Pat O'Donnell
1923
0.0
The Age of Desire
as Dan Reagan
1923
0.0
Drifting
as Murphy
1923
6.2
Racing Hearts
as Silas Martin
1923
0.0
Quicksands
as Col. Patterson
1923
5.0
While Paris Sleeps
1923
0.0
The Young Rajah
as Amhad Beg - Prime Minister
1922
6.5
Manslaughter
as (uncredited)
1922
5.2
The Ghost Breaker
as Sam Marcum
1922
0.0
The Bonded Woman
as Captain Gaskell
1922
3.0
Over the Border
as Peter Galbraith
1922
0.0
Tracks
as Jack Bess
1922
0.0
The Bachelor Daddy
as Joe Pelton
1922
0.0
Come on Over
as Michael Morahan
1922
0.0
Sky High
as Jim Frazer (as J. Farrel MacDonald)
1922
5.4
Trailin'
as Joseph Piotto
1921
4.5
Riding with Death
as Sheriff Pat Garrity
1921
0.0
Action
as Mormon Peters
1921
4.0
The Wallop
as Neuces River
1921
4.0
Desperate Youth
1921
0.0
The Freeze-Out
as Bobtail McGuire
1921
4.0
Hitchin' Posts
as Joe Alabam (as J. Farrell McDonald)
1920
5.0
🎬
The Path She Chose
as Father
1920
0.0
Bullet Proof
as Jim Boone
1920
0.0
Marked Men
as Tom Placer McGraw
1919
5.0
This Hero Stuff
as Softnose Smith
1919
0.0
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
1919
4.0
A Sporting Chance
as Luther Ripley aka Kennedy
1919
4.7
Riders of Vengeance
as Buell
1919
3.0
A Fight For Love
as The Priest
1919
5.0
Roped
as Butler
1919
5.0
🎬
Fair Enough
as Chief of Police Morgan
1918
0.0
$5,000 Reward
as Norcross
1918
0.0
Rags
as Paul Ferguson (as Joseph Farrell MacDonald)
1915
7.5
🎬
The Calling of Louis Mona
1913
0.0
A Timely Repentance
as Louis Nordell
1912
0.0
'Tween Two Loves
as Farmer Howard
1911
0.0
🎬
The Lighthouse Keeper
as The Lighthouse Keeper
1911
0.0
The Scarlet Letter
1911
1.0
The Dream
as Secondary Role (uncredited)
1911
5.5
🎬
The Time-Lock Safe
as Office Worker
1910
0.0