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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
May 4, 1910
Died
December 23, 1993
Place of Birth
Guthrie Center, Iowa, USA
Also Known As
- Jimmie 'Shamrock' Ellison
- Jimmie Ellison
- Jimmy 'Shamrock' Ellison
- Jimmy Ellison
- James Ellison Smith
James Ellison
0.3 Popularity
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. James Ellison (May 4, 1910 - December 23, 1993) was an American actor, born James Ellison Smith in Guthrie Center, Iowa, son of Edward James Smith and Ona Mary Ellis. Ellison appeared in nearly seventy films between 1932 and 1962. Ellison worked for a time in a film laboratory and while there was offered a screen test. He developed it himself and when he saw it, decided it was not satisfactory so he would not show it to the director. But he saw it anyway and Ellison got a contract. Despite his rugged good looks and height of 6 feet 3 inches, Ellison's limited range and somewhat wooden screen presence kept him from the first (or even second) ranks of stardom. He spent much of his career in Westerns, including a stint in the mid-thirties as the sidekick of Hopalong Cassidy in Paramount's successful series. In 1938, he played a charming, romantic character opposite 26 year old Lucille Ball in the comedy, "Next Time I Marry", a film where Ball had her first top billing on screen credits. Before that, in 1936, he played his highest-profile role, as Buffalo Bill in Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman, which also starred Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. Despite that film's success, Ellison spent most of the remainder of his career shuttling between cowboy pictures and more varied roles, primarily in B movies with titles like Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case and The Undying Monster. He had a supporting role in 1941's Charley's Aunt (which starred Jack Benny) and played the romantic lead in 1943's The Gang's All Here, a Twentieth Century Fox musical in which he seemed somewhat lost among the vivid antics of Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton (and was the only principal not to sing a note). He also co-starred with Tom Conway and Frances Dee in Val Lewton's production of I Walked with a Zombie, directed by Jacques Tourneur. Ellison landed another romantic lead role as 'Jerry Gibson' in the musical film Lady, Let's Dance (1944) which starred ice skating sensation 'Belita'. In the early 1950s, Ellison moved from acting to real estate. Joining fellow veteran Jackie Coogan, Ellison returned to the screen only once to play Axel 'Longhorn' Gates in a picture called When the Girls Take Over (1962). James Ellison died at age 83 in Monterey, California after suffering a broken neck as the result of a fall. Description above from the Wikipedia article James Ellison (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
3.2
Alex 'Longhorn' Gates (as Jimmy Ellison)
When the Girls Take Over
1962
0.0
Dan Winslow
Dead Man's Trail
1952
0.0
Jim Fallon (as Jimmy Ellison)
Man from the Black Hills
1952
6.3
Jim Kirby (as Jimmy Ellison)
Texas City
1952
0.0
Sheriff Tod Merrick
Texas Lawmen
1951
0.0
Sheriff Dave Holland
Whistling Hills
1951
0.0
Clancy
Oklahoma Justice
1951
5.0
Jeff Benson
Kentucky Jubilee
1951
0.0
Gordon Hastings
The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
1950
0.0
Capt. Jeff Packard
I Killed Geronimo
1950
Credits
When the Girls Take Over
as Alex 'Longhorn' Gates (as Jimmy Ellison)
1962
3.2
Dead Man's Trail
as Dan Winslow
1952
0.0
Man from the Black Hills
as Jim Fallon (as Jimmy Ellison)
1952
0.0
Texas City
as Jim Kirby (as Jimmy Ellison)
1952
6.3
Texas Lawmen
as Sheriff Tod Merrick
1951
0.0
Whistling Hills
as Sheriff Dave Holland
1951
0.0
Oklahoma Justice
as Clancy
1951
0.0
Kentucky Jubilee
as Jeff Benson
1951
5.0
The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
as Gordon Hastings
1950
0.0
I Killed Geronimo
as Capt. Jeff Packard
1950
0.0
Fast on the Draw
as Shamrock Ellison
1950
0.0
Crooked River
as Shamrock Ellison
1950
3.0
West of the Brazos
as Shamrock Ellison
1950
3.5
Colorado Ranger
as Shamrock Kid
1950
4.3
Marshal of Heldorado
as Shamrock Ellison
1950
3.0
Everybody's Dancin'
as Jimmy Ellison
1950
0.0
Hostile Country
as Shamrock Ellison
1950
2.3
Last of the Wild Horses
as Duke Barnum
1948
2.6
The Ghost Goes Wild
as Monte Crandall
1947
5.0
Calendar Girl
as Steve Adams
1947
5.4
G.I. War Brides
as Steve Giles
1946
0.0
Hollywood and Vine
as Larry Winters
1945
4.0
Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore
as Mike Burke
1944
6.0
Lady, Let's Dance
as Jerry Gibson
1944
5.0
The Gang's All Here
as Andy Mason
1943
5.9
Best Foot Forward
as Cadet
1943
6.0
I Walked with a Zombie
as Wesley Rand
1943
6.8
Dixie Dugan
as Roger Hudson
1943
5.0
Army Surgeon
as Capt. James Mason
1942
5.8
The Undying Monster
as Robert Curtis
1942
5.7
That Other Woman
as Henry Summers
1942
5.5
Careful, Soft Shoulders
as Thomas Aldrich
1942
6.0
Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case
as P. Cadwallader Jones
1941
6.0
Ice-Capades
as Bob Clemens
1941
5.5
Charley's Aunt
as Jack Chesney
1941
5.8
They Met in Argentina
as Tim Kelly
1941
3.0
Play Girl
as Thomas Elwood Dice
1941
6.3
Anne of Windy Poplars
as Tony Pringle
1940
5.8
You Can't Fool Your Wife
as Andrew Hinklin
1940
4.5
Fifth Avenue Girl
as Mike
1939
6.9
Hotel for Women
as Jeff Buchanan
1939
6.0
Sorority House
as Bill Loomis
1939
6.8
Zenobia
as Jeff Carter
1939
4.6
Almost a Gentleman
as Dan Preston
1939
6.0
Next Time I Marry
as Anthony J. Anthony
1938
7.0
Mother Carey's Chickens
as Ralph Thurston
1938
5.2
Vivacious Lady
as Keith
1938
7.0
The Barrier
as Lt. Burrell
1937
0.0
Annapolis Salute
as William J. "Bill" Martin
1937
6.0
23 1/2 Hours Leave
as Sgt. Robert Gray
1937
5.0
Borderland
as Johnny Nelson
1937
5.0
Trail Dust
as Johnny Nelson
1936
4.0
The Plainsman
as William "Buffalo Bill" Cody
1936
6.3
Three on the Trail
as Johnny Nelson
1936
4.5
Call of the Prairie
as Johnny Nelson
1936
4.7
Heart of the West
as Johnny Nelson
1936
4.0
The Leathernecks Have Landed
as Mac MacDonald
1936
5.0
Hitch Hike Lady
as Jimmy Peyton
1935
6.8
Bar 20 Rides Again
as Johnny Nelson
1935
5.0
The Eagle's Brood
as Johnny Nelson
1935
4.7
Hop-a-long Cassidy
as Johnny Nelson
1935
5.3
Reckless
as Dale Every
1935
5.0
The Winning Ticket
as Jimmy
1935
3.3
Buried Loot
as Detective (uncredited)
1935
6.0
The Famous Ferguson Case
as Reporter Lane (uncredited)
1932
6.2
Play Girl
as Elmer
1932
4.5