Gordon Jones
Photo from TMDB

Person

Gordon Jones

Known for
Acting
Born
April 5, 1911
Died
June 20, 1963
Place of birth
Alden, Iowa, USA
Also known as
Gordon Wynnivo Jones, Gordon W. Jones

IMDb

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gordon Wynnivo Jones (April 5, 1911 – June 20, 1963) was an American character actor, a member of John Wayne's informal acting company best known for playing Lou Costello's TV nemesis "Mike the Cop" and appearing as The Green Hornet in the first of two movie serials based on that old-time radio program.

Iowa-born Jones had been a student athlete and star football guard ("Bull" Jones) at University of California, Los Angeles, and had also played a few seasons of professional football. He started out playing small roles in Wesley Ruggles' and Ernest B. Schoedsack's The Monkey's Paw (1933), his first credited role in Sam Wood's Let 'Em Have It (1935), and Sidney Lanfield's Red Salute (1935). By 1937, he had moved on to a contract at RKO Radio Pictures. In 1940, Jones had the title role in The Green Hornet but did not reprise the role in the sequel.

Jones held a reserve commission in the army and was called into the service after filming his roles as "The Wreck" in My Sister Eileen (1942) and "Alabama Smith" in Flying Tigers (1942), a John Wayne vehicle that was one of the most popular action films of the war. This picture began Jones' 20-year onscreen association with Wayne, who was also a former football player at the University of Southern California.

Jones remained associated with the service after the war, encouraging college students to consider the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After resuming his acting career in the late 1940s, Jones appeared in prominent roles in the John Wayne features Big Jim McLain (1952) and Island in the Sky (1953).

By the end of the 1940s, Jones had aged into a beefier screen presence and into very physical character roles. He was no longer a leading man but he had developed a comic villain persona which meshed with the work of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Jones' association with the duo began in The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) with the role of the film's heavy, Jake Frame, and continued through their television series The Abbott and Costello Show. Jones played "Mike the Cop", Costello's hulking, loud-voiced antagonist. The program was produced for only two seasons, but ensured continued recognition for Jones via frequent reruns and a 21st Century DVD release.

Jones also remained busy in films and on television throughout the 1950s, in pictures that ranged from the sci-fi chiller The Monster That Challenged the World to the Tony Curtis/Janet Leigh sex comedy The Perfect Furlough, and on TV series ranging from The Real McCoys to The Rifleman. Jones also appeared in two very successful Disney movies during the early '60s, The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber. He played harried school coaches in both pictures. He also starred with Mitzi Green and Virginia Gibson in the short-lived TV sitcom So This Is Hollywood (1955), and had a recurring role as neighbor Butch Barton during the early years of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

Jones returned to the John Wayne stock company portraying Douglas, the bureaucrat antagonist to Wayne's G.W. McLintock in the Western comedy McLintock! (1963). Jones unexpectedly succumbed to a heart attack on June 12, 1963, five months before the release of that movie.

Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the West side of the 1600 block of Vine Street.

Biography from TMDB, which often draws on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source · CC BY-SA 4.0

In Catlg

1 Work in the catalog credit them.

Acting (1)

Filmography

  • The Abbott and Costello Show: Who's On First?Film · 2011 · as Mike the Cop (archive footage)
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry SeinfeldFilm · 1994 · as Self (archive footage)
  • McLintock!Film · 1963 · as Matt Douglas
  • The Lucy ShowTV · 1962 · as Charlie Vantassel · 1 episode
  • Everything's DuckyFilm · 1961 · as Conroy
  • Master of the WorldFilm · 1961 · as Talkative Townsman
  • Surfside 6TV · 1960 · Acting · 1 episode
  • The Case of the Dangerous RobinTV · 1960 · as Nels Bergstrom · 1 episode
  • The Rise and Fall of Legs DiamondFilm · 1960 · as Police Sgt. Joe Cassidy
  • Battle FlameFilm · 1959 · as Sgt. McKelvey
  • Battle of the Coral SeaFilm · 1959 · as Torpedoman Bates
  • Dennis the MenaceTV · 1959 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Hawaiian EyeTV · 1959 · Acting · 1 episode
  • LaramieTV · 1959 · Acting · 1 episode
  • The Many Loves of Dobie GillisTV · 1959 · Acting · 1 episode
  • The Shaggy DogFilm · 1959 · as Captain Scanlon
  • 77 Sunset StripTV · 1958 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Live Fast, Die YoungFilm · 1958 · as Pop Winters
  • The Perfect FurloughFilm · 1958 · as Sylvia
  • The RiflemanTV · 1958 · Acting · 2 episodes
  • Have Gun, Will TravelTV · 1957 · Acting · 1 episode
  • MaverickTV · 1957 · Acting · 2 episodes
  • Perry MasonTV · 1957 · as Deputy Gillis · 1 episode
  • Richard Diamond, Private DetectiveTV · 1957 · as Mike Gower · 1 episode
  • Shoot-Out at Medicine BendFilm · 1957 · as Pvt. Wilbur Clegg
  • Spring ReunionFilm · 1957 · as Jack Frazer
  • SugarfootTV · 1957 · as Wasco Wolters · 1 episode
  • The Monster That Challenged the WorldFilm · 1957 · as Sheriff Josh Peters
  • The Adventures of Jim BowieTV · 1956 · Acting · 1 episode
  • CheyenneTV · 1955 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Smoke SignalFilm · 1955 · as Corporal Rogers
  • The Life and Legend of Wyatt EarpTV · 1955 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Treasure of Ruby HillsFilm · 1955 · as Jack Voyle
  • LassieTV · 1954 · Acting · 1 episode
  • The Outlaw StallionFilm · 1954 · as Wagner
  • The Wonderful World of DisneyTV · 1954 · as Captain Scanlon - Chief of Police · 1 episode
  • I'm the LawTV · 1953 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Island in the SkyFilm · 1953 · as Walrus
  • Take the High Ground!Film · 1953 · as Moose (uncredited)
  • The Pepsi-Cola PlayhouseTV · 1953 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Woman They Almost LynchedFilm · 1953 · as Yankee Sergeant
  • Big Jim McLainFilm · 1952 · as Olaf
  • Cavalcade of AmericaTV · 1952 · as Lt. Treusch · 1 episode
  • Dangerous AssignmentTV · 1952 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Gobs and GalsFilm · 1952 · as CPO Mike Donovan
  • Sound OffFilm · 1952 · as Crockett
  • The Abbott and Costello ShowTV · 1952 · as Mike Kelly · 33 episodes
  • The Ghost of Crossbone CanyonFilm · 1952 · as Curly Wolf
  • The Winning TeamFilm · 1952 · as George Glasheen
  • Wagon TeamFilm · 1952 · as Marshal Sam Taplin
  • Corky of Gasoline AlleyFilm · 1951 · as Elwood Martin
  • Heart of the RockiesFilm · 1951 · as Splinters McGonigle
  • Racket SquadTV · 1951 · Acting · 1 episode
  • Spoilers of the PlainsFilm · 1951 · as Splinters
  • The Adventures of Wild Bill HickokTV · 1951 · as Curly Wolf · 1 episode
  • Belle of Old MexicoFilm · 1950 · as Tex Barnet
  • Big TimberFilm · 1950 · as Jocko
  • North of the Great DivideFilm · 1950 · as Splinters McGonagle
  • Sunset in the WestFilm · 1950 · as Splinters
  • The Arizona CowboyFilm · 1950 · as I.Q. Barton
  • The Gene Autry ShowTV · 1950 · Acting · 2 episodes
  • The PalominoFilm · 1950 · as Bill Hennessey
  • Trail of Robin HoodFilm · 1950 · as Splinters McGonigle
  • Trigger, Jr.Film · 1950 · as Splinters
  • Black MidnightFilm · 1949 · as Roy
  • Dear WifeFilm · 1949 · as Taxi Cab Driver
  • Easy LivingFilm · 1949 · as Bill 'Holly' Holloran
  • Mr. Soft TouchFilm · 1949 · as Muggles (Uncredited)
  • Tokyo JoeFilm · 1949 · as Idaho
  • A Foreign AffairFilm · 1948 · as Military Police
  • Black EagleFilm · 1948 · as Benjy Laughton
  • Sons of AdventureFilm · 1948 · as Andy Baldwin
  • The Untamed BreedFilm · 1948 · as Happy Keegan
  • The Secret Life of Walter MittyFilm · 1947 · as Tubby Wadsworth
  • The Wistful Widow of Wagon GapFilm · 1947 · as Jake Frame
  • Whispering CityFilm · 1947 · as Reporter
  • Youth Runs WildFilm · 1944 · as Truck Driver (uncredited)
  • Flying TigersFilm · 1942 · as Alabama Smith
  • Highways by NightFilm · 1942 · as 'Footsy' Fogarty
  • My Sister EileenFilm · 1942 · as 'The Wreck' Loomis
  • Among the LivingFilm · 1941 · as Bill Oakley
  • The Blonde from SingaporeFilm · 1941 · as 'Waffles' Billings
  • The Feminine TouchFilm · 1941 · as Rubber-Legs Ryan
  • You Belong to MeFilm · 1941 · as Robert Andrews
  • Girl from HavanaFilm · 1940 · as Tubby Waters
  • I Take This OathFilm · 1940 · as Steve Hanagan
  • The Doctor Takes a WifeFilm · 1940 · as O'Brien
  • The Green HornetFilm · 1940 · as Britt Reid / The Green Hornet
  • The Texas Rangers Ride AgainFilm · 1940 · as Ranger Radio Man (uncredited)
  • Up in the AirFilm · 1940 · as Tex Barton
  • Big Town CzarFilm · 1939 · as Chuck Hardy
  • Disputed PassageFilm · 1939 · as Bill Anderson
  • Henry Goes ArizonaFilm · 1939 · as Tug Evans (uncredited)
  • Invitation to HappinessFilm · 1939 · as Dutch Arnold (uncredited)
  • Pride of the NavyFilm · 1939 · as Joe Falcon
  • The Long ShotFilm · 1939 · as Jeff Clayton
  • When Tomorrow ComesFilm · 1939 · as Radio Technician (uncredited)
  • I Stand AccusedFilm · 1938 · as Blackie
  • Out West with the HardysFilm · 1938 · as Ray Holt
  • Rich Man, Poor GirlFilm · 1938 · as Tom Grogan
  • China PassageFilm · 1937 · as Joe Dugan
  • Fight for Your LadyFilm · 1937 · as Mike Scanlon
  • Quick MoneyFilm · 1937 · as Bill Adams
  • Sea DevilsFilm · 1937 · as Puggy
  • The Big ShotFilm · 1937 · as Chester Scott
  • There Goes My GirlFilm · 1937 · as Dunn
  • They Wanted to MarryFilm · 1937 · as Jim Tyler
  • We Who Are About to DieFilm · 1937 · as Slim Tolliver
  • Devil's SquadronFilm · 1936 · as Tex
  • Don't Turn 'em LooseFilm · 1936 · as Joe Graves
  • Night WaitressFilm · 1936 · as Martin Rhodes
  • Strike Me PinkFilm · 1936 · as Butch Carson
  • Walking on AirFilm · 1936 · as Joe
  • Let 'em Have ItFilm · 1935 · as Tex
  • Red SaluteFilm · 1935 · as Michael (Lefty) Jones
  • Wild GirlFilm · 1932 · as Vigilante (uncredited)
  • Three RoguesFilm · 1931 · as Teamster (uncredited)

Filmography from TMDB. This product uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.

Sources