James Ellison
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.
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Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.592 |
Birthday | 1910-05-04 |
Place of Birth | Guthrie Center, Iowa, USA |
Also Known As | Jimmie 'Shamrock' Ellison, Jimmie Ellison, Jimmy 'Shamrock' Ellison, Jimmy Ellison, James Ellison Smith, |
1938
Vivacious Lady
6.8/53
College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzling night-club singer.
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Vivacious Lady
1943
I Walked with a Zombie
6.8/289
A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.
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I Walked with a Zombie
1942
The Undying Monster
5.629/35
A werewolf prowls around at night but only kills certain members of one family. It seems like just a coincidence, but the investigating Inspector soon...
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The Undying Monster
1941
Charley's Aunt
5.8/6
In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.
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Charley's Aunt
1936
The Plainsman
6.3/33
Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill go up against Indians and a gunrunner.
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The Plainsman
1939
Fifth Avenue Girl
7/23
A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglectful family.
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Fifth Avenue Girl
1950
Crooked River
5/1
Ellison is the star searching for the killer of his parents while Hayden's a not-too-bad bandit leader.
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Crooked River
1943
The Gang's All Here
5.8/35
A soldier falls for a chorus girl and then experiences trouble when he is posted to the Pacific.
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The Gang's All Here
1935
The Eagle's Brood
5/2
When the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy's life, Hoppy agrees to find his missing grandson.
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The Eagle's Brood
1936
Three on the Trail
5/1
An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be...
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Three on the Trail
1935
Hop-a-long Cassidy
6/2
An evil ranch foreman tries to provoke a range war by playing two cattlemen against each other while helping a gang to rustle the cattle. Each cattlem...
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Hop-a-long Cassidy
1936
Call of the Prairie
5/2
Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda...
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Call of the Prairie
1936
Heart of the West
4.5/2
Problems come in the form of one of Hopalong Cassidy's neighbors, but the matter is settled when Hoppy roots out the troublemaker.
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Heart of the West
1935
Bar 20 Rides Again
6/1
Cattle rustler Nevada dreams of living like an emperor in the West. Hoppy and the Bar 20 boys aim to put an end to his dream.
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Bar 20 Rides Again
1937
Borderland
0/0
Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) to track down a bunch of outlaws operating along th...
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Borderland
1936
Trail Dust
4/1
Hoppy, Johnny and Windy are fighting a malicious gang trying to stop a cattle drive from reaching a drought-stricken North.
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Trail Dust
1947
The Ghost Goes Wild
5/2
Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disguises himself as a mystic, only to conjure up a gen...
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The Ghost Goes Wild
1945
Hollywood and Vine
4.4/7
A young girl arrives in Hollywood determined to become a star in the movies but finds that attaining stardom is a lot more difficult than she counted...
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Hollywood and Vine
1935
The Winning Ticket
3.5/2
A barber tries to find the winning lottery ticket he hid from his moralistic wife.
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The Winning Ticket
1939
Zenobia
4.6/12
A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.
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Zenobia
1941
Play Girl
6.3/6
When a gold digger starts to get a little old to ply her trade, she teaches a younger woman all her tricks.
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Play Girl
1935
Buried Loot
6/5
An embezzler who expects to serve his time in prison and then pick up his buried loot is in for a surprise.
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Buried Loot
1940
Anne of Windy Poplars
5.8/5
Sentimental drama about an ambitious young teacher who arrives in a small town to take the job of vice-principal. Based on one of L M Montgomery's 'An...
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Anne of Windy Poplars
1947
Calendar Girl
5.9/9
Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They...
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Calendar Girl
1935
Hitch Hike Lady
6.8/2
Brit Amelia Blake travels to America to join her son Alfred. Fate forces her to hitchhike to California, a perilous journey that she shares with kind...
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Hitch Hike Lady
1951
Texas Lawmen
0/0
A Texas Ranger goes up against the Morrow outlaw gang.
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Texas Lawmen
1948
Last of the Wild Horses
2.6/11
A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.
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Last of the Wild Horses
1944
Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore
6/2
A young girl rents an apartment from a man who has recently enlisted in the Marines. The trouble is that he's given out keys to a half-dozen of his fr...
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Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1939
Hotel for Women
6/1
Guests at a women's residence club help a jilted small-town girl turn to modelling.
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Hotel for Women
1939
Sorority House
6.8/5
A young girl begins to wonder if she really fits into the upper-class sorority she's trying to join.
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Sorority House
1939
Almost a Gentleman
6/1
Saving a dog from the pound gets a man mixed up in murder.
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Almost a Gentleman
1942
Careful, Soft Shoulders
6/1
In this espionage movie, set in Washington during WW II, the daughter of an ex-senator has become a dress model. She is approached by an American coun...
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Careful, Soft Shoulders
1950
The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
0/0
A western in which Calamity Jane's rightful ownership of a gambling hall is challenged. She nearly loses the business to a shady crook, but Texas lawy...
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The Texan Meets Calamity Jane
1944
Lady, Let's Dance
5/2
Singing, dancing, and ice skating are featured in this musical that focuses on ice-skating sensation Belita. The story begins as she travels to a Cali...
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Lady, Let's Dance
1962
When the Girls Take Over
3.2/4
A comic look...at Cuba after Castro regime take over.
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When the Girls Take Over
1937
Annapolis Salute
6/2
The adventures of three disparate cadets at the US Naval Academy--one the son of a Navy enlisted man, the other the scion of a wealthy family, the thi...
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Annapolis Salute
1938
Mother Carey's Chickens
5.2/5
A financially-strapped mother and her children relocate from the city to a small rural town.
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Mother Carey's Chickens
1937
23 1/2 Hours Leave
0/0
Army training Sgt. Gray makes a bet that he can get himself invited to breakfast with his commanding officer, General Markley. But he gets into an unh...
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23 1/2 Hours Leave
1940
You Can't Fool Your Wife
4.5/4
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky tha...
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You Can't Fool Your Wife
1938
Next Time I Marry
6.8/6
Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would s...
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Next Time I Marry
1932
Play Girl
5.2/4
A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.
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Play Girl
1941
Ice-Capades
5/4
Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating...
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Ice-Capades
1935
Reckless
5.3/12
A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire.
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Reckless
1942
That Other Woman
5.5/2
A secretary by the name of Emily Borden comes up with a convoluted plan to get her boss to marry her which backfires after some bad advice.
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That Other Woman
1951
Kentucky Jubilee
5.5/2
A film director travels to Kentucky to seek out local talent for a hillbilly musical film. There, he gets kidnapped.
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Kentucky Jubilee
1941
They Met in Argentina
3/2
A Texas oil millionaire, after failing to secure oil lands in Argentina, seeks out a famous racehorse in Buenos Aires and orders his representative to...
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They Met in Argentina
1937
The Barrier
0/0
Gale, a store owner, lives in an Alaskan village with his grown ward, Necia, whom he had rescued years before from her murderer father, Captain Bennet...
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The Barrier
1942
Army Surgeon
5.8/6
Drama about military doctors and nurses during wartime.
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Army Surgeon
1950
Everybody's Dancin'
0/0
Dance-hall owner Dick Lane is in dire need of some big-name acts or he will lose his business. Several country-western stars come to his rescue by agr...
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Everybody's Dancin'
1943
Dixie Dugan
5/1
Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dollar a year man," is late for a radio broadcast abo...
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Dixie Dugan
1950
Fast on the Draw
0/0
As a boy, Shamrock's parents were killed. He took possession of a pistol belonging to his father, a famous marshal. Now that he is grown, he takes the...
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Fast on the Draw
1950
Colorado Ranger
5/1
The Shamrock Kid, Lucky, and The Colonel get caught in a feud between outlaws and homesteaders.
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Colorado Ranger
1950
Hostile Country
3/1
In this remake of No Man's Range (1935), Shamrock travels to the ranch of his stepfather who he has never met and finds himself caught in the middle o...
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Hostile Country
1950
Marshal of Heldorado
4/2
Shamrock and Lucky team up to drive the Tulliver Brothers out of Heldorado.
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Marshal of Heldorado
1950
West of the Brazos
6/1
An outlaw impersonates Shamrock in order to lease his land to an oil company for $75,000.
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West of the Brazos
1932
The Famous Ferguson Case
6/4
A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall aft...
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The Famous Ferguson Case
1941
Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case
6/1
Like the first entry, this one is played mostly for laughs, with Radio's Mister District Attorney. James Ellison replacing Dennis O'Keefe as feckless...
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Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case
1951
Oklahoma Justice
0/0
Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a lady bank robber in this average Mack Brown series late-entry from Monogram. The lady, played by Barbara Allen, is...
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Oklahoma Justice
1951
Whistling Hills
0/0
Johnny Mack Brown was recruited by Chet Norman, the owner of a stagecoach line, to end the heist perpetrated by a mysterious knight who plays strange...
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Whistling Hills
1952
Dead Man's Trail
0/0
Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick...
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Dead Man's Trail
1946
G.I. War Brides
0/0
Linda Powell, and English girl, stows away on a ship bound for the United States in order to join the G.I. she loves. She assumes the identity of an E...
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G.I. War Brides
1936
The Leathernecks Have Landed
5/1
Dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Marines after starting a barroom brawl that gets his leatherneck buddy "Tubby" Waters killed, hothead "Woody" Da...
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The Leathernecks Have Landed
1950
I Killed Geronimo
0/0
Going undercover as the notorious "Waco Kid," U.S. Army Captain Jeff Packard manages to infiltrate a gang of gold-shipment thieves lead by nasty Walt...
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I Killed Geronimo
1952
Man from the Black Hills
0/0
As other "B"-western series kept dropping like flies in 1952, Johnny Mack Brown kept grinding 'em out for Monogram. In Man From Black Hills, Johnny tr...
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Man from the Black Hills
1952
Texas City
6.3/3
Johnny Mack Brown substitutes brains for brawn during most of Texas City. Cast once more as a U.S. marshal, Johnny investigates when several governmen...
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Texas City
1943
Best Foot Forward
6/4
Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to come to Winsocki's big dance. Ball's publicity-hun...
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