From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0428160
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2502092
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Filmography (Movies)
The Abbott and Costello Show: Who's On First?
Character:Mike the Cop (archive footage)
Release Date:01/02/2011
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:24/11/1994
McLintock!
Character:Matt Douglas
Release Date:12/11/1963
Everything's Ducky
Character:Conroy
Release Date:20/12/1961
Master of the World
Character:Talkative Townsman
Release Date:01/05/1961
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Character:Police Sgt. Joe Cassidy
Release Date:03/02/1960
Battle of the Coral Sea
Character:Torpedoman Bates
Release Date:01/11/1959
Battle Flame
Character:Sgt. McKelvey
Release Date:26/07/1959
The Shaggy Dog
Character:Captain Scanlon, Police Chief
Release Date:19/03/1959
The Perfect Furlough
Character:MP "Sylvia"
Release Date:30/11/1958
Live Fast, Die Young
Character:Pop Winters
Release Date:01/04/1958
The Monster That Challenged the World
Character:Sheriff Josh Peters
Release Date:14/06/1957
Shoot-Out At Medicine Bend
Character:Pvt. Wilbur Clegg
Release Date:04/05/1957
Spring Reunion
Character:Jack Frazer
Release Date:01/03/1957
Smoke Signal
Character:Corporal Rogers
Release Date:01/03/1955
Treasure of Ruby Hills
Character:Jack Voyle
Release Date:23/01/1955
The Outlaw Stallion
Character:Wagner
Release Date:03/07/1954
Take the High Ground!
Character:Moose (uncredited)
Release Date:30/10/1953
Island in the Sky
Character:Walrus
Release Date:05/09/1953
Woman They Almost Lynched
Character:Yankee Sergeant
Release Date:20/03/1953
The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon
Character:Curly Wolf
Release Date:01/11/1952
Wagon Team
Character:Marshal Sam Taplin
Release Date:29/09/1952
Big Jim McLain
Character:Olaf
Release Date:30/08/1952
The Winning Team
Character:George Glasheen
Release Date:20/06/1952
Sound Off
Character:Crockett
Release Date:15/05/1952
Gobs and Gals
Character:CPO Mike Donovan
Release Date:01/05/1952
Corky of Gasoline Alley
Character:Elwood Martin
Release Date:17/09/1951
Heart of the Rockies
Character:Splinters McGonigle
Release Date:29/03/1951
Spoilers of the Plains
Character:Splinters
Release Date:02/02/1951
Trail of Robin Hood
Character:Splinters McGonigle
Release Date:15/12/1950
North of the Great Divide
Character:Splinters McGonagle
Release Date:15/11/1950
Sunset in the West
Character:Splinters
Release Date:25/09/1950
Big Timber
Character:Jocko
Release Date:10/09/1950
Trigger, Jr.
Character:Splinters
Release Date:30/06/1950
The Arizona Cowboy
Character:I.Q. Barton
Release Date:01/04/1950
The Palomino
Character:Bill Hennessey
Release Date:18/03/1950
Belle of Old Mexico
Character:Tex Barnet
Release Date:01/03/1950
Dear Wife
Character:Taxi Cab Driver
Release Date:15/11/1949
Tokyo Joe
Character:Idaho
Release Date:26/10/1949
Easy Living
Character:Bill 'Holly' Holloran
Release Date:08/10/1949
Black Midnight
Character:Roy
Release Date:01/10/1949
Mr. Soft Touch
Character:Muggles (Uncredited)
Release Date:28/07/1949
The Untamed Breed
Character:Happy Keegan
Release Date:20/10/1948
Black Eagle
Character:Benjy Laughton
Release Date:16/09/1948
Sons of Adventure
Character:Andy Baldwin
Release Date:01/09/1948
A Foreign Affair
Character:Military Police
Release Date:20/08/1948
Whispering City
Character:Reporter
Release Date:20/11/1947
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Character:Jake Frame
Release Date:08/10/1947
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Character:Tubby Wadsworth
Release Date:01/09/1947
Youth Runs Wild
Character:Truck Driver (uncredited)
Release Date:01/09/1944
Flying Tigers
Character:Alabama Smith
Release Date:08/10/1942
Highways by Night
Character:'Footsy' Fogarty
Release Date:02/10/1942
My Sister Eileen
Character:'The Wreck' Loomis
Release Date:24/09/1942
Among the Living
Character:Bill Oakley
Release Date:12/12/1941
You Belong to Me
Character:Robert Andrews
Release Date:22/10/1941
The Blonde from Singapore
Character:'Waffles' Billings
Release Date:15/10/1941
The Feminine Touch
Character:Rubber-Legs Ryan
Release Date:01/10/1941
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Character:Ranger Radio Man (uncredited)
Release Date:13/12/1940
Girl from Havana
Character:Tubby Waters
Release Date:11/09/1940
Up in the Air
Character:Tex Barton
Release Date:09/09/1940
I Take This Oath
Character:Steve Hanagan
Release Date:20/05/1940
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Character:O'Brien
Release Date:25/04/1940
The Green Hornet
Character:Britt Reid / The Green Hornet
Release Date:08/01/1940
Henry Goes Arizona
Character:Tug Evans (uncredited)
Release Date:08/12/1939
Disputed Passage
Character:Bill Anderson
Release Date:25/10/1939
When Tomorrow Comes
Character:Radio Technician (uncredited)
Release Date:11/08/1939
Invitation to Happiness
Character:Dutch Arnold (uncredited)
Release Date:07/06/1939
Big Town Czar
Character:Chuck Hardy
Release Date:03/05/1939
Pride of the Navy
Character:Joe Falcon
Release Date:23/01/1939
The Long Shot
Character:Jeff Clayton
Release Date:06/01/1939
Out West with the Hardys
Character:Ray Holt
Release Date:25/11/1938
I Stand Accused
Character:Blackie
Release Date:29/10/1938
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Character:Tom Grogan
Release Date:12/08/1938
Quick Money
Character:Bill Adams
Release Date:10/12/1937
Fight for Your Lady
Character:Mike Scanlon
Release Date:05/11/1937
The Big Shot
Character:Chester Scott
Release Date:23/07/1937
There Goes My Girl
Character:Dunn
Release Date:21/05/1937
China Passage
Character:Joe Dugan
Release Date:12/03/1937
Sea Devils
Character:Puggy
Release Date:19/02/1937
They Wanted to Marry
Character:Jim Tyler
Release Date:05/02/1937
We Who Are About to Die
Character:Slim Tolliver
Release Date:08/01/1937
Night Waitress
Character:Martin Rhodes
Release Date:18/12/1936
Don't Turn 'em Loose
Character:Joe Graves
Release Date:18/09/1936
Walking on Air
Character:Joe
Release Date:11/09/1936
Devil's Squadron
Character:Tex
Release Date:30/04/1936
Strike Me Pink
Character:Butch Carson
Release Date:24/01/1936
Red Salute
Character:Michael (Lefty) Jones
Release Date:12/09/1935
Let 'em Have It
Character:Tex
Release Date:15/05/1935
Wild Girl
Character:Vigilante (uncredited)
Release Date:09/11/1932
Three Rogues
Character:Teamster (uncredited)
Release Date:08/03/1931
Television Appearances
The Lucy Show
Character:Charlie Vantassel
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
Character:Nels Bergstrom
Surfside 6
Character:
Hawaiian Eye
Character:
Dennis the Menace
Character:
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
Character:
Laramie
Character:
77 Sunset Strip
Character:
The Rifleman
Character:
Maverick
Character:
Perry Mason
Character:Deputy Gillis
Sugarfoot
Character:Wasco Wolters
Sugarfoot
Character:Sheriff
Have Gun, Will Travel
Character:
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Character:Mike Gower
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Character:Joel Finlay
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
Character:
Cheyenne
Character:
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Character:
Lassie
Character:
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
Character:
I'm the Law
Character:
The Abbott and Costello Show
Character:Mike Kelly
Cavalcade of America
Character:Lt. Treusch
Dangerous Assignment
Character:
Racket Squad
Character:
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Character:Curly Wolf
The Gene Autry Show
Character:
Images
