J. Farrell MacDonald
Age: N/A | From: Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: Joseph Farrell MacDonald , John Farrell MacDonald , Farrell Macdonald , J. Farrell McDonald , J.F. McDonald
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 194
TV Involvements: 0
Most Famous Work
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.
Most Famous Work
It's a Wonderful Life
(1946) Man Whose Grandfather Planted Tree (uncredited)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
(1945) Mr. Carney The Junkman (uncredited)
My Darling Clementine
(1946) Mac the barman
Reap the Wild Wind
(1942) Port Captain
The Hurricane Express
(1932) Jim Baker
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
(1927) The Photographer
Belle Starr's Daughter
(1948) Doc Benson
No Man of Her Own
(1932) 'Dickie' CollinsActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1951 | Pop Shannon | |
| Husband on Airplane | ||
| Mr. Kroeger | ||
| 1950 | Cap, the Retired Ferryboat Captain | |
| Mr. Lane (uncredited) | ||
| Alvin | ||
| Ellis | ||
| Gilby - Pharmacist (uncredited) | ||
| 1949 | Judge Price | |
| Doorman (uncredited) | ||
| Pop Lockhart | ||
| 1948 | Apartment House Manager (uncredited) | |
| Bill Baggs | ||
| Sheriff Cap Weatherby | ||
| Bailiff (uncredited) | ||
| Doc Benson | ||
| Pops Murphy (uncredited) | ||
| Cop (uncredited) | ||
| Doc Cooper | ||
| Police Sergeant (uncredited) | ||
| 1947 | McPherson - Innkeeper | |
| Policeman (uncredited) | ||
| Mac, Bailiff (uncredited) | ||
| Postmaster | ||
| Scotty MacKronish - Bus Driver | ||
| Desk Sergeant (uncredited) | ||
| 1946 | Man Whose Grandfather Planted Tree (uncredited) | |
| Gardener | ||
| Mac the barman | ||
| Jim, the Cook | ||
| Long-Count Bowman | ||
| 1945 | N/A | |
| Bank Guard (uncredited) | ||
| Capt. Angel | ||
| Jury Foreman | ||
| Mr. Carney The Junkman (uncredited) | ||
| Street Vendor (uncredited) | ||
| 1944 | O'Shea, policeman | |
| The Priest | ||
| John Martindale | ||
| 1943 | Man (uncredited) | |
| Sheriff (uncredited) | ||
| Geoffrey MacCardle | ||
| Captain O'Brien | ||
| Frank (uncredited) | ||
| 1942 | Cop | |
| Capt. Mitchell | ||
| Police Captain | ||
| Officer O'Donnell (uncredited) | ||
| Police Lt. 'Pete' Peterson | ||
| Police Sergeant Haggerty | ||
| Port Captain | ||
| Dr. Neville (from Churchtown) | ||
| Henry Hathaway | ||
| Gen. Rosewater | ||
| 1941 | Adams | |
| Jim Kerrigan | ||
| Mulcahey | ||
| Dr. Ferguson | ||
| Tim Casey | ||
| 'Sourpuss' | ||
| 1940 | Sheiff Potts | |
| Doctor Billar | ||
| Nevada Jim | ||
| Jeff Chapman | ||
| Jim Hadley | ||
| Sheriff Jim Austin | ||
| Insp. Tim Ryan | ||
| Bill Stillwell | ||
| Dave | ||
| Cappy | ||
| 1939 | Wild Bill Coburn | |
| Captain | ||
| Joe, Police Sergeant (uncredited) | ||
| Police Chief (uncredited) | ||
| Capt. Hansen (uncredited) | ||
| Captain of the Falcon | ||
| Sheriff J.J. Willoughby | ||
| Pat O'Hannegan | ||
| Judge | ||
| Doorman (uncredited) | ||
| Craig Dolan | ||
| 1938 | 'Pop' Corrigan | |
| CWO 'Sails' Quincannon | ||
| Colonel Forbes | ||
| Chief Reardon | ||
| William Barton (Detective Agency Head) | ||
| Officer | ||
| Father Patrick Ryan | ||
| Warden | ||
| Dr. Thompson | ||
| Capt. Ryan | ||
| Coach Pearson | ||
| Charlie Wheeler | ||
| Mayor Jim Hopkins | ||
| 1937 | Buck Saunders | |
| Calvin Williams | ||
| Joe Holland | ||
| 'Doc' Howe | ||
| Inspector Sullivan | ||
| Policeman | ||
| Andrew MacKinley | ||
| Bill 'One-Punch' Fagin | ||
| Pop | ||
| Proprietor | ||
| Irish Laborer (uncredited) | ||
| Sgt. O'Hara | ||
| Captain of Ship | ||
| Major Rogers | ||
| 1936 | Police Chief Bullock | |
| Windy MacLaine | ||
| Captain Timothy Harrigan | ||
| Michael Devlin | ||
| 'Brains' | ||
| 1935 | Judge Hale | |
| Coach Parker | ||
| Trinidad Dorn | ||
| Capt. O'Brien | ||
| Harry Cromwell | ||
| Capt. Jackson | ||
| Hallohan | ||
| Marshal Andy Jordan | ||
| Applejack | ||
| Mr. Keefer | ||
| Umpire | ||
| Inspector Doremus | ||
| Prison Warden (uncredited) | ||
| Inspector | ||
| Sheriff | ||
| Captain--Harbor Patrol | ||
| The Cop | ||
| Murphy | ||
| Hobo | ||
| 1934 | Pop Malloy | |
| John Flannigan | ||
| Kemp | ||
| The Doorman--Mike Costello | ||
| Michael | ||
| 1933 | Police Capt. Ed Kyne | |
| John Burke | ||
| Grady | ||
| Mulligan | ||
| Shuster | ||
| Himself | ||
| Prison Warden | ||
| Patrick Shamus 'Pat' O'Connell | ||
| Henry 'Hank' Davis | ||
| Waco | ||
| J.C. Stillman | ||
| 1932 | 'Dickie' Collins | |
| Mr. Martin | ||
| Pop Riley | ||
| Prison Warden Randolph | ||
| Chief Scott | ||
| Adam Naab | ||
| Jerry O'Day | ||
| State Coach | ||
| Tom O'Hara | ||
| D.J. 'Smokey' Nolan | ||
| Captain Ryan | ||
| Jim Baker | ||
| John Adams | ||
| Mr. Davis | ||
| Police Sgt. J.B. Antrim (uncredited) | ||
| Treadway | ||
| George Holman | ||
| Hogan | ||
| Detective Martin | ||
| Sommers | ||
| Pop Evans | ||
| 1931 | Pop Stewart | |
| The Coach | ||
| Timson, the butler | ||
| N/A | ||
| MacGuire | ||
| Scout | ||
| Big Bill | ||
| Det. Sgt. Tom Polhaus | ||
| Rev. Stump | ||
| Dan Lewis | ||
| Policeman | ||
| Buzzard | ||
| Ben Murdock | ||
| Jeff Cameron | ||
| Peg-Leg | ||
| 1930 | Colonel Graham | |
| O'Toole | ||
| Sonora Slim | ||
| Rafferty | ||
| Costello | ||
| 1929 | Hackett | |
| Pa Hudler | ||
| Train Conductor | ||
| Joe Hickey | ||
| Will Whitten | ||
| Angus McGregor | ||
| 1928 | Stage Passenger (uncredited) | |
| James 'Aloysius' Riley | ||
| The Clown | ||
| John Craig | ||
| Patrick Murphy | ||
| Jiggs | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1927 | The Photographer | |
| Pug Malone | ||
| Peter Roberts | ||
| George Martin | ||
| McGuire | ||
| 1926 | Sloan | |
| Sgt. Cassidy | ||
| Joe Heller | ||
| Mike Costigan | ||
| Benjamin Strong | ||
| Con O'Shea | ||
| Mr. Barstow | ||
| 1925 | Jerry | |
| Andy | ||
| Donavan | ||
| Mack | ||
| Lemuel Townsend | ||
| Commodore John Gordon | ||
| Hickey | ||
| Corporal Casey | ||
| Pete | ||
| 'Chuck' Campbell | ||
| Duc de Moing (Prologue) | ||
| 1923 | Murphy | |
| Silas Martin | ||
| Col. Patterson | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1922 | Amhad Beg - Prime Minister | |
| (uncredited) | ||
| Sam Marcum | ||
| Captain Gaskell | ||
| Peter Galbraith | ||
| Michael Morahan | ||
| Jim Frazer (as J. Farrel MacDonald) | ||
| 1921 | Joseph Piotto | |
| Sheriff Pat Garrity | ||
| Mormon Peters | ||
| Neuces River | ||
| N/A | ||
| Bobtail McGuire | ||
| 1920 | Joe Alabam (as J. Farrell McDonald) | |
| Father | ||
| Jim Boone | ||
| 1919 | Tom Placer McGraw | |
| N/A | ||
| Luther Ripley aka Kennedy | ||
| Buell | ||
| The Priest | ||
| Butler | ||
| 1918 | Norcross | |
| 1915 | Paul Ferguson (as Joseph Farrell MacDonald) | |
| 1913 | N/A | |
| 1912 | Louis Nordell | |
| 1911 | Farmer Howard | |
| The Lighthouse Keeper | ||
| N/A | ||
| Secondary Role (uncredited) | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
Directing
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1917 | Director | |
| 1915 | Director | |
| 1914 | Director | |
| Director | ||
| Director | ||
| Director | ||
| 1913 | Director | |
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
