James Westerfield
Age: 58 | From: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Person Details
Birthday: 1913-03-22 11:38:03
Death: 1971-09-20 11:38:03
Aliases: No known aliases
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 42
TV Involvements: 29
Most Famous Work
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James A. Westerfield (22 March 1913 – 20 September 1971) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife Dora Elizabeth Bailey, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. (A news story in the June 12, 1949, issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle calls the information in the preceding sentence into question. It describes Westerfield as "the son of a famous producer-director" and says that he was "a youngster in Denver, Col.") He became interested in theatre as a young man and in the 1930s joined Gilmor Brown's famed Pasadena Community Playhouse, appearing in dozens of plays. He played in numerous films following his debut in 1940, then went to New York City and appeared on Broadway, winning two New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for his supporting roles in The Madwoman of Chaillot and Detective Story. He then returned to Hollywood and made more than 40 more films. Westerfield maintained an interest in the theatre. He directed more than 50 musicals in a summer-musical tent he owned in Danbury, Connecticut, and was the original stage director and producer for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. He directed three seasons of "Theatre Under the Stars" in Vancouver, British Columbia, and appeared in musical roles with the Detroit Civic Light Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and the San Francisco Civic Light Opera. On film, Westerfield had roles in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), On The Waterfront (1954), Lucy Gallant (1955), the 1957 Budd Boetticher-directed Western Decision at Sundown starring Randolph Scott, Cowboy (1958), a repeating role in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Man's Favorite Sport (1964), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969). Westerfield had many roles on television, including seven episodes as John Murrel from 1963 to 1964 on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Sheriff Bert Elmore in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Angry Mourner." He also appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1954 entitled "Texas Draw." Westerfield's other appearances were on such series as The Rifleman, The Californians, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Alaskans, The Rebel, Straightaway, Going My Way, The Asphalt Jungle, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show, Daniel Boone, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gunsmoke. He played the circus leader, Dr. Marvello, in an episode of Lost in Space "Space Circus" (1966). Westerfield as a young man was a roommate of fellow Pasadena Playhouse actor George Reeves. The two remained close friends until Reeves's death in 1959. Westerfield was married to Alice G. Fay (an actress under the name Fay Tracey), who, along with his mother, survived him. Westerfield died from a heart attack in Woodlands Hills, California, at the age of fifty-eight.
Most Famous Work
Perry Mason
(1957) Roger Quigley
Lost in Space
(1965) Dr. Marvello
The Twilight Zone
(1959) Anthony O'Toole
Rawhide
(1959) Mort Henry
The Big Valley
(1965) Jeb Lassiter
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1955) Pops Lafferty
Wanted: Dead or Alive
(1958) Dr. Langland
Daniel Boone
(1964) Simon GirtyActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Cark Rickter | |
| 1971 | John Applebee | |
| 1970 | Sheriff Berry | |
| 1969 | The Lawyer | |
| Rev. Wilkerson | ||
| Judge Parker | ||
| Sheriff | ||
| 1968 | Capt. Boyle | |
| N/A | ||
| Sheriff Matson | ||
| Prisoner | ||
| Abe Parker | ||
| Amos | ||
| 1967 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| 1966 | Jack Balter | |
| Sheriff | ||
| Nehemiah | ||
| 1965 | Charley Mardis | |
| N/A | ||
| Dr. Marvello | ||
| Jeb Lassiter | ||
| Officer Brokaw | ||
| Mr. Vennar | ||
| 1964 | Sen. Samuel Pomeroy | |
| Simon Girty | ||
| Hand | ||
| N/A | ||
| Cop #2 | ||
| Policeman | ||
| 1963 | John Murrel | |
| Attorney Thomas Green | ||
| Officer Hanson | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1962 | N/A | |
| Weitzman | ||
| N/A | ||
| Jess Younger | ||
| 1961 | N/A | |
| Alfred S. Adrims | ||
| N/A | ||
| Officer Hanson | ||
| 1960 | Mike Baron | |
| Uncle Ollie | ||
| N/A | ||
| Al Matthews | ||
| N/A | ||
| Cal Garth | ||
| 1959 | N/A | |
| Suee | ||
| Anthony O'Toole | ||
| N/A | ||
| Joshua Jones | ||
| N/A | ||
| Herb Loftus | ||
| Reverend Howard | ||
| Officer Hanson | ||
| Mort Henry | ||
| Matt Lucas | ||
| 1958 | Shapley Howell | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Dr. Langland | ||
| Birm Bates | ||
| Mike Adams | ||
| 1957 | Otis, the Bartender | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Roger Quigley | ||
| Sheriff Elmore | ||
| Harvey Mathews | ||
| McAllister | ||
| Frank Piggin | ||
| 1956 | Chief O'Reilly | |
| Bert Farrow | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1955 | Mr. Zender (drummer) | |
| Harry Wilson | ||
| N/A | ||
| Commissioner Cummings | ||
| Pops Lafferty | ||
| Rance Bradley | ||
| Franks | ||
| Cleed | ||
| Harry Duggan | ||
| Col. Jameson | ||
| James Petlee | ||
| Caleb Mantz | ||
| Sheriff Magruder | ||
| 1954 | Sam Minor | |
| Marty Harrison | ||
| N/A | ||
| Big Mac | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1953 | Bookkeeper | |
| Bartender | ||
| The General | ||
| 1951 | Joe London | |
| 1950 | Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited) | |
| Charlie (policeman) | ||
| 1948 | Bilgeboy / Jimmy Scaggs | |
| Captain James Reagan | ||
| H.T. Carmichael | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1946 | Job the Butler | |
| Henry Gilson | ||
| 1943 | Bashful Marine | |
| 1942 | Spectator (uncredited) | |
| Policeman at Accident (uncredited) | ||
| Soldier with Daisy (uncredited) | ||
| 1941 | Swede, Trucker at Cafe | |
| 1940 | Backwoodsman | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
