Gordon Jones
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 5, 1911
- Died
- June 20, 1963 (aged 52)
- Birthplace
- Alden, Iowa, USA
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
The Abbott and Costello Show: Who's On First?
Movie · as Mike the Cop (archive footage)
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
McLintock!
Movie · as Matt Douglas
The Lucy Show
TV · as Charlie Vantassel · 1 ep
Everything's Ducky
Movie · as Conroy
Master of the World
Movie · as Talkative Townsman
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Movie · as Police Sgt. Joe Cassidy
Surfside 6
TV · 1 ep
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
TV · as Nels Bergstrom · 1 ep
Battle of the Coral Sea
Movie · as Torpedoman Bates
The Shaggy Dog
Movie · as Captain Scanlon
Battle Flame
Movie · as Sgt. McKelvey
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
TV · 1 ep
Hawaiian Eye
TV · 1 ep
Dennis the Menace
TV · 1 ep
Laramie
TV · 1 ep
The Perfect Furlough
Movie · as Sylvia
Live Fast, Die Young
Movie · as Pop Winters
77 Sunset Strip
TV · 1 ep
The Rifleman
TV · 2 eps
The Monster That Challenged the World
Movie · as Sheriff Josh Peters
Spring Reunion
Movie · as Jack Frazer
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend
Movie · as Pvt. Wilbur Clegg
Perry Mason
TV · as Deputy Gillis · 1 ep
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV · 1 ep
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
TV · as Mike Gower, Joel Finlay · 1 ep
Sugarfoot
TV · as Wasco Wolters, Sheriff · 1 ep
Maverick
TV · 2 eps
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
TV · 1 ep
Treasure of Ruby Hills
Movie · as Jack Voyle
Smoke Signal
Movie · as Corporal Rogers
Cheyenne
TV · 1 ep
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
TV · 1 ep
The Outlaw Stallion
Movie · as Wagner
Lassie
TV · 1 ep
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV · as Captain Scanlon - Chief of Police · 1 ep
Island in the Sky
Movie · as Walrus
Take the High Ground!
Movie · as Moose (uncredited)
Woman They Almost Lynched
Movie · as Yankee Sergeant
I'm the Law
TV · 1 ep
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
TV · 1 ep
Sound Off
Movie · as Crockett
The Winning Team
Movie · as George Glasheen
Gobs and Gals
Movie · as CPO Mike Donovan
Wagon Team
Movie · as Marshal Sam Taplin
The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon
Movie · as Curly Wolf
Big Jim McLain
Movie · as Olaf
Cavalcade of America
TV · as Lt. Treusch · 1 ep
Dangerous Assignment
TV · 1 ep
The Abbott and Costello Show
TV · as Mike Kelly · 33 eps
Spoilers of the Plains
Movie · as Splinters
Corky of Gasoline Alley
Movie · as Elwood Martin
Heart of the Rockies
Movie · as Splinters McGonigle
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
TV · as Curly Wolf · 1 ep
Racket Squad
TV · 1 ep
Belle of Old Mexico
Movie · as Tex Barnet
Trigger, Jr.
Movie · as Splinters
The Arizona Cowboy
Movie · as I.Q. Barton
Trail of Robin Hood
Movie · as Splinters McGonigle
The Palomino
Movie · as Bill Hennessey
North of the Great Divide
Movie · as Splinters McGonagle
Sunset in the West
Movie · as Splinters
Big Timber
Movie · as Jocko
The Gene Autry Show
TV · 2 eps
Mr. Soft Touch
Movie · as Muggles (Uncredited)
Tokyo Joe
Movie · as Idaho
Easy Living
Movie · as Bill 'Holly' Holloran
Black Midnight
Movie · as Roy
Dear Wife
Movie · as Taxi Cab Driver
A Foreign Affair
Movie · as Military Police
The Untamed Breed
Movie · as Happy Keegan
Black Eagle
Movie · as Benjy Laughton
Sons of Adventure
Movie · as Andy Baldwin
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Movie · as Jake Frame
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Movie · as Tubby Wadsworth
Whispering City
Movie · as Reporter
Youth Runs Wild
Movie · as Truck Driver (uncredited)
My Sister Eileen
Movie · as 'The Wreck' Loomis
Flying Tigers
Movie · as Alabama Smith
Highways by Night
Movie · as 'Footsy' Fogarty
Among the Living
Movie · as Bill Oakley
The Feminine Touch
Movie · as Rubber-Legs Ryan
You Belong to Me
Movie · as Robert Andrews
The Blonde from Singapore
Movie · as 'Waffles' Billings
Up in the Air
Movie · as Tex Barton
I Take This Oath
Movie · as Steve Hanagan
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Movie · as O'Brien
Girl from Havana
Movie · as Tubby Waters
The Green Hornet
Movie · as Britt Reid / The Green Hornet
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Movie · as Ranger Radio Man (uncredited)
The Long Shot
Movie · as Jeff Clayton
Invitation to Happiness
Movie · as Dutch Arnold (uncredited)
Henry Goes Arizona
Movie · as Tug Evans (uncredited)
Pride of the Navy
Movie · as Joe Falcon
Disputed Passage
Movie · as Bill Anderson
Big Town Czar
Movie · as Chuck Hardy
When Tomorrow Comes
Movie · as Radio Technician (uncredited)
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Movie · as Tom Grogan
I Stand Accused
Movie · as Blackie
Out West with the Hardys
Movie · as Ray Holt
Sea Devils
Movie · as Puggy
Fight for Your Lady
Movie · as Mike Scanlon
They Wanted to Marry
Movie · as Jim Tyler
Quick Money
Movie · as Bill Adams
There Goes My Girl
Movie · as Dunn
We Who Are About to Die
Movie · as Slim Tolliver
The Big Shot
Movie · as Chester Scott
China Passage
Movie · as Joe Dugan
Strike Me Pink
Movie · as Butch Carson
Walking on Air
Movie · as Joe
Devil's Squadron
Movie · as Tex
Night Waitress
Movie · as Martin Rhodes
Don't Turn 'em Loose
Movie · as Joe Graves
Let 'em Have It
Movie · as Tex
Red Salute
Movie · as Michael (Lefty) Jones
Wild Girl
Movie · as Vigilante (uncredited)
Three Rogues
Movie · as Teamster (uncredited)