Jack Carson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Elmer "Jack" Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born, American film actor, with a film career spanning the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Though he was primarily used in supporting roles for comic relief, his work in films such as Mildred Pierce (1945) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) displayed his mastery of "straight" dramatic actor roles as well. He worked for RKO and MGM (cast opposite Myrna Loy and William Powell in Love Crazy), but most of his memorable work was for Warner Bros. His trademark character was the wisecracking know-it-all, typically and inevitably undone by his own smug cockiness. Carson initially landed bit roles at RKO Radio Pictures in films such as Bringing Up Baby (1938), starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. An early standout role for Carson was as a mock-drunk undercover G-Man opposite Richard Cromwell in Universal Pictures's anti-Nazi action drama entitled Enemy Agent. This led to contract-player status with Warner Brothers shortly thereafter. While there, he was teamed with Dennis Morgan in a number of films, supposedly to compete with Paramount's popular Bing Crosby - Bob Hope Road to … pictures. Most of his work at Warner Brothers was limited to light comedy work with Morgan, and later Doris Day (who in her autobiography would credit Carson as one of her early Hollywood mentors). Critics generally agree that Carson's best work was in Mildred Pierce (1945), where he played the perpetually scheming Wally Fay opposite Joan Crawford in the title role. Also in 1945, he played the role of Harold Pierson, the second husband of Louise Randall, played by Rosalind Russell, in Roughly Speaking. Another role which won accolades for him was as publicist Matt Libby in A Star is Born (1954). One of his last film roles was as the older brother "Gooper" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). His TV appearances, extending into the early 1960s, included The Martha Raye Show, The Guy Mitchell Show, and The Polly Bergen Show in 1957; Alcoa Theatre and Bonanza (Season 1, Ep.9: "Mr. Henry Comstock") in 1959; Thriller ("The Big Blackout") in 1960; and The Twilight Zone (Season 2, Ep. 14: "The Whole Truth") in 1961. On February 8, 1960, Carson received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television and radio industry. The television star is located at 1560 Vine Street, the radio star is at 6361 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1983, after his death, Jack Carson was inducted into the Wisconsin Performing Artists Hall of Fame along with his film pal, Dennis Morgan, who was also from Wisconsin.

Known For: Acting

Born: Carman, Manitoba, Canada, 1910-10-27

Died: 1963-01-02

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1937	You Only Live Once	Attendant in First Gas Station	71
2	1937	Too Many Wives	Hodges	67
3	1937	On Again—Off Again	Cop	70
4	1937	Stage Door	Mr. Milbanks	70
5	1937	Music for Madame	Assistant Director	50
6	1937	Stand-In	Tom Potts	63
7	1937	A Rented Riot		0
8	1937	High Flyers	Dave Hanlon	70
9	1937	Harris in the Spring	Taxicab Driver	10
10	1937	Quick Money	Coach Woodford	40
11	1937	She's Got Everything	Ransome (uncredited)	53
12	1938	Crashing Hollywood	Dickson	58
13	1938	Everybody's Doing It	Detective Lieutenant	50
14	1938	Bringing Up Baby	Circus Roustabout (uncredited)	75
15	1938	Night Spot	Shallen	47
16	1938	Maid's Night Out	Rollercoaster Ride Attendant (uncredited)	62
17	1938	Condemned Women	Plainclothes Policeman	63
18	1938	This Marriage Business	"Candid" Perry	48
19	1938	Go Chase Yourself	Warren Miles	45
20	1938	Law of the Underworld	Henchman Johnny	55
21	1938	Vivacious Lady	Waiter Captain	68
22	1938	The Saint in New York	Red Jenks	62
23	1938	Having Wonderful Time	Emil Beatty	49
24	1938	Carefree	Connors	66
25	1938	Mr. Doodle Kicks Off	Rochet	90
26	1939	The Kid From Texas	Stanley Brown	65
27	1939	Fifth Avenue Girl	Minnesota (uncredited)	70
28	1939	The Escape	Chet Warren	55
29	1939	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Sweeney Farrell (uncredited)	79
30	1939	Legion of Lost Flyers	Larry Barrigan	40
31	1939	Destry Rides Again	Jack Tyndall	72
32	1940	City of Chance	Narration - Prologue (voice)	52
33	1940	Parole Fixer	George Mattison	0
34	1940	I Take This Woman	Joe	62
35	1940	Enemy Agent	Ralph	55
36	1940	Shooting High	Gabby Cross	80
37	1940	Alias the Deacon	Sullivan	0
38	1940	Typhoon	Mate	50
39	1940	Girl in 313	Police Lt. Pat O'Farrell	56
40	1940	Queen of the Mob	Agent Ross Waring	45
41	1940	Lucky Partners	Frederick Harper	60
42	1940	Sandy Gets Her Man	Policeman Tom Garrity	40
43	1940	Love Thy Neighbor	Policeman	65
44	1941	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Chuck	62
45	1941	The Strawberry Blonde	Hugo Barnstead	69
46	1941	Love Crazy	Ward Willoughby	71
47	1941	The Bride Came C.O.D.	Allen Brice	71
48	1941	Navy Blues	'Buttons' Johnson	40
49	1941	Breakdowns of 1941	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	70
50	1941	Blues in the Night	Leo Powell	63
51	1942	The Male Animal	Joe Ferguson	41
52	1942	Larceny, Inc.	Jeff Randolph	69
53	1942	Wings for the Eagle	Brad Maple	57
54	1942	Gentleman Jim	Walter Lawrie	72
55	1942	Breakdowns of 1942	Self	60
56	1943	The Hard Way	Albert Runkel	66
57	1943	Thank Your Lucky Stars	Self	61
58	1943	Princess O'Rourke	Dave Campbell	63
59	1943	Food and Magic		50
60	1944	Shine on Harvest Moon	The Great Georgetti	60
61	1944	The Shining Future	Self	40
62	1944	The Road to Victory	Jack Carson (uncredited)	55
63	1944	Make Your Own Bed	Jerry Curtis	58
64	1944	Arsenic and Old Lace	Officer Patrick O'Hara	76
65	1944	The Doughgirls	Arthur Halstead	70
66	1944	Hollywood Canteen	Self	73
67	1944	Breakdowns of 1944	Self	65
68	1945	Roughly Speaking	Harold C. Pierson	68
69	1945	Mildred Pierce	Wally Fay	76
70	1946	One More Tomorrow	Patrick 'Pat' Regan	55
71	1946	Two Guys from Milwaukee	Buzz Williams	48
72	1946	Okay for Sound		50
73	1946	The Time, The Place and The Girl	Jeff Howard	54
74	1947	Love and Learn	Jingles Collins	55
75	1947	So You Want to Be in Pictures	Man Giving Directions (uncredited)	58
76	1947	Always Together	Bill (uncredited)	67
77	1948	April Showers	Joe Tyme	60
78	1948	Romance on the High Seas	Peter Virgil	68
79	1948	Two Guys from Texas	Danny Foster	60
80	1949	John Loves Mary	Fred Taylor	48
81	1949	My Dream Is Yours	Doug Blake	64
82	1949	It's a Great Feeling	Jack Carson	59
83	1950	The Good Humor Man	Biff Jones	60
84	1950	Bright Leaf	Chris Malley	59
85	1951	Mister Universe	Jeff Clayton	50
86	1951	The Groom Wore Spurs	Ben Castle	44
87	1953	Dangerous When Wet	Windy Webbe	60
88	1954	Red Garters	Jason Carberry	50
89	1954	A Star Is Born World Premiere	Self - Host	80
90	1954	A Star Is Born	Matt Libby	71
91	1954	Phffft	Charlie Nelson	62
92	1955	Ain't Misbehavin'	Harold North	50
93	1955	Arroyo	Lamar Kendall	0
94	1956	The Bottom of the Bottle	Hal Breckinridge	55
95	1956	Magnificent Roughnecks	Bix Decker	0
96	1957	The Tattered Dress	Sheriff Nick Hoak	56
97	1957	The Tarnished Angels	Jiggs	67
98	1958	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Gooper	77
99	1958	Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!	Captain Hoxie	52
100	1960	The Bramble Bush	Bert Mosley	55
101	1961	King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein	Timothy W. 'Big Tim' O'Brien	60
102	1961	Who Killed Julie Greer?	Fairchild	0
103	1962	The Children of Alda Nuova	Frankie Fane	70
104	1962	Sammy, the Way-Out Seal	Harold Sylvester	63
105	1983	Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	65
106	1984	Going Hollywood: The '30s	(archive footage)	100
107	1988	James Stewart: A Wonderful Life	Self (archive footage)	60

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Studio One	Harry Breen	50
2	1950	What's My Line?	Self	69
3	1950	Your Show of Shows		63
4	1950	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Self - Host	68
5	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Garrison	63
6	1950	Lux Video Theatre	John Mulligan	63
7	1950	Four Star Revue	Host	67
8	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Danny Scott	73
9	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Harry Mauldron	73
10	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Sid Devlin	73
11	1952	This Is Your Life	Self	64
12	1952	The Ford Television Theatre	Dan Doyle	73
13	1953	General Electric Theater	Joe Bushwick	63
14	1953	General Electric Theater		63
15	1954	The George Gobel Show	Self	73
16	1954	Climax!	Art Shaddick	33
17	1954	Climax!	Eugene Skinner	33
18	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Harold Sylvester	78
19	1955	The Bob Cummings Show	Jack Carson	61
20	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Frankie Fane	77
21	1955	Screen Director's Playhouse	Lamar Kendall	65
22	1956	The Steve Allen Show	Self - Comedian - Various Quiz Show Hosts	56
23	1956	The Dinah Shore Chevy Show	Self	60
24	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Sundown Smith	55
25	1957	The Polly Bergen Show	Self	0
26	1957	Alcoa Theatre	Bert Kennedy	65
27	1957	Alcoa Theatre	Augie Adams	65
28	1957	Alcoa Theatre		65
29	1959	Bonanza	Henry T.P. Comstock	75
30	1959	The Twilight Zone	Harvey Hunnicut	85
31	1960	Thriller	Burt Lewis	64
32	1961	Bus Stop		0
33	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self	54

Jack Carson

Film

Television