James Gleason

James Gleason was born in New York City to William Gleason and Mina Crolius, who were both in the theatre. He was married to Lucile Gleason (born Lucile Webster), and had a son, Russell Gleason. As a young man James fought in the Spanish-American War. After the war he joined the stock company at the Liberty Theater in Oakland, California, which his parents were running. James and his wife then moved to Portland, Oregon, where they played in stock at the Baker Theater. For several years afterward they toured in road shows until James enlisted in the army during World War I. When he returned he appeared on the stage in "The Five Million." He then turned to writing, including "Is Zat So", which he produced for the NY stage. He also wrote and acted in "The Fall Guy" and "The Shannons on Broadway." Next he wrote The Broadway Melody (1929) for MGM. He collaborated, in 1930, on The Swellhead (1930), Dumbbells in Ermine (1930), What a Widow! (1930), Rain or Shine (1930) and His First Command (1929). He and his wife were then contracted to Pathe, Lucille to act, and James (or Jimmie as he was known) as a writer. Probably his most famous acting role was as Max Corkle, the manager of Joe Pendleton who was wrongly plucked from this life into the next, in the hit fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).

Known For: Acting

Born: New York City, New York, USA, 1882-05-22

Died: 1959-04-12

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1922	Polly of the Follies	Paul Gordon	0
2	1929	The Broadway Melody	Music Publisher (uncredited)	52
3	1929	Meet the Missus	Bert La Motte	0
4	1929	Oh, Yeah!	Dusty	43
5	1929	Fairways and Foul	Husband	0
6	1930	Don't Believe It	Jimmy	0
7	1930	Puttin' on the Ritz	James 'Jimmy' Tierney	52
8	1930	Swellhead	Johnny Trump	0
9	1930	Dumb-bells in Ermine	Mike	40
10	1930	The Matrimonial Bed	Gustave Corton	57
11	1930	Her Man	Steve	53
12	1930	Big Money	Tom	0
13	1931	Beyond Victory	Jim Mobley	0
14	1931	It's a Wise Child	Cool Kelly	0
15	1931	A Free Soul	Eddie	61
16	1931	Sweepstakes	Sleepy Jones	45
17	1931	The Big Gamble	Fred 'Squint' Dugan	60
18	1931	Suicide Fleet	Skeets	43
19	1932	Rule 'Em and Weep	Spike Mc Gorey	0
20	1932	Fast Companions	Silk Henley	60
21	1932	Lady and Gent	Pin Streaver	58
22	1932	High Hats and Low Brows	Danny Ruff	0
23	1932	Blondie of the Follies	Pa McClune	60
24	1932	Off His Base	Picture in Opening Credits	0
25	1932	The Crooked Circle	Arthur Crimmer	48
26	1932	The All-American	Chick Knipe	50
27	1932	Yoo-Hoo	Jimmy Gleason	0
28	1932	Penguin Pool Murder	Police Inspector Oscar Piper	56
29	1932	The Devil Is Driving	'Beef' Evans	53
30	1933	The Billion Dollar Scandal	"Ratsy" Harris	0
31	1933	Clear All Wires!	Lefty Williams	65
32	1933	Orders Is Orders	Ed Waggermeyer	0
33	1933	Hoopla	Jerry	60
34	1934	The Meanest Gal in Town	Duke Slater	65
35	1934	Search for Beauty	Dan Healy	59
36	1934	Change of Heart	Hot Dog Vendor	63
37	1934	Murder on the Blackboard	Inspector Oscar Piper	57
38	1935	Helldorado	Sam Barnes	0
39	1935	Murder on a Honeymoon	Inspector Oscar Piper	62
40	1935	West Point of the Air	Joe 'Bags'	60
41	1935	Hollywood Hobbies	Himself	60
42	1935	Hot Tip	Jimmy McGill	50
43	1935	We're Only Human	Detective Danny Walsh	65
44	1936	Murder on a Bridle Path	Police Insp. Oscar Piper	50
45	1936	The Ex-Mrs. Bradford	Inspector Corrigan	61
46	1936	Yours for the Asking	Saratoga	10
47	1936	Don't Turn 'em Loose	Detective Daniels	48
48	1936	The Big Game	George Scott	58
49	1936	The Plot Thickens	Oscar Piper	62
50	1937	Cinema Circus	Himself	0
51	1937	Forty Naughty Girls	Inspector Oscar Piper	52
52	1937	Manhattan Merry-Go-Round	Danny The Duck	58
53	1938	The Higgins Family	Joe Higgins	0
54	1938	Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 12	James Gleason	60
55	1938	Army Girl	Hennessy	60
56	1939	My Wife's Relatives	Joe Higgins	0
57	1939	Should Husbands Work?	Joe Higgins	20
58	1939	On Your Toes	Phil Dolan Sr.	39
59	1939	The Covered Trailer	Joe Higgins	0
60	1939	Money To Burn	Joe Higgins	0
61	1940	Grandpa Goes To Town	Joe Higgins	0
62	1940	Earl of Puddlestone	Joe Higgins	0
63	1941	Meet John Doe	Henry Connell	73
64	1941	Affectionately Yours	'Chet' Phillips	48
65	1941	Here Comes Mr. Jordan	Max Corkle	69
66	1941	Tanks a Million	Col. 'Spitfire' Barkley	50
67	1941	Nine Lives Are Not Enough	Sergeant Daniels	50
68	1941	Breakdowns of 1941	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	70
69	1941	Babes on Broadway	Thornton Reed	64
70	1942	Hay Foot	Colonel J. A. Barkley	55
71	1942	A Date with the Falcon	Inspector Michael 'Mike' O'Hara	65
72	1942	My Gal Sal	Pat Hawley	58
73	1942	The Falcon Takes Over	Inspector Mike O'Hara	60
74	1942	Footlight Serenade	Bruce McKay	0
75	1942	Tales of Manhattan	Joe - Mission Aid Society	62
76	1942	Manila Calling	Tim O'Rourke	70
77	1943	Crash Dive	Chief Mike 'Mac' McDonnell	62
78	1943	A Guy Named Joe	“Nails” Kilpatrick	65
79	1944	Once Upon a Time	Moke McGillicuddy	58
80	1944	Arsenic and Old Lace	Lt. Rooney	76
81	1944	The Keys of the Kingdom	Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fiske	70
82	1945	This Man's Navy	Jimmy Shannon	64
83	1945	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	McGarrity	76
84	1945	The Clock	Al Henry	72
85	1945	Captain Eddie	Tom Clark	60
86	1946	The Hoodlum Saint	Snarp	52
87	1946	The Well Groomed Bride	Captain Hornby	40
88	1946	Home Sweet Homicide	Sgt. O'Hare	47
89	1946	Lady Luck	Sacramento Sam	54
90	1947	The Homestretch	Doc Kilborne	0
91	1947	Down to Earth	Max Corkle	60
92	1947	The Bishop's Wife	Sylvester	70
93	1947	Tycoon	Pop Mathews	54
94	1948	Smart Woman	Sam Corkle	55
95	1948	The Dude Goes West	Sam Briggs	58
96	1948	The Return of October	Uncle Willie Ramsey	64
97	1948	When My Baby Smiles at Me	Lefty Moore	48
98	1949	Bad Boy	Chief	73
99	1949	The Life of Riley	Gillis	70
100	1949	Take One False Step	Captain Gledhill	55
101	1949	Miss Grant Takes Richmond	Timothy Gleason	54
102	1950	Key to the City	Sergeant Hogan	61
103	1950	The Yellow Cab Man	Mickey Corkins	63
104	1950	Riding High	Racing Secretary	58
105	1950	The Jackpot	Harry Summers	69
106	1950	Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle	Knobby Walsh	0
107	1951	Two Gals and a Guy	Max Howard	0
108	1951	Joe Palooka in Triple Cross	Knobby Walsh	0
109	1951	Come Fill the Cup	Charley Dolan	70
110	1951	I'll See You in My Dreams	Fred Townsend	47
111	1952	We're Not Married!	Duffy	59
112	1952	The Story of Will Rogers	Bert Lynn	60
113	1952	What Price Glory	General Cokely	55
114	1953	Forever Female	Eddie Woods	67
115	1954	Hollywood Thrill-Makers	Risky Russell	0
116	1954	Suddenly	Peter 'Pop' Benson	64
117	1955	The Night of the Hunter	Uncle Birdie Steptoe	79
118	1955	The Girl Rush	Ether Ferguson	37
119	1956	Star in the Dust	Orval Jones	45
120	1957	Spring Reunion	Collie	58
121	1957	Loving You	Carl Meade	61
122	1957	Man in the Shadow	Hank James	68
123	1958	The Female Animal	Tom Maloney	56
124	1958	No Time at All	Dolph Grimes	0
125	1958	Man or Gun	Sheriff Jim Jackson	25
126	1958	Rock-a-Bye Baby	Doc Simpkins	68
127	1958	Once Upon a Horse...	Postmaster	85
128	1958	Money, Women and Guns	Henry Devers	53
129	1958	The Last Hurrah	Cuke Gillen	71
130	2002	Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter'	Self (archive footage)	57

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1950	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Self	70
2	1951	Racket Squad		60
3	1952	This Is Your Life	Self	66
4	1952	Cavalcade of America	Noah Larkin	35
5	1954	Climax!	Reverend Mr. McCarkle	30
6	1955	The Millionaire	Charles Hartford Simpson	50
7	1955	Cheyenne		58
8	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Mr. Jorgy	77
9	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Howard Fieldstone	77
10	1955	Screen Director's Playhouse	Ed Shafer	65
11	1957	Leave It to Beaver	Pete	70