Harry Shannon

Born and raised on a farm in Michigan in 1890, Irish-American character actor Harry Shannon had the credentials for becoming a staple player in westerns. He started off his career traveling around with repertory and stock companies and developed his musical abilities in tent shows, burlesque houses and such tuneful Broadway shows as "Oh, Kay!" (1926), "Hold Everything" (1928), "Simple Simon" (1931), and "Pardon My English" (1933). A company member of Joseph Schildkraut's Hollywood Theater Guild, Shannon broke into films at the advent of sound and started things off in comedy film shorts opposite such celebrated players as Bert Lahr, Shemp Howard, and Leon Errol. In the 1940s Shannon established himself in feature-length movies and although he remained a minor, second-string player, he proved himself a durable presence in westerns usually remaining on the good side of the law as sheriffs and bucolic dads. In lighthearted entertainment he could be found as a friendly Irish cop or bartender. He made a slight but memorable impression as Kane's alcoholic father in the classic Citizen Kane (1941), while his last role would be as the grandfather in the musical Gypsy (1962). In between were small parts in such notable films as The Fighting Sullivans (1944), The Jolson Story (1946), High Noon (1952), Touch of Evil (1958), and The Buccaneer (1958). 1950s TV westerns such as Cheyenne (1955), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Rawhide (1959), and Gunsmoke (1955) made consistent use of his rustic demeanor. Shannon died in 1964 at age 74.

Known For: Acting

Born: Saginaw, Michigan, USA, 1890-06-12

Died: 1964-07-27

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1929	Sympathy	Larry	10
2	1929	Faint Heart	Dynamite Dan	0
3	1930	Heads Up	Capt. Denny	0
4	1932	The Campus Mystery	Police Sergeant	0
5	1933	Wrongorilla	Grogan	0
6	1933	20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang		70
7	1933	Close Relations	Harry Wart	0
8	1933	Take a Chance	Bartender	40
9	1934	No More West	Bank Robber	0
10	1934	Smoked Hams	The Landlord	0
11	1934	A Peach of a Pair		70
12	1936	Shake, Mr. Shakespeare	Macbeth	50
13	1937	Alibi Mark	Railroad Detective	0
14	1939	The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair	Father	65
15	1940	City of Chance	Passline	52
16	1940	Parole Fixer	Randall	0
17	1940	Young Tom Edison	Army Captain Brackett	56
18	1940	Tear Gas Squad	Lieutenant Sullivan	48
19	1940	Gambling on the High Seas	Ed, Chief of Police	47
20	1940	Sailor's Lady	Father McGann	40
21	1940	One Crowded Night	McDermott	40
22	1940	The Girl from Avenue A	Timson	0
23	1940	Too Many Girls	Mr. Casey	57
24	1940	Tugboat Annie Sails Again	Capt. Mahoney	55
25	1941	The Saint In Palm Springs	Chief R.L. Graves	57
26	1941	Citizen Kane	Jim Kane	80
27	1941	Hold Back the Dawn	American Immigration Official (uncredited)	67
28	1942	The Lady Is Willing	Barnes	66
29	1942	The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine	Pinky Dolan	60
30	1942	This Gun for Hire	Steve Finnerty	69
31	1942	The Mad Martindales	Policeman	50
32	1942	The Falcon Takes Over	Detective Grimes (Uncredited)	60
33	1942	In Old California	Mr. Carlin	51
34	1942	The Big Street	Florida Doctor (Uncredited)	58
35	1942	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch	Mr. Tim Wiggs	0
36	1942	Once Upon a Honeymoon	Ed Cumberland	62
37	1943	The Powers Girl	Mr. Hendricks	65
38	1943	Idaho	Judge John Grey	57
39	1943	Song of Texas	Sam Bennett	50
40	1943	Alaska Highway	John 'Pop' Ormsby	50
41	1943	Someone to Remember	Tom Gibbons	70
42	1943	Headin' for God's Country	Albert Ness	0
43	1943	In Old Oklahoma	Charlie Witherspoon	62
44	1943	True to Life	Mr. Mason	60
45	1944	The Yellow Rose of Texas	Sam Weston	50
46	1944	The Mummy's Ghost	Sheriff Elwood	57
47	1944	When the Lights Go On Again	Tom Cary	55
48	1945	Crime, Inc.	Police Commissioner Collins	42
49	1945	Captain Eddie	Simmons	60
50	1945	Pride of the Marines	Uncle Ralph	65
51	1946	I Ring Doorbells	Shannon	0
52	1946	Night Editor	Capt. Lawrence	56
53	1946	Canyon Passage	Henry McLane (uncredited)	66
54	1946	The Last Crooked Mile	Police Lieutenant Blake	51
55	1946	Crack-Up	Cop (Uncredited)	56
56	1946	San Quentin	Warden Kelly	63
57	1947	The Red House	Dr. Jonathan Byrne	62
58	1947	The Devil Thumbs a Ride	Detective Owens, San Diego Police	65
59	1947	Nora Prentiss	Police Lieutenant	61
60	1947	The Farmer's Daughter	Mr. Holstrom	69
61	1947	Time Out of Mind	Capt. Rogers	53
62	1947	Exposed	Severance	58
63	1947	The Invisible Wall	Det. Capt. R.W. Davis	54
64	1947	Dangerous Years	Judge Raymond	64
65	1947	The Lady from Shanghai	Cab Driver	74
66	1948	My Girl Tisa		0
67	1948	Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House	Tesander	70
68	1948	Fighting Father Dunne	Thomas Lee	60
69	1948	Big Town Scandal	Police Captain Henry (uncredited)	50
70	1948	Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'	Chauncey	65
71	1949	Rustlers	Sheriff Harmon	53
72	1949	Champion	Lew	66
73	1949	Tulsa	Nelse Lansing	61
74	1949	Mr. Soft Touch	Police Sergeant Garrett	68
75	1949	Mary Ryan, Detective	Sawyer	55
76	1950	Singing Guns	Judge Waller	58
77	1950	Tarnished	Kelsey Bunker	58
78	1950	The Jackie Robinson Story	Charlie	64
79	1950	Cow Town	Sandy Reeves	40
80	1950	Curtain Call at Cactus Creek	Clay	63
81	1950	The Gunfighter	Chuck (uncredited)	73
82	1950	Three Little Words	Clanahan	59
83	1950	The Underworld Story	George Parker	61
84	1950	The Killer That Stalked New York	Police Officer Houlihan	61
85	1950	Where Danger Lives	Dr. Maynard	64
86	1950	The Sound of Fury	Mr. Yaeger	65
87	1950	The Flying Missile	Vice Admiral Williams	49
88	1950	Hunt the Man Down	Wallace Bennett	62
89	1951	Al Jennings of Oklahoma	Fred Salter	50
90	1951	Blue Blood	Mr. Buchanan	0
91	1951	The Lemon Drop Kid	John (Policeman)	65
92	1951	The Scarf	Asylum Warden Anderson	57
93	1952	High Noon	Cooper	77
94	1952	Flesh and Fury	Mike Callan	61
95	1952	Lure of the Wilderness	Pat McGowan	60
96	1953	Kansas Pacific	Smokestack the Train Engineer	48
97	1953	Cry of the Hunted	Sheriff Brown	58
98	1953	Roar of the Crowd	Sam 'Pop' Tracy	0
99	1953	Jack Slade	Tom Carter	64
100	1954	Phantom Stallion	Michael Reilly	0
101	1954	Rails Into Laramie	Judge Pierce	63
102	1954	Witness to Murder	Captain Donnelly	62
103	1954	Executive Suite	Ed Benedeck	70
104	1955	The Violent Men	Purdue	65
105	1955	The Tall Men	Sam	63
106	1955	The Marauders	John Rutherford	53
107	1955	At Gunpoint	Marshal Pete MacKay	63
108	1956	Come Next Spring	Mr. Totter	60
109	1956	Written on the Wind	Hoak Wayne	70
110	1956	The Peacemaker	Drunken Cowpuncher	37
111	1957	Duel at Apache Wells	Wayne Shattuck	40
112	1957	Hell's Crossroads	Clay Ford	54
113	1957	The Lonely Man	Dr. Fisher	61
114	1958	Touch of Evil	Chief Gould	78
115	1958	Man or Gun	Justin Corley	25
116	1958	The Buccaneer	Tom Carruthers - Captain of the Corinthian	64
117	1959	Yellowstone Kelly	Captain of the Far West (uncredited)	60
118	1961	Wild in the Country	Sam Tyler (uncredited)	63
119	1961	Summer and Smoke	Dr. Burke (uncredited)	67
120	1962	Gypsy	Grandpa	64
121	1984	The World of Tomorrow	Pop Middleton (archive footage)	10

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1951	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Big Jim Heywood	73
2	1952	Cavalcade of America		35
3	1952	Cavalcade of America	Samuel Morse	35
4	1953	Letter to Loretta	Tom	65
5	1953	The Man Behind the Badge		55
6	1954	Lassie		61
7	1955	The Millionaire	Judge William Jennings Westholme	50
8	1955	Gunsmoke	Bowers	66
9	1955	Cheyenne		58
10	1955	Navy Log		45
11	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Dr. Harner	77
12	1956	State Trooper		50
13	1956	Wire Service	Harris Ellerby	0
14	1957	Have Gun, Will Travel	Jesse	74
15	1957	Sugarfoot	Henry Shipman	48
16	1957	The Thin Man		76
17	1957	The Real McCoys		56
18	1957	26 Men		42
19	1958	The Texan		55
20	1958	Bat Masterson	Jobe Crail	61
21	1959	Rawhide	Claggert	72
22	1959	Rawhide	Kilo	72
23	1959	Rawhide	Sheriff Blanton	72
24	1959	Lock-Up		62
25	1960	Angel		28
26	1962	The Virginian	Uncle Josh	65
27	1963	The Dakotas		57

Harry Shannon

Film

Television