J.P. McGowan

From Wikipedia John Paterson McGowan (February 24, 1880 – March 26, 1952) was a pioneering Hollywood actor and director and occasionally a screenwriter and producer. J. P. McGowan, as he was usually known, remains the only Australian to have been made a life member of the Screen Directors Guild (now Directors Guild of America). Born in the then-bustling railway centre of Terowie in South Australia, McGowan grew up in Adelaide (Islington) and Sydney. He was a capable horseman and served in the Second Boer War with Montmorency's Scouts as a special dispatch rider. McGowan directed and often acted in the first 33 episodes of Kalem's 1914 adventure film series, The Hazards of Helen, which eventually ran to 54 episodes, some still with McGowan's participation. While filming he began a relationship with Helen Holmes, the film's star, and the two married. They left Kalem to set up their own production company, Signal Films, which successfully made a series of railroad melodramas but lost out when their distributor (Mutual) failed. The collaboration ended when they divorced in 1925. There was an adopted daughter, Kaye. McGowan successfully made the transition from silent film to talkies. While never a major star, in a busy career that spanned four decades he is credited with acting in 232 films—mostly strong roles like sheriff or villain—writing 26 screenplays and directing 242 productions. In 1932 he directed a young John Wayne in the 12-episode rail vs airplane serial The Hurricane Express for the independent Mascot Pictures. From 1938 to 1951, as Executive Secretary of the Screen Directors Guild, he fought to secure recognition for the director within the studio systems of the film and emerging television industry. J.P. McGowan died in 1952 in Hollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Known For: Acting

Born: Terowie, Australia, 1880-02-23

Died: 1952-03-26

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1910	The Lad from Old Ireland	Election Agent	51
2	1910	When Lovers Part		40
3	1911	A Sawmill Hero		0
4	1911	By a Woman's Wit		65
5	1911	Slim Jim's Last Chance	The Rancher	40
6	1911	The Fiddler’s Requiem	Dolores' father	0
7	1911	When the Dead Return	Jacques	0
8	1911	Railroad Raiders of '62	Federal Officer	50
9	1911	The Special Messenger	Royal	0
10	1911	Rory O'More	Commander of the English troops	42
11	1911	The Colleen Bawn	Hardress Cregan	65
12	1911	The Fishermaid of Ballydavid	Policeman	0
13	1912	His Mother	John Foster	40
14	1912	Vagabonds	Big Jim	0
15	1912	Far from Erin's Isle		0
16	1912	Dust of the Desert	Sheik Mohammad	0
17	1912	An Arabian Tragedy		0
18	1912	Captured by Bedouins	Lt. Greig	0
19	1912	Tragedy of the Desert	The Arab Sheik	0
20	1912	Winning a Widow		0
21	1912	The Poacher's Pardon	Mr. Wallace - the Gamekeeper	0
22	1912	From the Manger to the Cross	Wise Man 1	51
23	1912	The Little Gluers	Valentine Hay	0
24	1912	The Mayor from Ireland	Shamus Foley	0
25	1912	Ireland, the Oppressed	Lord Kilhannack	0
26	1912	The Shaughraun	Corry Kinchela	0
27	1913	The Wives of Jamestown	The O’Rourke	0
28	1914	Kaintucky Bill	Kaintucky Bill - a Moonshiner	0
29	1914	Helen's Sacrifice	Benton	0
30	1914	His Nemesis	Mammoth - Manning's Business Rival	0
31	1914	The Flying Freight's Captive	Rand - a Yeggman	0
32	1914	The Black Diamond Express	Dan Haddon - a Cowboy	0
33	1914	The Escape on the Limited	Brandt - a Defaulting Cashier	0
34	1915	The Girl Telegrapher's Peril	Blake - a Lineman	0
35	1915	The Girl and the Game	Spike	0
36	1915	The Leap from the Water Tower	Rand - the Fireman	0
37	1915	The Railroad Raiders of '62	Lockwood - the old one-armed Flagman	0
38	1915	The Broken Train	Warren - Railroad Employee	0
39	1915	A Railroader's Bravery	Thomas - the Chief of the Gang	0
40	1915	The Broken Rail	Trow - of the Working Crew	0
41	1915	The Mettle of Jerry McGuire	Jerry McGuire	0
42	1915	A Desperate Leap		0
43	1916	Whispering Smith	Whispering Smith	0
44	1916	Medicine Bend	Whispering Smith	0
45	1917	The Hazards of Helen	Various roles	0
46	1917	The Railroad Raiders	Thomas Desmond	0
47	1920	King of the Circus		0
48	1920	Elmo the Fearless		0
49	1921	Do or Die	Capt. Alvarez / Satan	0
50	1922	Hills of Missing Men	Capt. Brandt / The Dragon	0
51	1923	Stormy Seas	Capt. Morgan	0
52	1924	Baffled	Jack Norton	0
53	1924	The Whipping Boss	Livingston	0
54	1924	A Two Fisted Tenderfoot	Stephen Lawlor	0
55	1924	Crossed Trails	'Pepper' Baldwin	0
56	1925	Outwitted	Tiger McGuire	0
57	1925	Barriers of the Law	Steve Redding	0
58	1925	The Fast Freight		0
59	1925	The Lost Express	Train Engineer	0
60	1926	Senor Daredevil	Jesse Wilks	0
61	1926	Crack O' Dawn	Earle Thorpe Sr.	50
62	1926	Perils of the Rail	Barker's Accomplice at Smelter Junction	60
63	1927	Red Signals	Jim Twyler	0
64	1927	The Royal American	Capt. Burke	0
65	1927	Arizona Nights	Jeff Decker	0
66	1927	The Red Raiders	Captain Ortwell	80
67	1927	Gun Gospel	Bill Brogan	0
68	1928	Dugan of the Dugouts	Capt. von Brinken	0
69	1928	The Code of the Scarlet	Blake	0
70	1928	Arizona Days	Ed Hicks	10
71	1928	The Chinatown Mystery		0
72	1928	The Black Ace		0
73	1928	Two Outlaws	Abner Whitcomb	0
74	1928	Ships of the Night	Motilla	0
75	1929	'Neath Western Skies	Dugan	0
76	1929	Below the Deadline	Taggart	10
77	1929	Headin' Westward	Sneezer Clark	0
78	1929	The Lawless Legion	Matson	0
79	1929	Plunging Hoofs	Jim Wales	0
80	1929	The Last Roundup	Hash	0
81	1929	The Fighting Terror		0
82	1929	Law of the Plains	Seagrue	0
83	1929	The Invaders		0
84	1929	The Cowboy and the Outlaw	Pepper Hardcastle	0
85	1929	The Oklahoma Kid		0
86	1929	Señor Americano	Maddox	0
87	1929	A Texas Cowboy	Brute Kettle	0
88	1930	O'Malley Rides Alone	Angus McGregor	0
89	1930	Breezy Bill	Sheriff	0
90	1930	Covered Wagon Trails		0
91	1930	The Canyon of Missing Men	Slug Sagel	0
92	1931	Quick Trigger Lee	Brings note / Director	0
93	1932	Lawless Valley	Big Mike Carter, aka El Lobo, aka Texas Rand	22
94	1932	Flaming Gold	Mack	55
95	1933	Somewhere in Sonora	Monte Black	50
96	1934	No More Women	Captain of The Hawk	45
97	1934	The Red Rider	Scotty McKee	40
98	1934	When Lightning Strikes	Lafe Broderick	50
99	1935	Rustlers of Red Dog	Capt. Trent [Chs. 3-4]	80
100	1935	The Outlaw Tamer	Sheriff Jim Porter	0
101	1935	Mississippi	Dealer (uncredited)	67
102	1935	The Call of the Savage	Freighter Captain	50
103	1935	Les Misérables	Javert's Plainclothesman	72
104	1935	Whispering Smith Speaks	Caboose Passenger (uncredited)	0
105	1935	Murder in the Fleet	Chief of Police (Uncredited)	50
106	1935	Border Brigands	Inspector Winston - RCMP	0
107	1935	Diamond Jim	Engineer	60
108	1935	The Silent Code	Commissioner	40
109	1935	East of Java	Sergeant, Rescue Party	60
110	1935	Bar 20 Rides Again	Buck Peters	60
111	1936	Silver Spurs	Webb Allison	0
112	1936	The Prisoner of Shark Island	Ship's Captain	68
113	1936	Robin Hood of El Dorado	Danglong	40
114	1936	Secret Patrol	Blacksmith Barstow	0
115	1936	Guns and Guitars	Dave Morgan	42
116	1936	Ride 'Em Cowboy	Jim Howard	0
117	1936	Fury and the Woman	Anderson	0
118	1936	The Three Mesquiteers	Brack Canfield	50
119	1936	The Accusing Finger	Inner Guard	47
120	1936	Stampede	Matt Stevens	0
121	1936	Sinner Take All	Police Officer Murphy (uncredited)	48
122	1937	Jungle Jim	Ship Captain J.S. Robinson	48
123	1937	Borderland	El Rio Sheriff	0
124	1937	Hit the Saddle	Rance McGowan	53
125	1937	Slave Ship	Helmsman	48
126	1937	She Had to Eat	Police Sergeant (uncredited)	50
127	1937	Empty Holsters	U.S. Marshal Billy O'Neill	0
128	1937	Rough Riding Rhythm	Pete Hobart	0
129	1937	Heart of the Rockies	Ed Dawson	60
130	1937	Prairie Thunder	Col. Stanton	35
131	1938	The Buccaneer	Jailer	64
132	1938	Kidnapped	Clansman	47
133	1938	Hunted Men	Cop	60
134	1938	The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok	Scudder	0
135	1939	Code of the Fearless	Undetermined Minor Role	30
136	1939	Stagecoach	Bit Part (uncredited)	76
137	1951	The Lady and the Bandit	Old Man	60
138	1956	Savage Fury	Ship's Captain	0

J.P. McGowan

Film

Television