James Westerfield

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    James A. Westerfield

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James A. Westerfield (22 March 1913 – 20 September 1971) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife Dora Elizabeth Bailey, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. (A news story in the June 12, 1949, issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle calls the information in the preceding sentence into question. It describes Westerfield as "the son of a famous producer-director" and says that he was "a youngster in Denver, Col.") He became interested in theatre as a young man and in the 1930s joined Gilmor Brown's famed Pasadena Community Playhouse, appearing in dozens of plays. He played in numerous films following his debut in 1940, then went to New York City and appeared on Broadway, winning two New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for his supporting roles in The Madwoman of Chaillot and Detective Story. He then returned to Hollywood and made more than 40 more films. Westerfield maintained an interest in the theatre. He directed more than 50 musicals in a summer-musical tent he owned in Danbury, Connecticut, and was the original stage director and producer for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. He directed three seasons of "Theatre Under the Stars" in Vancouver, British Columbia, and appeared in musical roles with the Detroit Civic Light Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and the San Francisco Civic Light Opera. On film, Westerfield had roles in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), On The Waterfront (1954), Lucy Gallant (1955), the 1957 Budd Boetticher-directed Western Decision at Sundown starring Randolph Scott, Cowboy (1958), a repeating role in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Man's Favorite Sport (1964), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969). Westerfield had many roles on television, including seven episodes as John Murrel from 1963 to 1964 on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Sheriff Bert Elmore in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Angry Mourner." He also appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1954 entitled "Texas Draw." Westerfield's other appearances were on such series as The Rifleman, The Californians, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Alaskans, The Rebel, Straightaway, Going My Way, The Asphalt Jungle, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show, Daniel Boone, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gunsmoke. He played the circus leader, Dr. Marvello, in an episode of Lost in Space "Space Circus" (1966). Westerfield as a young man was a roommate of fellow Pasadena Playhouse actor George Reeves. The two remained close friends until Reeves's death in 1959. Westerfield was married to Alice G. Fay (an actress under the name Fay Tracey), who, along with his mother, survived him. Westerfield died from a heart attack in Woodlands Hills, California, at the age of fifty-eight.

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  • wc Gender: Male
  • calendar_month Birth Date: 1913-03-22
  • event Death Date 1971-09-20
  • school Known for: Acting
  • star Popularity: 6
  • info Birth Place Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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smart_display Movies and TV shows by James Westerfield

7.5

Birdman of Alcatraz

1962-07-04

7.9

On the Waterfront

1954-06-22

6.8

Hang 'em High

1968-04-12

6.2

Man with the Gun

1955-11-05

6.2

The Chase

1946-11-16

6.5

Homicidal

1961-07-26

0

The Bachelor Party

1953-10-11

5.3

The Human Jungle

1954-10-03

5.8

Undercurrent

1946-11-11

7.1

The Sons of Katie Elder

1965-06-23

6.1

Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town

1950-04-01

6.3

Decision at Sundown

1957-11-10

7.4

True Grit

1969-06-11

6.9

Man's Favorite Sport?

1964-01-31

5.1

Away All Boats

1956-08-16

6.5

Scalplock

1966-04-10

5.8

Highway West

1941-08-07

5.1

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

1966-10-12

4.5

A Man Called Gannon

1968-03-08

7.3

Wild River

1960-05-26

0

The Further Adventures of Gallegher

1965-10-03

5.8

The Cobweb

1955-06-07

5.6

The Gunfight at Dodge City

1959-05-01

5.9

The Proud Rebel

1958-07-01

3.2

Dead Aim

1971-01-01

0

Now You See It, Now You Don't

1968-11-11

5.8

The Plunderers

1960-11-05

7.4

The Pride of the Yankees

1942-07-14

4.3

Jungle Heat

1957-07-22

6.3

The Scarlet Coat

1955-07-29

4.8

Three Brave Men

1956-12-01

6.4

The Violent Men

1955-01-26

6.6

Side Street

1950-03-23

5.2

Blue

1968-05-09

0

The Helen Morgan Story

1957-05-16

0

Set This Town on Fire

1973-01-08

6.1

The Shaggy Dog

1959-03-19

0

Old Man

1958-11-20

6.4

Cowboy

1958-01-23

7.4

The Magnificent Ambersons

1942-07-10

6.1

The Hangman

1959-06-17

6.4

The Absent-Minded Professor

1961-03-16

6.3

The Howards of Virginia

1940-09-19

5.9

Son of Flubber

1963-01-16

4.9

Three Hours to Kill

1954-11-04

5.9

That Funny Feeling

1965-08-14

0

Bartleby

1969-10-10

5.6

Smith!

1969-03-21

6

The Love God?

1969-08-01

5

About Face

1942-04-16

6.2

The Whistle at Eaton Falls

1951-08-02

5.6

Chief Crazy Horse

1955-04-01

5

Around the World

1943-11-27

4

The Boy Who Stole the Elephant

1970-09-20

7

Lucy Gallant

1955-10-20

5.7

Bikini Beach

1964-07-22

7.6

The Time Tunnel

1966-09-09

7.6

The Andy Griffith Show

1960-10-03

0

The Great Adventure

1963-09-27

6.4

Trackdown

1957-10-04

7.3

Green Acres

1965-09-15

6.5

My Three Sons

1960-09-29

6.9

The Beverly Hillbillies

1962-09-26

5.3

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

1963-09-29

6.7

Mannix

1967-09-16

7.1

Lost in Space

1965-09-15

6.5

Gunsmoke

1955-09-10

7.6

Perry Mason

1957-09-21

4.4

Studio One

1948-11-07

7.9

Bewitched

1964-09-17

5.5

General Electric Theater

1953-02-01

6.2

Lassie

1954-09-12

8.5

The Twilight Zone

1959-10-02

6.4

The Tall Man

1960-09-10

7.7

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955-10-02

0

Straightaway

1961-10-06

5

Going My Way

1962-10-03

4.3

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

1958-10-06

7

Rawhide

1959-01-09

6.9

Daniel Boone

1964-09-24

5.3

The Outcasts

1968-09-23

6.2

Thriller

1960-09-13

6.2

Richard Diamond, Private Detective

1957-07-01

6

The Big Valley

1965-09-15

4.2

The 20th Century Fox Hour

1955-10-05

7.5

Judd for the Defense

1967-09-08

5

Profiles in Courage

1964-11-08

3.7

The Adventures of Jim Bowie

1956-09-07

5.6

The Philco Television Playhouse

1948-10-03

5.5

The Alaskans

1959-10-04

6.9

Wanted: Dead or Alive

1958-09-06

5.3

The Rebel

1959-10-04

7

The Rifleman

1958-09-30

5.7

The Dakotas

1963-01-07

6.3

Bat Masterson

1958-10-08

6

Law of the Plainsman

1959-10-01

5.5

The Texan

1958-09-29

5.5

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956-10-05

0

Inner Sanctum

1954-01-09

5.7

Johnny Ringo

1959-10-02

5.5

Tightrope

1959-09-08

5

The Walter Winchell File

1957-10-02

5

State Trooper

1956-09-25

5

The Asphalt Jungle

1961-04-02

6.8

Maverick

1957-09-22

7

Rawhide

1959-01-09

6.5

Gunsmoke

1955-09-10

6.5

Gunsmoke

1955-09-10

6.5

Gunsmoke

1955-09-10

5.5

General Electric Theater

1953-02-01

7.1

The Lucy Show

1962-10-01

5.7

Mayberry R.F.D.

1968-09-23

6.9

Daniel Boone

1964-09-24

7.6

Perry Mason

1957-09-21

7.7

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955-10-02

4.4

Studio One

1948-11-07

5.6

The Philco Television Playhouse

1948-10-03

0

Crime Photographer

1951-04-19

7.5

The Wild Wild West

1965-09-17

7.5

Bonanza

1959-09-12