James Flavin
Acting
- Born:
- 1906-05-14
- Died:
- 1976-04-23
- Place of birth:
- Portland, Maine, USA
Biography
American character actor whose career lasted nearly half a century. James Wilson Flavin Jr. was the son of a hotel waiter of Canadian-English extraction and a mother, Katherine, whose father was an Irish immigrant. (Thus Flavin, well-known in Hollywood as an "Irish" type, was only one-quarter Irish.) Flavin was born and raised in Portland, Maine (a fact that may have enrichened his later working relationship with director John Ford, also a Portland native). He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, but (contrary to some sources) did not graduate. Instead he dropped out and returned to Portland where he drove a taxi. Then as now, summer stock companies flocked to Maine each year, and in 1929 he was asked to fill in for an actor. He did well with the part and the company manager offered him $150 per week to go with the troupe back to New York. Flavin accepted and by the spring of 1930 was living in a rooming house at 108 W. 87th Street in Manhattan. Flavin didn't manage to crack Broadway at this time (his Broadway debut would not occur for another thirty-nine years, in the 1971 revival of "The Front Page," in which Flavin played Murphy and briefly took over the lead role of Walter Burns from star Robert Ryan). He worked his way across the country in stock productions and tours, arriving in Los Angeles around 1932. He quickly made the transition to movies, landing the lead in his very first film, a Universal serial, The Airmail Mystery (1932). He also landed his leading lady, marrying the serial's female star Lucile Browne that same year. However, the serial marked virtually the last time that Flavin would play the lead in a film. Thereafter, he was restricted almost exclusively to supporting characters, many of them without so much as a name. He specialized in uniformed cops and hard-bitten detectives, but played chauffeurs, cabbies, and even a 16th-century palace guard with aplomb. Flavin appeared in nearly four hundred films between 1932 and 1971, and in almost a hundred television episodes before his final appearance, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976). Flavin died of a heart ailment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on April 23, 1976. His widow Lucile died seventeen days later. They were survived by their son, William James Flavin, subsequently a professor at the United States Army War College. James and Lucile Brown Flavin were buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Known For
Filmography
The Lost Spider Pit Sequence
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
Law and Order
The Brady Bunch
It Takes a Thief
In Cold Blood
Good Times
The Pruitts of Southampton
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
Cheyenne Autumn
The Addams Family
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Mr. Novak
Burke's Law
Critic's Choice
The Lucy Show
Sam Benedict
The New Breed
Dr. Kildare
Cain's Hundred
Mister Ed
The Roaring 20's
Surfside 6
Pete and Gladys
Coronado 9
Johnny Midnight
The Twilight Zone
The Last Hurrah
Johnny Rocco
Man with a Camera
The Rifleman
Wild Is the Wind
Alcoa Theatre
Night Passage
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
The Restless Breed
Footsteps in the Night
Hold That Hypnotist
The Wings of Eagles
State Trooper
Francis in the Haunted House
Never Say Goodbye
Matinee Theater
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Navy Log
Apache Ambush
The Naked Street
Mister Roberts
The Millionaire
Climax!
December Bride
Return of the Dead
Massacre Canyon
Dragonfly Squadron
Public Defender
The Eddie Cantor Story
Fighter Attack
Hot News
Letter to Loretta
City Detective
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
Trouble Along the Way
I Beheld His Glory
Confidentially Connie
General Electric Theater
Star of Texas
The Abbott and Costello Show
Million Dollar Mermaid
Cavalcade of America
Death Valley Days
Four Star Playhouse
O. Henry's Full House
Carrie
Here Come the Marines
Sailor Beware
As We Forgive
Dangerous Assignment
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Come Fill the Cup
I Love Lucy
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Rhubarb
Racket Squad
Fighting Coast Guard
Follow the Sun
According to Mrs. Hoyle
Oh! Susanna
Operation Pacific
The Living Christ
Lux Video Theatre
South Sea Sinner
Destination Murder
Armored Car Robbery
The Savage Horde
Rock Island Trail
When Willie Comes Marching Home
Dakota Lil
Prison Warden
The Devil's Henchmen
Blondie Hits the Jackpot
Mighty Joe Young
Mississippi Rhythm
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
Flamingo Road
Homicide
Shockproof
Bungalow 13
The Plunderers
One Touch of Venus
The Velvet Touch
Secret Service Investigator
The Noose Hangs High
Sleep, My Love
My Girl Tisa
Unconquered
Nightmare Alley
Joe Palooka in the Knockout
Song of the Thin Man
Desert Fury
Robin Hood Of Texas
Dishonored Lady
It Happened on Fifth Avenue
My Favorite Brunette
Nora Prentiss
Nobody Lives Forever
Cloak and Dagger
Angel on My Shoulder
Step by Step
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Missing Lady
Easy to Wed
Rendezvous with Annie
Boys' Ranch
A Stolen Life
Sentimental Journey
Young Widow
Tars and Spars
The Spider
Hold That Blonde!
Johnny Angel
Mildred Pierce
The Shanghai Cobra
Anchors Aweigh
Over 21
Murder, He Says
Circumstantial Evidence
God Is My Co-Pilot
Hollywood Canteen
Laura
Strange Affair
Abroad with Two Yanks
Mr. Winkle Goes to War
Once Upon a Time
Christmas Holiday
Uncertain Glory
There's Something About a Soldier
Riding High
Swing Shift Maisie
Corvette K-225
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Murder on the Waterfront
So Proudly We Hail
I Dood It
Heaven Can Wait
Action in the North Atlantic
Mission to Moscow
Air Force
Something to Shout About
It Ain't Hay
Life Begins at Eight-Thirty
Gentleman Jim
Night in New Orleans
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
Thru Different Eyes
Tough as They Come
Broadway
Fingers at the Window
Saboteur
Kid Glove Killer
Reap the Wild Wind
Ride 'Em Cowboy
Treat 'Em Rough
A Yank on the Burma Road
Bedtime Story
Kathleen
The Night of January 16th
New York Town
I Wake Up Screaming
Texas
Hold Back the Dawn
We Go Fast
Belle Starr
Manpower
Affectionately Yours
Ziegfeld Girl
Ride on Vaquero
Pot o' Gold
Western Union
The Strawberry Blonde
Buck Privates
The Wild Man of Borneo
Four Mothers
Tin Pan Alley
Youth Will Be Served
The Long Voyage Home
The Devil's Pipeline
North West Mounted Police
Knute Rockne All American
The Great Profile
Rhythm on the River
When the Daltons Rode
The Golden Fleecing
South of Pago Pago
Manhattan Heartbeat
The Way of All Flesh
Private Affairs
Lucky Cisco Kid
Queen of the Mob
The Ghost Breakers
Brother Orchid
Florian
Girl in 313
La Conga Nights
Hot Steel
Johnny Apollo
It All Came True
And One Was Beautiful
The Grapes of Wrath
Women Without Names
Double Alibi
Castle on the Hudson
Broadway Melody of 1940
The Fighting 69th
Remember the Night
The Cisco Kid and the Lady
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
The Roaring Twenties
Fast and Furious
Irish Luck
Each Dawn I Die
They Shall Have Music
When Tomorrow Comes
They All Come Out
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Mickey the Kid
Tell No Tales
The Gracie Allen Murder Case
Union Pacific
Rose of Washington Square
Big Town Czar
Code of the Streets
Sergeant Madden
Everybody's Baby
The Ice Follies of 1939
Jesse James
The Duke of West Point
While New York Sleeps
Convicts at Large
Blondie
Lightning Carson Rides Again
Too Hot to Handle
Three Loves Has Nancy
You Can't Take It with You
I Am the Law
Gateway
Wives Under Suspicion
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Test Pilot
Miracle Money
Start Cheering
Night Spot
Born to Be Wild
Mannequin
Everybody's Doing It
Big Town Girl
Live, Love and Learn
Hot Water
Dangerously Yours
My Dear Miss Aldrich
Girls Can Play
Angel's Holiday
I Promise to Pay
Midnight Taxi
You Only Live Once
Dangerous Number
The Luckiest Girl in the World
They Met in a Taxi
My Man Godfrey
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
How to Behave
One Way Ticket
Rendezvous
Shipmates Forever
Special Agent
Man on the Flying Trapeze
Woman Wanted
The Daring Young Man
The Murder Man
Chinatown Squad
Public Hero Number 1
'G' Men
Straight from the Heart
Captain Hurricane
Secrets of Chinatown
The Brand of Hate
The Affairs of Cellini
Baby Take a Bow
Wild Gold
The Big Race
Beloved
Only Yesterday
Ship of Wanted Men
Riot Squad
Hello, Sister!
King Kong
Air Mail
The All-American
The Most Dangerous Game
Okay, America!
McKenna of the Mounted
Back Street
The Airmail Mystery