GJ
Photo of Gordon Jones

Gordon Jones

Actor
Born April 5, 1911Died June 20, 1963 (52 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gordon Wynnivo Jones (April 5, 1911 – June 20, 1963) was an American character actor, a member of John Wayne's informal acting company best known for playing Lou Costello's TV nemesis "Mike the Cop" and appearing as The Green Hornet in the first of two movie serials based on that old-time radio program.

Iowa-born Jones had been a student athlete and star football guard ("Bull" Jones) at University of California, Los Angeles, and had also played a few seasons of professional football. He started out playing small roles in Wesley Ruggles' and Ernest B. Schoedsack's The Monkey's Paw (1933), his first credited role in Sam Wood's Let 'Em Have It (1935), and Sidney Lanfield's Red Salute (1935). By 1937, he had moved on to a contract at RKO Radio Pictures. In 1940, Jones had the title role in The Green Hornet but did not reprise the role in the sequel.

Jones held a reserve commission in the army and was called into the service after filming his roles as "The Wreck" in My Sister Eileen (1942) and "Alabama Smith" in Flying Tigers (1942), a John Wayne vehicle that was one of the most popular action films of the war. This picture began Jones' 20-year onscreen association with Wayne, who was also a former football player at the University of Southern California.

Jones remained associated with the service after the war, encouraging college students to consider the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After resuming his acting career in the late 1940s, Jones appeared in prominent roles in the John Wayne features Big Jim McLain (1952) and Island in the Sky (1953).

By the end of the 1940s, Jones had aged into a beefier screen presence and into very physical character roles. He was no longer a leading man but he had developed a comic villain persona which meshed with the work of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Jones' association with the duo began in The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) with the role of the film's heavy, Jake Frame, and continued through their television series The Abbott and Costello Show. Jones played "Mike the Cop", Costello's hulking, loud-voiced antagonist. The program was produced for only two seasons, but ensured continued recognition for Jones via frequent reruns and a 21st Century DVD release.

Jones also remained busy in films and on television throughout the 1950s, in pictures that ranged from the sci-fi chiller The Monster That Challenged the World to the Tony Curtis/Janet Leigh sex comedy The Perfect Furlough, and on TV series ranging from The Real McCoys to The Rifleman. Jones also appeared in two very successful Disney movies during the early '60s, The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber. He played harried school coaches in both pictures. He also starred with Mitzi Green and Virginia Gibson in the short-lived TV sitcom So This Is Hollywood (1955), and had a recurring role as neighbor Butch Barton during the early years of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

Jones returned to the John Wayne stock company portraying Douglas, the bureaucrat antagonist to Wayne's G.W. McLintock in the Western comedy McLintock! (1963). Jones unexpectedly succumbed to a heart attack on June 12, 1963, five months before the release of that movie.

Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the West side of the 1600 block of Vine Street.

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • McLintock!
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  • The Rifleman
  • The Lucy Show
  • Dennis the Menace
  • The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
  • Cheyenne
  • The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet
  • The Abbott and Costello Show
  • The Real McCoys
  • The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
  • Death Valley Days
  • Fury
  • Woman They Almost Lynched
  • Trail of Robin Hood
  • The Adventures of Jim Bowie
  • The Gene Autry Show
  • Trigger, Jr.
  • Dangerous Assignment
  • Captain Calamity
  • Treasure of Ruby Hills
  • Frontier Doctor
  • Wanderer of the Wasteland

Known For

  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  • Flying Tigers
  • The Green Hornet
  • Tokyo Joe
  • The Monster That Challenged the World
  • The Abbott and Costello Show
  • Big Jim McLain
  • My Sister Eileen
  • The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
  • The Feminine Touch
  • The Winning Team
  • The Doctor Takes a Wife
  • The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
  • Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend
  • I Take This Oath
  • The Perfect Furlough
  • Easy Living
  • Up in the Air
  • Battle of the Coral Sea
  • Long Shot
  • Smoke Signal
  • Trail of Robin Hood
  • Strike Me Pink
  • Trigger, Jr.

Filmography

2011
1963
McLintock! · as Matt Douglas
1962
Son of Flubber · as Rutland Coach
1962
The Lucy Show (TV Series) · as Charlie Vantassel
1961
Everything's Ducky · as Conroy
1961
Margie (TV Series) · as Sgt. Mcclure
1961
Frontier Circus (TV Series) · as Jase
1961
Ripcord (TV Series) · as Captain Blacker
1961
The Joey Bishop Show (TV Series) · as 1st Delivery Man
1961
Kraft Mystery Theatre (TV Series) · as Tucker
1961
Master of the World · as Talkative Townsman
1961
The Absent Minded Professor · as Rutland Basketball Coach
1960
The Case of the Dangerous Robin (TV Series) · as Nels Bergstrom
1960
Angel (1960) (TV Series) · as Hank Thorpe
1960
Stagecoach West (TV Series) · as Jake Slocum
1960
SurfSide 6 (TV Series)
1960
The Islanders (TV Series) · as Shipwreck
1960
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond · as Police Sgt. Joe Cassidy
1959
Battle of the Coral Sea · as Torpedoman Bates
1959
Hawaiian Eye (TV Series)
1959
1959
Hotel de Paree (TV Series) · as Pemmican Joe
1959
1959
Laramie (TV Series)
1959
The Big Fisherman · as Minor Role
1959
Battle Flame · as Sgt. Mckelvey
1959
The Shaggy Dog · as Captain Scanlon, Police Chief
1958
The Perfect Furlough · as Mp "sylvia"
1958
77 Sunset Strip (TV Series)
1958
The Ann Sothern Show (TV Series) · as Buck
1958
Lawman (TV Series) · as Chalk Hennesey
1958
1958
Live Fast, Die Young · as Pop Winters
1957
The Monster That Challenged the World · as Sheriff Josh Peters
1957
Colt .45 (TV Series) · as Sgt. O'hickey
1957
The Real McCoys (TV Series) · as Walt Newberry
1957
Maverick (TV Series)
1957
Perry Mason (TV Series) · as Deputy Gillis
1957
Sugarfoot (TV Series) · as Wasco Wolters
1957
Bachelor Father (TV Series) · as Harry Mckey
1957
1957
1956
Frontier Doctor (TV Series) · as Deputy Matt Collins
1956
Richard Diamond, Private Detective (TV Series) · as Joel Finlay
1956
Spring Reunion · as Jack Frazer
1956
Broken Arrow (TV Series) · as Sgt. Jud Temby
1956
1955
Fury (TV Series) · as Jeff
1955
Cheyenne (TV Series)
1955
1955
The Jane Wyman Show (TV Series) · as Elmer
1955
Damon Runyon Theater (TV Series) · as Grommet
1955
Smoke Signal · as Corporal Rogers
1955
1954
Lassie (TV Series)
1954
The Outlaw Stallion · as Wagner
1954
The Joe Palooka Story (TV Series) · as Dudley Mcgurn
1954
Public Defender (TV Series) · as Tom Mcnary
1953
Take the High Ground! · as Moose (uncredited)
1953
1953
Meet Mr. McNutley (TV Series) · as Pete Thompson
1953
Island in the Sky · as Walrus
1953
1953
I'm the Law (TV Series)
1953
Private Secretary (TV Series) · as Cast
1953
The Life of Riley (1953) (TV Series) · as Cast
1952
The Winning Team · as George Glasheen
1952
The Abbott and Costello Show (TV Series) · as Mike Kelly
1952
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (TV Series) · as Butch Barton
1952
Cavalcade of America (TV Series) · as Lt. Treusch
1952
Wagon Team · as Marshal Sam Taplin
1952
Big Jim McLain · as Olaf
1952
My Little Margie (TV Series) · as Tex Mulloy
1952
Sound Off · as Crockett
1952
Death Valley Days (TV Series) · as Callahan
1952
The Marrying Kind · as Steve
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV Series) · as Cast
1951
Corky of Gasoline Alley · as Elwood Martin
1951
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (TV Series) · as Curly Wolf
1951
Heart of the Rockies · as Splinters Mcgonigle
1951
Spoilers of the Plains · as Splinters
1950
Racket Squad (TV Series)
1950
Trail of Robin Hood · as Splinters Mcgonigle
1950
North of the Great Divide · as Splinters Mcgonagle
1950
Ashley Banjo’s Big Town Dance (TV Series) · as Hobbie Miller
1950
Sunset in the West · as Splinters
1950
Big Timber · as Jocko
1950
1950
1950
Trigger, Jr. · as Splinters
1950
The Arizona Cowboy · as I.q. Barton
1950
The Palomino · as Bill Hennessey
1950
1949
Easy Living · as Bill 'holly' Holloran
1949
Dear Wife · as Taxi Cab Driver
1949
Tokyo Joe · as Idaho
1949
Black Midnight · as Roy
1949
Mr. Soft Touch · as Muggles (uncredited)
1949
Take Me Out to the Ball Game · as Senator Catcher
1948
The Untamed Breed · as Happy Keegan
1948
A Foreign Affair · as Military Police
1947
Whispering City · as Reporter
1947
1947
1945
1944
Youth Runs Wild · as Truck Driver (uncredited)
1944
Buffalo Bill · as Trooper
1942
Flying Tigers · as Alabama Smith
1942
Highways by Night · as 'footsy' Fogarty
1942
My Sister Eileen · as 'the Wreck' Loomis
1942
To the Shores of Tripoli · as Military Policeman At Main Gate
1942
They All Kissed the Bride · as Taxi Driver
1941
Among the Living · as Bill Oakley
1941
You Belong to Me · as Robert Andrews
1941
The Feminine Touch · as Rubber-Legs Ryan
1941
1940
Texas Rangers Ride Again · as Ranger Radio Man (uncredited)
1940
Up in the Air · as Tex Barton
1940
1940
I Take This Oath · as Steve Hanagan
1940
The Green Hornet · as Britt Reid / The Green Hornet
1939
Henry Goes Arizona · as Tug Evans (uncredited)
1939
Disputed Passage · as Bill Anderson
1939
When Tomorrow Comes · as Radio Technician
1939
Invitation to Happiness · as Dutch Arnold (uncredited)
1939
Long Shot · as Jeff Clayton
1938
1938
Rich Man, Poor Girl · as Tom Grogan
1938
Night Spot · as Riley
1937
Quick Money · as Bill Adams
1937
Fight for Your Lady · as Mike Scanlon
1937
The Big Shot · as Chester Scott
1937
Forlorn River · as Lem Watkins
1937
1937
China Passage · as Joe Dugan
1937
Sea Devils · as Puggy
1937
They Wanted to Marry · as Jim Tyler
1936
Night Waitress · as Martin Rhodes
1936
We Who Are About to Die · as Slim Tolliver
1936
1936
Don't Turn 'em Loose · as Joe Graves
1936
Walking on Air · as Joe
1936
1936
Strike Me Pink · as Butch Carson
1935
Red Salute · as Michael (lefty) Jones
1935
Let 'em Have It · as Tex
1935
Car 99 · as Mechanic
1933
The Monkey's Paw · as Soldier
1932
Wild Girl · as Vigilante (uncredited)

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