James Westerfield
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Mar 22, 1913
- Died
- Sep 20, 1971 (aged 58)
- Place of birth
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Credits
- 111
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.
Known for
Filmography
Dead Aim
1975Movie
John Applebee
Set This Town on Fire
1973Movie
Cark Rickter
The Boy Who Stole the Elephant
1970Movie
Sheriff Berry
Bartleby
1969Movie
The Lawyer
The Love God?
1969Movie
Rev. Wilkerson
True Grit
1969Movie
Judge Parker
Smith!
1969Movie
Sheriff
Now You See It, Now You Don't
1968Movie
Capt. Boyle
The Outcasts
1968TV
Mayberry R.F.D.
1968TV
Sheriff Matson
Blue
1968Movie
Abe Parker
Hang 'em High
1968Movie
Prisoner
A Man Called Gannon
1968Movie
Amos
Mannix
1967TV
Judd, for the Defense
1967TV
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
1966Movie
Jack Balter
The Time Tunnel
1966TV
Sheriff
Scalplock
1966Movie
Nehemiah
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
1965Movie
Charley Mardis
The Wild Wild West
1965TV
McAvity
Green Acres
1965TV
Lost in Space
1965TV
Dr. Marvello
The Big Valley
1965TV
Jeb Lassiter
That Funny Feeling
1965Movie
Officer Brokaw
The Sons of Katie Elder
1965Movie
Mr. Vennar
Profiles in Courage
1964TV
Sen. Samuel Pomeroy
Daniel Boone
1964TV
Hand, Simon Girty
Bewitched
1964TV
Bikini Beach
1964Movie
Cop #2
Man's Favorite Sport?
1964Movie
Policeman
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1963TV
John Murrel
The Great Adventure
1963TV
Attorney Thomas Green
Son of Flubber
1963Movie
Officer Hanson
The Dakotas
1963TV
Going My Way
1962TV
The Lucy Show
1962TV
Weitzman
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962TV
Birdman of Alcatraz
1962Movie
Jess Younger
Straightaway
1961TV
Homicidal
1961Movie
Alfred S. Adrims
The Asphalt Jungle
1961TV
The Absent-Minded Professor
1961Movie
Officer Hanson
Alcatraz Express
1961Movie
The Plunderers
1960Movie
Mike Baron
The Andy Griffith Show
1960TV
Uncle Ollie
My Three Sons
1960TV
Thriller
1960TV
Al Matthews
The Tall Man
1960TV
Wild River
1960Movie
Cal Garth
The Alaskans
1959TV
The Rebel
1959TV
Suee
The Twilight Zone
1959TV
Anthony O'Toole
Johnny Ringo
1959TV
Aben Burke
Law of the Plainsman
1959TV
Joshua Jones
Bonanza
1959TV
Arthur Blackwell
Tightrope
1959TV
The Hangman
1959Movie
Herb Loftus
The Gunfight at Dodge City
1959Movie
Reverend Howard
The Shaggy Dog
1959Movie
Officer Hanson
Rawhide
1959TV
Matt Lucas, Mort Henry
Old Man
1958Movie
Warden
Bat Masterson
1958TV
Shapley Howell
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958TV
The Rifleman
1958TV
The Texan
1958TV
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958TV
Dr. Langland
The Proud Rebel
1958Movie
Birm Bates
Cowboy
1958Movie
Mike Adams
Decision at Sundown
1957Movie
Otis, the Bartender
Trackdown
1957TV
The Walter Winchell File
1957TV
Maverick
1957TV
Perry Mason
1957TV
Sheriff Elmore, Roger Quigley
Jungle Heat
1957Movie
Harvey Mathews
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957TV
McAllister
The Helen Morgan Story
1957Movie
Frank Piggin
Three Brave Men
1956Movie
Chief O'Reilly
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956TV
Bert Farrow
State Trooper
1956TV
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956TV
Away All Boats
1956Movie
Lucy Gallant
1955Movie
Harry Wilson
Man with the Gun
1955Movie
Mr. Zender
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955TV
Mapes
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955TV
Commissioner Cummings, Pops Lafferty
Gunsmoke
1955TV
Rance Bradley, Harry Duggan, Cleed, Franks
The Scarlet Coat
1955Movie
Col. Jameson
The Cobweb
1955Movie
James Petlee
Chief Crazy Horse
1955Movie
Caleb Mantz
The Violent Men
1955Movie
Sheriff Magruder
Three Hours to Kill
1954Movie
Sam Minor
The Human Jungle
1954Movie
Marty Harrison
Lassie
1954TV
On the Waterfront
1954Movie
Big Mac
Inner Sanctum
1954TV
The Bachelor Party
1953Movie
Bookkeeper
General Electric Theater
1953TV
Bartender, The General
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
1951Movie
Joe London
Casey, Crime Photographer
1951TV
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
1950Movie
Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited)
Side Street
1950Movie
Charlie (policeman)
Studio One
1948TV
Captain James Reagan, Bilgeboy / Jimmy Scaggs
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948TV
H.T. Carmichael
The Chase
1946Movie
Job the Butler
Undercurrent
1946Movie
Henry Gilson
Around the World
1943Movie
Bashful Marine
The Pride of the Yankees
1942Movie
Spectator (uncredited)
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942Movie
Policeman at Accident (uncredited)
About Face
1942Movie
Soldier with Daisy (uncredited)
Highway West
1941Movie
Swede, Trucker at Cafe
The Howards of Virginia
1940Movie
Backwoodsman