Harry Shannon
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Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
Born and raised on a farm in Michigan in 1890, Irish-American character actor Harry Shannon had the credentials for becoming a staple player in westerns. He started off his career traveling around with repertory and stock companies and developed his musical abilities in tent shows, burlesque houses and such tuneful Broadway shows as "Oh, Kay!" (1926), "Hold Everything" (1928), "Simple Simon" (1931), and "Pardon My English" (1933). A company member of Joseph Schildkraut's Hollywood Theater Guild, Shannon broke into films at the advent of sound and started things off in comedy film shorts opposite such celebrated players as Bert Lahr, Shemp Howard, and Leon Errol. In the 1940s Shannon established himself in feature-length movies and although he remained a minor, second-string player, he proved himself a durable presence in westerns usually remaining on the good side of the law as sheriffs and bucolic dads. In lighthearted entertainment he could be found as a friendly Irish cop or bartender. He made a slight but memorable impression as Kane's alcoholic father in the classic Citizen Kane (1941), while his last role would be as the grandfather in the musical Gypsy (1962). In between were small parts in such notable films as The Fighting Sullivans (1944), The Jolson Story (1946), High Noon (1952), Touch of Evil (1958), and The Buccaneer (1958). 1950s TV westerns such as Cheyenne (1955), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Rawhide (1959), and Gunsmoke (1955) made consistent use of his rustic demeanor. Shannon died in 1964 at age 74.
Known for
Credits
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Chief Gould
Citizen Kane (1941)
as Jim Kane
High Noon (1952)
as Cooper
Written on the Wind (1956)
as Hoak Wayne
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
as Cab Driver
This Gun for Hire (1942)
as Steve Finnerty
The Tall Men (1955)
as Sam
Wild in the Country (1961)
as Sam Tyler (uncredited)
In Old Oklahoma (1943)
as Charlie Witherspoon
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
as Tesander
The Gunfighter (1950)
as Chuck (uncredited)
Executive Suite (1954)
as Ed Benedeck
The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
as Mr. Holstrom
Gypsy (1962)
as Grandpa
The Buccaneer (1958)
as Tom Carruthers - Captain of the Corinthian
Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
as Ed Cumberland
The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
as John (Policeman)
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
as Captain of the Far West (uncredited)
Canyon Passage (1946)
as Henry McLane (uncredited)
The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
as Sheriff Elwood
The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947)
as Detective Owens, San Diego Police
The Sound of Fury (1950)
as Mr. Yaeger
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
as Charlie
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
as American Immigration Official (uncredited)
The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)
as Police Officer Houlihan
The Lady Is Willing (1942)
as Barnes
Young Tom Edison (1940)
as Army Captain Brackett
Faint Heart (1929)
as Dynamite Dan
Al Jennings of Oklahoma (1951)
as Fred Salter
The Violent Men (1955)
as Purdue
The Red House (1947)
as Dr. Jonathan Byrne
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1948)
as Chauncey
The Underworld Story (1950)
as George Parker
Cry of the Hunted (1953)
as Sheriff Brown
Pride of the Marines (1945)
as Uncle Ralph
The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
as Detective Grimes (Uncredited)
Rails Into Laramie (1954)
as Judge Pierce
The Lonely Man (1957)
as Dr. Fisher
Summer and Smoke (1961)
as Dr. Burke (uncredited)
The Girl from Avenue A (1940)
as Timson
Where Danger Lives (1950)
as Dr. Maynard
Champion (1949)
as Lew
Exposed (1947)
as Severance
Tulsa (1949)
as Nelse Lansing
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950)
as Clay
Three Little Words (1950)
as Clanahan
Duel at Apache Wells (1957)
as Wayne Shattuck
Mary Ryan, Detective (1949)
as Sawyer
Hunt the Man Down (1950)
as Wallace Bennett
Gambling on the High Seas (1940)
as Ed, Chief of Police
Time Out of Mind (1947)
as Capt. Rogers
The Big Street (1942)
as Florida Doctor (uncredited)
The Flying Missile (1950)
as Vice Admiral Williams
Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
as Pat McGowan
Tarnished (1950)
as Kelsey Bunker
Nora Prentiss (1947)
as Police Lieutenant
Witness to Murder (1954)
as Captain Donnelly
Tear Gas Squad (1940)
as Lieutenant Sullivan
Roar of the Crowd (1953)
as Sam 'Pop' Tracy
The Yellow Rose of Texas (1944)
as Sam Weston
The Saint In Palm Springs (1941)
as Chief R.L. Graves
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942)
as Mr. Tim Wiggs
The Last Crooked Mile (1946)
as Police Lieutenant Blake
Headin' for God's Country (1943)
as Albert Ness
Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
as Police Sergeant Garrett
At Gunpoint (1955)
as Marshal Pete MacKay
True to Life (1943)
as Mr. Mason
The Scarf (1951)
as Asylum Warden Anderson
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942)
as Pinky Dolan
Kansas Pacific (1953)
as Smokestack the Train Engineer
Come Next Spring (1956)
as Mr. Totter
Flesh and Fury (1952)
as Mike Callan
Too Many Girls (1940)
as Mr. Casey
Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)
as Capt. Mahoney
In Old California (1942)
as Mr. Carlin
Singing Guns (1950)
as Judge Waller
The World of Tomorrow (1984)
as Pop Middleton (archive footage)
When the Lights Go On Again (1944)
as Tom Cary
My Girl Tisa (1948)
Actor
Sympathy (1929)
as Larry
A Peach of a Pair (1934)
Actor
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939)
as Father
Sailor's Lady (1940)
as Father McGann
The Marauders (1955)
as John Rutherford
Hell's Crossroads (1957)
as Clay Ford
Wrongorilla (1933)
as Grogan
Night Editor (1946)
as Capt. Lawrence
Crack-Up (1946)
as Cop (Uncredited)
Alibi Mark (1937)
as Railroad Detective
Jack Slade (1953)
as Tom Carter
Crime, Inc. (1945)
as Police Commissioner Collins
The Invisible Wall (1947)
as Det. Capt. R.W. Davis
No More West (1934)
as Bank Robber
Someone to Remember (1943)
as Tom Gibbons
The Powers Girl (1943)
as Mr. Hendricks
San Quentin (1946)
as Warden Kelly
Parole Fixer (1940)
as Randall
The Peacemaker (1956)
as Drunken Cowpuncher
Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
as Thomas Lee
Man or Gun (1958)
as Justin Corley
Big Town Scandal (1948)
as Police Captain Henry (uncredited)
Dangerous Years (1947)
as Judge Raymond
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
Actor
Captain Eddie (1945)
as Simmons
Idaho (1943)
as Judge John Grey
Pride of Maryland (1951)
as Walter Shannon
City of Chance (1940)
as Passline
Alaska Highway (1943)
as John 'Pop' Ormsby
Song of Texas (1943)
as Sam Bennett
The Mad Martindales (1942)
as Policeman
Cow Town (1950)
as Sandy Reeves
Blue Blood (1951)
as Mr. Buchanan
Close Relations (1933)
as Harry Wart
Phantom Stallion (1954)
as Michael Reilly
Smoked Hams (1934)
as The Landlord
I Ring Doorbells (1946)
as Shannon
Rustlers (1949)
as Sheriff Harmon
The Campus Mystery (1932)
as Police Sergeant
Heads Up (1930)
as Capt. Denny
Take a Chance (1933)
as Bartender
Shake, Mr. Shakespeare (1936)
as Macbeth
One Crowded Night (1940)
as McDermott