Acting
Gordon Jones
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.
Filmography
The Abbott and Costello Show: Who's On First?
Film · 2011
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Film · 1994
McLintock!
Film · 1963
The Lucy Show
Series · 1962
Everything's Ducky
Film · 1961
Master of the World
Film · 1961
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Film · 1960
Surfside 6
Series · 1960
The Case of the Dangerous Robin
Series · 1960
Battle of the Coral Sea
Film · 1959
The Shaggy Dog
Film · 1959
Battle Flame
Film · 1959
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
Series · 1959
Hawaiian Eye
Series · 1959
Dennis the Menace
Series · 1959
Laramie
Series · 1959
The Perfect Furlough
Film · 1958
Live Fast, Die Young
Film · 1958
77 Sunset Strip
Series · 1958
The Rifleman
Series · 1958
The Monster That Challenged the World
Film · 1957
Spring Reunion
Film · 1957
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend
Film · 1957
Perry Mason
Series · 1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
Series · 1957
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Series · 1957
Sugarfoot
Series · 1957
Maverick
Series · 1957
Sugarfoot
Series · 1957
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Series · 1957
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
Series · 1956
Treasure of Ruby Hills
Film · 1955
Smoke Signal
Film · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Series · 1955
The Outlaw Stallion
Film · 1954
Lassie
Series · 1954
The Wonderful World of Disney
Series · 1954
Island in the Sky
Film · 1953
Take the High Ground!
Film · 1953
Woman They Almost Lynched
Film · 1953
I'm the Law
Series · 1953
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
Series · 1953
Sound Off
Film · 1952
The Winning Team
Film · 1952
Gobs and Gals
Film · 1952
Wagon Team
Film · 1952
The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon
Film · 1952
Big Jim McLain
Film · 1952
Cavalcade of America
Series · 1952
Dangerous Assignment
Series · 1952
The Abbott and Costello Show
Series · 1952
Spoilers of the Plains
Film · 1951
Corky of Gasoline Alley
Film · 1951
Heart of the Rockies
Film · 1951
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Series · 1951
Racket Squad
Series · 1951
Belle of Old Mexico
Film · 1950
Trigger, Jr.
Film · 1950
The Arizona Cowboy
Film · 1950
Trail of Robin Hood
Film · 1950
The Palomino
Film · 1950
North of the Great Divide
Film · 1950
Sunset in the West
Film · 1950
Big Timber
Film · 1950
The Gene Autry Show
Series · 1950
Mr. Soft Touch
Film · 1949
Tokyo Joe
Film · 1949
Easy Living
Film · 1949
Black Midnight
Film · 1949
Dear Wife
Film · 1949
A Foreign Affair
Film · 1948
The Untamed Breed
Film · 1948
Black Eagle
Film · 1948
Sons of Adventure
Film · 1948
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
Film · 1947
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Film · 1947
Whispering City
Film · 1947
Youth Runs Wild
Film · 1944
My Sister Eileen
Film · 1942
Flying Tigers
Film · 1942
Highways by Night
Film · 1942
Among the Living
Film · 1941
The Feminine Touch
Film · 1941
You Belong to Me
Film · 1941
The Blonde from Singapore
Film · 1941
Up in the Air
Film · 1940
I Take This Oath
Film · 1940
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Film · 1940
Girl from Havana
Film · 1940
The Green Hornet
Film · 1940
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Film · 1940
The Long Shot
Film · 1939
Invitation to Happiness
Film · 1939
Henry Goes Arizona
Film · 1939
Pride of the Navy
Film · 1939
Disputed Passage
Film · 1939
Big Town Czar
Film · 1939
When Tomorrow Comes
Film · 1939
Rich Man, Poor Girl
Film · 1938
I Stand Accused
Film · 1938
Out West with the Hardys
Film · 1938
Sea Devils
Film · 1937
Fight for Your Lady
Film · 1937
They Wanted to Marry
Film · 1937
Quick Money
Film · 1937
There Goes My Girl
Film · 1937
We Who Are About to Die
Film · 1937
The Big Shot
Film · 1937
China Passage
Film · 1937
Strike Me Pink
Film · 1936
Walking on Air
Film · 1936
Devil's Squadron
Film · 1936
Night Waitress
Film · 1936
Don't Turn 'em Loose
Film · 1936
Let 'em Have It
Film · 1935
Red Salute
Film · 1935
Wild Girl
Film · 1932
Three Rogues
Film · 1931