
James Westerfield
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1913-03-22
Day of Death
1971-09-20 (58 years old)
Place of Birth
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
James Westerfield
Biography
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.
Acting
(1973)
Set This Town on Fire
as Cark Rickter
(1971)
Dead Aim
as John Applebee
(1970)
The Boy Who Stole the Elephant
as Sheriff Berry
(1969)
True Grit
as Judge Parker
(1969)
The Love God?
as Rev. Wilkerson
(1969)
Smith!
as Sheriff
(1969)
Bartleby
as The Lawyer
(1968)
Hang 'em High
as Prisoner
(1968)
Blue
as Abe Parker
(1968)
A Man Called Gannon
as Amos
(1968)
Now You See It, Now You Don't
as Capt. Boyle
(1966)
Scalplock
as Nehemiah
(1966)
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
as Jack Balter
(1965)
The Sons of Katie Elder
as Mr. Vennar
(1965)
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
as Charley Mardis
(1965)
That Funny Feeling
as Officer Brokaw
(1964)
Bikini Beach
as Cop #2
(1964)
Man's Favorite Sport?
as Policeman
(1963)
Son of Flubber
as Officer Hanson
(1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz
as Jess Younger
(1961)
The Absent-Minded Professor
as Officer Hanson
(1961)
Homicidal
as Alfred S. Adrims
(1960)
Wild River
as Cal Garth
(1960)
The Plunderers
as Mike Baron
(1959)
The Gunfight at Dodge City
as Reverend Howard
(1959)
The Hangman
as Herb Loftus
(1959)
The Shaggy Dog
as Officer Hanson
(1958)
Cowboy
as Mike Adams
(1958)
The Proud Rebel
as Birm Bates
(1958)
Old Man
as Warden
(1957)
Decision at Sundown
as Otis, the Bartender
(1957)
Jungle Heat
as Harvey Mathews
(1957)
The Helen Morgan Story
as Frank Piggin
(1956)
(1956)
Three Brave Men
as Chief O'Reilly
(1955)
The Violent Men
as Sheriff Magruder
(1955)
The Cobweb
as James Petlee
(1955)
Chief Crazy Horse
as Caleb Mantz
(1955)
Man with the Gun
as Mr. Zender
(1955)
The Scarlet Coat
as Col. Jameson
(1955)
Lucy Gallant
as Harry Wilson
(1954)
On the Waterfront
as Big Mac
(1954)
Three Hours to Kill
as Sam Minor
(1954)
The Human Jungle
as Marty Harrison
(1953)
The Bachelor Party
as Bookkeeper
(1951)
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
as Joe London
(1950)
Side Street
as Charlie (policeman)
(1950)
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
as Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited)
(1946)
The Chase
as Job the Butler
(1946)
Undercurrent
as Henry Gilson
(1943)
Around the World
as Bashful Marine
(1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons
as Policeman at Accident (uncredited)
(1942)
The Pride of the Yankees
as Spectator (uncredited)
(1942)
About Face
as Soldier with Daisy (uncredited)
(1941)
Highway West
as Swede, Trucker at Cafe
(1940)
The Howards of Virginia
as Backwoodsman