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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1959
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.
Gender
Male
Birthday
March 22, 1913
Died
September 20, 1971
Birthplace
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Also Known As
The Violent Men
1955
The Sons of Katie Elder
1965
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
1965
Man's Favorite Sport?
1964
A Man Called Gannon
1968
Set This Town on Fire
1973
The Scarlet Coat
1955
Three Brave Men
1956
Around the World
1943
Man with the Gun
1955
Jungle Heat
1957
The Proud Rebel
1958
Old Man
1958
On the Waterfront
1954
Side Street
1950
True Grit
1969
Bartleby
1969
Hang 'em High
1968
Undercurrent
1946
About Face
1942
+ 36 more movies
Perry Mason
1957
Perry Mason
1957
Bonanza
1959
Bewitched
1964
The Twilight Zone
1959
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
Lassie
1954
Maverick
1957
Mannix
1967
The Rifleman
1958
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
The Big Valley
1965
Lost in Space
1965
The Wild Wild West
1965
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Studio One
1948
Studio One
1948
Rawhide
1959
Rawhide
1959
Green Acres
1965
+ 44 more TV shows