James Ellison

Acting

James Ellison

Born — Died

1910-05-04 — 1993-12-23

Place of birth

Guthrie Center, Iowa, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. James Ellison (May 4, 1910 - December 23, 1993) was an American actor, born James Ellison Smith in Guthrie Center, Iowa, son of Edward James Smith and Ona Mary Ellis. Ellison appeared in nearly seventy films between 1932 and 1962. Ellison worked for a time in a film laboratory and while there was offered a screen test. He developed it himself and when he saw it, decided it was not satisfactory so he would not show it to the director. But he saw it anyway and Ellison got a contract. Despite his rugged good looks and height of 6 feet 3 inches, Ellison's limited range and somewhat wooden screen presence kept him from the first (or even second) ranks of…

Known for

Film credits

1950s · 15 titles

Crooked River poster
5.0

Ellison is the star searching for the killer of his parents while Hayden's a not-too-bad bandit leader.

Crooked River

1950

The Texan Meets Calamity Jane poster
7.0

A western in which Calamity Jane's rightful ownership of a gambling hall is challenged. She nearly loses the business to a shady crook, but Texas lawyer Ellison puts up a legal battle to help her stay in charge. After a sensational fight, the letters proving her right are discovered.

The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

1950

Man from the Black Hills poster
9.0

As other "B"-western series kept dropping like flies in 1952, Johnny Mack Brown kept grinding 'em out for Monogram. In Man From Black Hills, Johnny tries to help locate his saddle pal Jim Fallan's (James Ellison) long-lost father. Arriving in a small mining town, Johnny and Jim discover that Jim's father has established a financial empire--and that a local opportunist (Randy Brooks) has capitalized on this by claiming to be the old man's son.

Man from the Black Hills

1952

Marshal of Heldorado poster
4.0

Shamrock and Lucky team up to drive the Tulliver Brothers out of Heldorado.

Marshal of Heldorado

1950

Hostile Country poster
4.2

In this remake of No Man's Range (1935), Shamrock travels to the ranch of his stepfather who he has never met and finds himself caught in the middle of a range war.

Hostile Country

1950

Fast on the Draw poster
10.0

As a boy, Shamrock's parents were killed. He took possession of a pistol belonging to his father, a famous marshal. Now that he is grown, he takes the job of marshal and uses the same gun, but he still has to solve the mystery of what happened to his parents.

Fast on the Draw

1950

Texas City poster
6.5

Johnny Mack Brown substitutes brains for brawn during most of Texas City. Cast once more as a U.S. marshal, Johnny investigates when several government gold shipments are hijacked. Someone has been tipping of the outlaws as to when and where the supposedly secret shipments will take place. The principal suspect is dishonorably discharged cavalry officer Kirby (James Ellison), but Johnny has a gut feeling that Kirby is innocent on all counts.

Texas City

1952

Kentucky Jubilee poster
6.0

A film director travels to Kentucky to seek out local talent for a hillbilly musical film. There, he gets kidnapped.

Kentucky Jubilee

1951

Texas Lawmen poster
7.0

A Texas Ranger goes up against the Morrow outlaw gang.

Texas Lawmen

1951

Dead Man's Trail poster
7.0

Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick Jimmy Ellison come to the aid of imperiled Barbara Allen. At this point, Johnny was too long in tooth and thick around the middle to qualify as a romantic lead, hence the presence of Ellison.

Dead Man's Trail

1952

Everybody's Dancin' poster
7.5

Dance-hall owner Dick Lane is in dire need of some big-name acts or he will lose his business. Several country-western stars come to his rescue by agreeing to appear on a TV special to be broadcast from his club.

Everybody's Dancin'

1950

Whistling Hills poster
7.0

Johnny Mack Brown was recruited by Chet Norman, the owner of a stagecoach line, to end the heist perpetrated by a mysterious knight who plays strange notes with a hiss of money before robbing them.

Whistling Hills

1951

West of the Brazos poster
5.3

An outlaw impersonates Shamrock in order to lease his land to an oil company for $75,000.

West of the Brazos

1950

Oklahoma Justice poster
9.0

Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a lady bank robber in this average Mack Brown series late-entry from Monogram. The lady, played by Barbara Allen, is of course called "Ma." In order to get the goods on "Ma" and her "brood," Mack Brown must masquerade as a lone bandit.

Oklahoma Justice

1951

Colorado Ranger poster
5.0

The Shamrock Kid, Lucky, and The Colonel get caught in a feud between outlaws and homesteaders.

Colorado Ranger

1950

1940s · 20 titles

The Gang's All Here poster
5.9

A soldier falls for a chorus girl and then experiences trouble when he is posted to the Pacific.

The Gang's All Here

1943

I Walked with a Zombie poster
6.8

A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.

I Walked with a Zombie

1943

Dixie Dugan poster
6.5

Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dollar a year man," is late for a radio broadcast about his new department, the Mobilization of Woman Power for War. He takes a cab driven by Dixie Dugan, who hopes that being a cabbie while the country's men are away fighting will help the war effort. Her incompetent driving, however, results in an accident for which Roger must take responsibility in order to reach the radio station in time. Dixie then returns home, where she lives with her father Timothy, who is constantly practicing his air raid warden duties, her mother Gladys, an aspiring Red Cross worker, and cousin Imogene, who studies incessantly to become a "quiz kid." The Dugans rent out their spare rooms to Dixie's fiancé, Matt Hogan, and to blustering Judge J. J. Lawson. Matt, who works in a munitions factory, wants Dixie to settle down and marry him, but Dixie is determined to help her country.

Dixie Dugan

1943

The Ghost Goes Wild poster
6.0

Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disguises himself as a mystic, only to conjure up a genuine ghost during a seance. Things come to a head during his trial, where the invisible ghost takes the witness stand on Our Hero's behalf.

The Ghost Goes Wild

1947

They Met in Argentina poster
5.2

A Texas oil millionaire, after failing to secure oil lands in Argentina, seeks out a famous racehorse in Buenos Aires and orders his representative to buy the nag at any price. The representative, Tim Kelly, has a love affair with Lolita O'Shea, the beautiful daughter of the prize horse's owner.

They Met in Argentina

1941

Charley's Aunt poster
6.3

In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.

Charley's Aunt

1941

Anne of Windy Poplars poster
6.0

Sentimental drama about an ambitious young teacher who arrives in a small town to take the job of vice-principal. Based on one of L M Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables' sequels.

Anne of Windy Poplars

1940

Last of the Wild Horses poster
3.2

A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.

Last of the Wild Horses

1948

The Undying Monster poster
5.7

A werewolf prowls around at night but only kills certain members of one family. It seems like just a coincidence, but the investigating Inspector soon finds out that this tradition has gone on for generations and tries to find a link between the werewolf and the family, leading to a frightening conclusion.

The Undying Monster

1942

Calendar Girl poster
5.6

Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They both fall in love with the same girl, Patricia O'Neill. The artist paints a picture of her which outrages her father's sensibilities; but, as a result of the picture, she wins a chance to star in a Broadway play. She soon learns that the artist is just a trifler; and she turns to the composer, who loves her sincerely

Calendar Girl

1947

You Can't Fool Your Wife poster
5.5

Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.

You Can't Fool Your Wife

1940

G.I. War Brides poster
9.0

Linda Powell, and English girl, stows away on a ship bound for the United States in order to join the G.I. she loves. She assumes the identity of an English war bride, Joyce Giles, who has decided she no longer loves the American soldier she married and is not going to join him in the U.S. Linda arrives to find that her soldier no longer wishes to marry her...

G.I. War Brides

1946

Hollywood and Vine poster
4.4

A young girl arrives in Hollywood determined to become a star in the movies but finds that attaining stardom is a lot more difficult than she counted on. However, she does become a star of sorts — as the owner of a dog who DOES become a movie star.

Hollywood and Vine

1945

That Other Woman poster
6.7

A secretary by the name of Emily Borden comes up with a convoluted plan to get her boss to marry her which backfires after some bad advice.

That Other Woman

1942

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore poster
7.0

A young girl rents an apartment from a man who has recently enlisted in the Marines. The trouble is that he's given out keys to a half-dozen of his friends, and they all keep dropping in.

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore

1944

Play Girl poster
6.4

When a gold digger starts to get a little old to ply her trade, she teaches a younger woman all her tricks.

Play Girl

1941

Best Foot Forward poster
6.8

Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to come to Winsocki's big dance. Ball's publicity-hungry agent convinces her to go in order to boost her career. Complications arise when Bud's girlfriend Helen Schlesinger unexpectedly shows up, too.

Best Foot Forward

1943

Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case poster
7.5

Like the first entry, this one is played mostly for laughs, with Radio's Mister District Attorney. James Ellison replacing Dennis O'Keefe as feckless assistant DA P. Cadwallader Jones. The publisher of a tony fashion magazine is murdered, requiring Jones to sift through a colorful array of suspects. He is helped along by snoopy girl reporter Terry Parker.

Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case

1941

Ice-Capades poster
5.9

Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.

Ice-Capades

1941

Lady, Let's Dance poster
6.7

Singing, dancing, and ice skating are featured in this musical that focuses on ice-skating sensation Belita. The story begins as she travels to a California resort where she has been hired as a replacement for a dance team. The resort is run by a handsome fellow. As a result of the gig, the skater becomes a national star while the resort manager gets fired and becomes a drifter until he ends up in the Army. The Oscar nominated score includes the following songs: "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams", "Dream of Dreams", "Rio", "In the Days of Beau Brummel", "Lady, Let's Dance", "Happy Hearts", "Ten Million Men and a Girl", and the rhumba standard "Esperanza".

Lady, Let's Dance

1944

1930s · 25 titles

The Plainsman poster
6.5

Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Buffalo Bill go up against Indians and a gunrunner.

The Plainsman

1936

Vivacious Lady poster
7.0

College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzling night-club singer.

Vivacious Lady

1938

Fifth Avenue Girl poster
7.0

A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglectful family.

Fifth Avenue Girl

1939

Play Girl poster
5.0

A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.

Play Girl

1932

Zenobia poster
5.0

A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.

Zenobia

1939

The Eagle's Brood poster
5.8

When the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy's life, Hoppy agrees to find his missing grandson.

The Eagle's Brood

1935

The Famous Ferguson Case poster
6.6

A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed. Two types of New York City journalists descend on Cornwall, one interested in facts, the other in getting sensational "news". Mrs. Ferguson is known to have been friendly with a local banker. The Fergusons quarrel the evening he is killed (by "burglars", his wife tells the police later), and she is arrested, spurred on by the "bad" journalists, who also manage to badger the banker's wife into the hospital. Meanwhile, young Bruce Foster runs the Cornwall Courier, and shows the big city reporters how to dig out real news while they attempt to subvert justice for their own ends.

The Famous Ferguson Case

1932

The Barrier poster
10.0

Gale, a store owner, lives in an Alaskan village with his grown ward, Necia, whom he had rescued years before from her murderer father, Captain Bennett. Now Bennett, disguised as Ben Stark, has arrived in the village seeking vengeance and his daughter.

The Barrier

1937

Buried Loot poster
6.4

An embezzler who expects to serve his time in prison and then pick up his buried loot is in for a surprise.

Buried Loot

1935

The Leathernecks Have Landed poster
7.0

Dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Marines after starting a barroom brawl that gets his leatherneck buddy "Tubby" Waters killed, hothead "Woody" Davis infiltrates a gang of Shanghai gunrunners to bring the culprit to justice.

The Leathernecks Have Landed

1936

Next Time I Marry poster
7.2

Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.

Next Time I Marry

1938

Call of the Prairie poster
5.8

Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda. He takes a liking to her only to learn her father Shanghai is one of Porter's gang. Going after Shanghai, he gets captured by the gang and Porter now plans to kill him. But Hoppy is near by and Johnny will get unexpected help from Shanghai.

Call of the Prairie

1936

Almost a Gentleman poster
8.0

Saving a dog from the pound gets a man mixed up in murder.

Almost a Gentleman

1939

Hop-a-long Cassidy poster
6.5

An evil ranch foreman tries to provoke a range war by playing two cattlemen against each other while helping a gang to rustle the cattle. Each cattleman blames the other for missing cattle. With the help of Bill Cassidy (Hop-along, because of an earlier bullet wound) and Johnny Nelson, the warring cattlemen join forces to do in the outlaws.

Hop-a-long Cassidy

1935

Annapolis Salute poster
6.7

The adventures of three disparate cadets at the US Naval Academy--one the son of a Navy enlisted man, the other the scion of a wealthy family, the third decent but somewhat slow-witted--and their struggles with the rigors of the academy, women, and each other.

Annapolis Salute

1937

Heart of the West poster
5.2

Problems come in the form of one of Hopalong Cassidy's neighbors, but the matter is settled when Hoppy roots out the troublemaker.

Heart of the West

1936

Hitch Hike Lady poster
7.8

Brit Amelia Blake travels to America to join her son Alfred. Fate forces her to hitchhike to California, a perilous journey that she shares with kind young Judy Martin. When Judy and another fellow traveler discover the unfortunate truth about Alfred, they struggle to spare Amelia's feelings.

Hitch Hike Lady

1935

23 1/2 Hours Leave poster
6.0

Army training Sgt. Gray makes a bet that he can get himself invited to breakfast with his commanding officer, General Markley. But he gets into an unhappy tangle with a couple of enemy spies (and a happy tangle with the general's daughter) before the bet is finally decided.

23 1/2 Hours Leave

1937

Reckless poster
5.1

A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire.

Reckless

1935

Three on the Trail poster
6.0

An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.

Three on the Trail

1936

The Winning Ticket poster
4.2

A barber tries to find the winning lottery ticket he hid from his moralistic wife.

The Winning Ticket

1935

Mother Carey's Chickens poster
6.0

A financially-strapped mother and her children relocate from the city to a small rural town.

Mother Carey's Chickens

1938

Trail Dust poster
5.3

Hoppy, Johnny and Windy are fighting a malicious gang trying to stop a cattle drive from reaching a drought-stricken North.

Trail Dust

1936

Sorority House poster
7.3

A young girl begins to wonder if she really fits into the upper-class sorority she's trying to join.

Sorority House

1939

Borderland poster
7.5

Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) to track down a bunch of outlaws operating along the border. Loco, the head bad guy, deflects suspicion from himself by pretending to be a moron.

Borderland

1937