Harry Shannon
Biography
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.
Acting (117 movies)
Citizen Kane
1941
High Noon
1952
Touch of Evil
1958
My Girl Tisa
1948
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
Where Danger Lives
1950
The Red House
1947
The Lemon Drop Kid
1951
The Killer That Stalked New York
1950
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
1948
Nora Prentiss
1947
Cry of the Hunted
1953
Night Editor
1946
A Peach of a Pair
1934
The Underworld Story
1950
Crime, Inc.
1945
The Scarf
1951
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
1947
The Lonely Man
1957
The Jackie Robinson Story
1950
The Farmer's Daughter
1947
Witness to Murder
1954
City of Chance
1940
This Gun for Hire
1942
Hunt the Man Down
1950
The Invisible Wall
1947
Gypsy
1962
Kansas Pacific
1953
Written on the Wind
1956
Mr. Soft Touch
1949
The Last Crooked Mile
1946
Yellowstone Kelly
1959
San Quentin
1946
The Saint In Palm Springs
1941
Man or Gun
1958
Flesh and Fury
1952
Tulsa
1949
Exposed
1947
At Gunpoint
1955
Mary Ryan, Detective
1949
Alibi Mark
1937
When the Lights Go On Again
1944
The Yellow Rose of Texas
1944
Song of Texas
1943
Singing Guns
1950
Hell's Crossroads
1957
Smoked Hams
1934
Idaho
1943
Duel at Apache Wells
1957
The Marauders
1955
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek
1950
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940
Rails Into Laramie
1954
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
1942
Jack Slade
1953
The Flying Missile
1950
True to Life
1943
Lure of the Wilderness
1952
The Violent Men
1955
Come Next Spring
1956
Al Jennings of Oklahoma
1951
Three Little Words
1950
Wild in the Country
1961
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1942
Time Out of Mind
1947
Fighting Father Dunne
1948
Heads Up
1930
The Powers Girl
1943
Summer and Smoke
1961
Dangerous Years
1947
Once Upon a Honeymoon
1942
Alaska Highway
1943
Sailor's Lady
1940
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair
1939
I Ring Doorbells
1946
Shake, Mr. Shakespeare
1936
Phantom Stallion
1954
Big Town Scandal
1948
Parole Fixer
1940
The World of Tomorrow
1984
Young Tom Edison
1940
Hold Back the Dawn
1941
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
1948
The Gunfighter
1950
Rustlers
1949
In Old California
1942
Too Many Girls
1940
Champion
1949
Someone to Remember
1943
Cow Town
1950
Sympathy
1929
Close Relations
1933
Faint Heart
1929
The Mummy's Ghost
1944
The Tall Men
1955
The Peacemaker
1956
Gambling on the High Seas
1940
No More West
1934
Tear Gas Squad
1940
One Crowded Night
1940
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