
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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