Harry Shannon
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Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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.
Known for
Credits
Citizen Kane (1941)
as Jim Kane
High Noon (1952)
as Cooper
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Chief Gould
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
as Cab Driver
The Gunfighter (1950)
as Chuck (uncredited)
The Tall Men (1955)
as Sam
Gypsy (1962)
as Grandpa
Written on the Wind (1956)
as Hoak Wayne
Wild in the Country (1961)
as Sam Tyler (uncredited)
Canyon Passage (1946)
as Henry McLane (uncredited)
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
as Tesander
The Buccaneer (1958)
as Tom Carruthers - Captain of the Corinthian
The Violent Men (1955)
as Purdue
This Gun for Hire (1942)
as Steve Finnerty
In Old Oklahoma (1943)
as Charlie Witherspoon
The Red House (1947)
as Dr. Jonathan Byrne
Executive Suite (1954)
as Ed Benedeck
Champion (1949)
as Lew
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
as Captain of the Far West (uncredited)
Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
as Ed Cumberland
The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
as Detective Grimes (Uncredited)
The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
as Mr. Holstrom
The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
as John (Policeman)
Summer and Smoke (1961)
as Dr. Burke (uncredited)
Young Tom Edison (1940)
as Army Captain Brackett
Three Little Words (1950)
as Clanahan
Where Danger Lives (1950)
as Dr. Maynard
In Old California (1942)
as Mr. Carlin
The Big Street (1942)
as Florida Doctor (uncredited)
The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
as Sheriff Elwood
Nora Prentiss (1947)
as Police Lieutenant
Flesh and Fury (1952)
as Mike Callan
Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
as Police Sergeant Garrett
Exposed (1947)
as Severance
Kansas Pacific (1953)
as Smokestack the Train Engineer
Tulsa (1949)
as Nelse Lansing
Tarnished (1950)
as Kelsey Bunker
Pride of the Marines (1945)
as Uncle Ralph
Witness to Murder (1954)
as Captain Donnelly
Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
as Pat McGowan
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
as Charlie
Crime, Inc. (1945)
as Police Commissioner Collins
The Underworld Story (1950)
as George Parker
Al Jennings of Oklahoma (1951)
as Fred Salter
The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)
as Police Officer Houlihan
Singing Guns (1950)
as Judge Waller
The Last Crooked Mile (1946)
as Police Lieutenant Blake
Rails Into Laramie (1954)
as Judge Pierce
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
as American Immigration Official (uncredited)
The Lonely Man (1957)
as Dr. Fisher
The Sound of Fury (1950)
as Mr. Yaeger
Crack-Up (1946)
as Cop (Uncredited)
At Gunpoint (1955)
as Marshal Pete MacKay
Alibi Mark (1937)
as Railroad Detective
Cry of the Hunted (1953)
as Sheriff Brown
The Flying Missile (1950)
as Vice Admiral Williams
Tear Gas Squad (1940)
as Lieutenant Sullivan
Sailor's Lady (1940)
as Father McGann
Hell's Crossroads (1957)
as Clay Ford
San Quentin (1946)
as Warden Kelly
Time Out of Mind (1947)
as Capt. Rogers
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942)
as Pinky Dolan
The Scarf (1951)
as Asylum Warden Anderson
Come Next Spring (1956)
as Mr. Totter
The Lady Is Willing (1942)
as Barnes
Night Editor (1946)
as Capt. Lawrence
The Marauders (1955)
as John Rutherford
My Girl Tisa (1948)
Actor
Captain Eddie (1945)
as Simmons
The Saint In Palm Springs (1941)
as Chief R.L. Graves
The Powers Girl (1943)
as Mr. Hendricks
Parole Fixer (1940)
as Randall
Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)
as Capt. Mahoney
The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947)
as Detective Owens, San Diego Police
True to Life (1943)
as Mr. Mason
Too Many Girls (1940)
as Mr. Casey
Hunt the Man Down (1950)
as Wallace Bennett
The Yellow Rose of Texas (1944)
as Sam Weston
Pride of Maryland (1951)
as Walter Shannon
Take a Chance (1933)
as Bartender
Dangerous Years (1947)
as Judge Raymond
Gambling on the High Seas (1940)
as Ed, Chief of Police
Man or Gun (1958)
as Justin Corley
Big Town Scandal (1948)
as Police Captain Henry (uncredited)
Duel at Apache Wells (1957)
as Wayne Shattuck
Idaho (1943)
as Judge John Grey
Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
as Thomas Lee
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950)
as Clay
Faint Heart (1929)
as Dynamite Dan
The Peacemaker (1956)
as Drunken Cowpuncher
Mary Ryan, Detective (1949)
as Sawyer
The Mad Martindales (1942)
as Policeman
Alaska Highway (1943)
as John 'Pop' Ormsby
Sympathy (1929)
as Larry
Wrongorilla (1933)
as Grogan
City of Chance (1940)
as Passline
Jack Slade (1953)
as Tom Carter
Roar of the Crowd (1953)
as Sam 'Pop' Tracy
Phantom Stallion (1954)
as Michael Reilly
Headin' for God's Country (1943)
as Albert Ness
Rustlers (1949)
as Sheriff Harmon
The Girl from Avenue A (1940)
as Timson
The Invisible Wall (1947)
as Det. Capt. R.W. Davis
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942)
as Mr. Tim Wiggs
Blue Blood (1951)
as Mr. Buchanan
When the Lights Go On Again (1944)
as Tom Cary
Someone to Remember (1943)
as Tom Gibbons
No More West (1934)
as Bank Robber
Smoked Hams (1934)
as The Landlord
The World of Tomorrow (1984)
as Pop Middleton (archive footage)
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (1948)
as Chauncey
Heads Up (1930)
as Capt. Denny
One Crowded Night (1940)
as McDermott
A Peach of a Pair (1934)
Actor
Song of Texas (1943)
as Sam Bennett
Shake, Mr. Shakespeare (1936)
as Macbeth
I Ring Doorbells (1946)
as Shannon
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939)
as Father
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)
Actor
Cow Town (1950)
as Sandy Reeves
Close Relations (1933)
as Harry Wart
The Campus Mystery (1932)
as Police Sergeant