Harry Shannon
Acting • Born 1890-06-12 – Died 1964-07-27
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.
Filmography
152 credits
Citizen Kane
Movie • 1941
Jim Kane
High Noon
Movie • 1952
Cooper
Touch of Evil
Movie • 1958
Chief Gould
My Girl Tisa
Movie • 1948
The Lady from Shanghai
Movie • 1947
Cab Driver
Where Danger Lives
Movie • 1950
Dr. Maynard
The Red House
Movie • 1947
Dr. Jonathan Byrne
The Lemon Drop Kid
Movie • 1951
John (Policeman)
The Killer That Stalked New York
Movie • 1950
Police Officer Houlihan
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Movie • 1948
Tesander
Nora Prentiss
Movie • 1947
Police Lieutenant
Cry of the Hunted
Movie • 1953
Sheriff Brown
Night Editor
Movie • 1946
Capt. Lawrence
A Peach of a Pair
Movie • 1934
The Underworld Story
Movie • 1950
George Parker
Crime, Inc.
Movie • 1945
Police Commissioner Collins
The Scarf
Movie • 1951
Asylum Warden Anderson
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
Movie • 1947
Detective Owens, San Diego Police
The Lonely Man
Movie • 1957
Dr. Fisher
The Jackie Robinson Story
Movie • 1950
Charlie
The Farmer's Daughter
Movie • 1947
Mr. Holstrom
Witness to Murder
Movie • 1954
Captain Donnelly
City of Chance
Movie • 1940
Passline
This Gun for Hire
Movie • 1942
Steve Finnerty
Hunt the Man Down
Movie • 1950
Wallace Bennett
The Invisible Wall
Movie • 1947
Det. Capt. R.W. Davis
Gypsy
Movie • 1962
Grandpa
Kansas Pacific
Movie • 1953
Smokestack the Train Engineer
Written on the Wind
Movie • 1956
Hoak Wayne
Mr. Soft Touch
Movie • 1949
Police Sergeant Garrett
The Last Crooked Mile
Movie • 1946
Police Lieutenant Blake
Yellowstone Kelly
Movie • 1959
Captain of the Far West (uncredited)
San Quentin
Movie • 1946
Warden Kelly
The Saint In Palm Springs
Movie • 1941
Chief R.L. Graves
Man or Gun
Movie • 1958
Justin Corley
Flesh and Fury
Movie • 1952
Mike Callan
Tulsa
Movie • 1949
Nelse Lansing
Exposed
Movie • 1947
Severance
At Gunpoint
Movie • 1955
Marshal Pete MacKay
Mary Ryan, Detective
Movie • 1949
Sawyer
20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang
Movie • 1933
Alibi Mark
Movie • 1937
Railroad Detective
When the Lights Go On Again
Movie • 1944
Tom Cary
The Yellow Rose of Texas
Movie • 1944
Sam Weston
Song of Texas
Movie • 1943
Sam Bennett
Singing Guns
Movie • 1950
Judge Waller
Hell's Crossroads
Movie • 1957
Clay Ford
Smoked Hams
Movie • 1934
The Landlord
Idaho
Movie • 1943
Judge John Grey
Duel at Apache Wells
Movie • 1957
Wayne Shattuck
The Marauders
Movie • 1955
John Rutherford
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek
Movie • 1950
Clay
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
Movie • 1940
Capt. Mahoney
Rails Into Laramie
Movie • 1954
Judge Pierce
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
Movie • 1942
Pinky Dolan
Jack Slade
Movie • 1953
Tom Carter
The Flying Missile
Movie • 1950
Vice Admiral Williams
True to Life
Movie • 1943
Mr. Mason
Lure of the Wilderness
Movie • 1952
Pat McGowan
The Violent Men
Movie • 1955
Purdue
Come Next Spring
Movie • 1956
Mr. Totter
Al Jennings of Oklahoma
Movie • 1951
Fred Salter
Three Little Words
Movie • 1950
Clanahan
Wild in the Country
Movie • 1961
Sam Tyler (uncredited)
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
Movie • 1942
Mr. Tim Wiggs
Time Out of Mind
Movie • 1947
Capt. Rogers
Fighting Father Dunne
Movie • 1948
Thomas Lee
Heads Up
Movie • 1930
Capt. Denny
The Powers Girl
Movie • 1943
Mr. Hendricks
Summer and Smoke
Movie • 1961
Dr. Burke (uncredited)
Dangerous Years
Movie • 1947
Judge Raymond
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Movie • 1942
Ed Cumberland
Alaska Highway
Movie • 1943
John 'Pop' Ormsby
Sailor's Lady
Movie • 1940
Father McGann
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair
Movie • 1939
Father
I Ring Doorbells
Movie • 1946
Shannon
Shake, Mr. Shakespeare
Movie • 1936
Macbeth
Phantom Stallion
Movie • 1954
Michael Reilly
Big Town Scandal
Movie • 1948
Police Captain Henry (uncredited)
Parole Fixer
Movie • 1940
Randall
The World of Tomorrow
Movie • 1984
Pop Middleton (archive footage)
Young Tom Edison
Movie • 1940
Army Captain Brackett
Hold Back the Dawn
Movie • 1941
American Immigration Official (uncredited)
Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'
Movie • 1948
Chauncey
The Gunfighter
Movie • 1950
Chuck (uncredited)
Rustlers
Movie • 1949
Sheriff Harmon
In Old California
Movie • 1942
Mr. Carlin
Too Many Girls
Movie • 1940
Mr. Casey
Champion
Movie • 1949
Lew
Wrongorilla
Movie • 1933
Grogan
Someone to Remember
Movie • 1943
Tom Gibbons
Cow Town
Movie • 1950
Sandy Reeves
Take a Chance
Movie • 1933
Bartender
Sympathy
Movie • 1929
Larry
Close Relations
Movie • 1933
Harry Wart
Faint Heart
Movie • 1929
Dynamite Dan
The Mummy's Ghost
Movie • 1944
Sheriff Elwood
The Tall Men
Movie • 1955
Sam
The Peacemaker
Movie • 1956
Drunken Cowpuncher
Gambling on the High Seas
Movie • 1940
Ed, Chief of Police
No More West
Movie • 1934
Bank Robber
Tear Gas Squad
Movie • 1940
Lieutenant Sullivan
One Crowded Night
Movie • 1940
McDermott
In Old Oklahoma
Movie • 1943
Charlie Witherspoon
Headin' for God's Country
Movie • 1943
Albert Ness
The Falcon Takes Over
Movie • 1942
Detective Grimes (Uncredited)
Blue Blood
Movie • 1951
Mr. Buchanan
Captain Eddie
Movie • 1945
Simmons
The Lady Is Willing
Movie • 1942
Barnes
The Sound of Fury
Movie • 1950
Mr. Yaeger
Roar of the Crowd
Movie • 1953
Sam 'Pop' Tracy
Tarnished
Movie • 1950
Kelsey Bunker
Executive Suite
Movie • 1954
Ed Benedeck
The Big Street
Movie • 1942
Florida Doctor (uncredited)
Crack-Up
Movie • 1946
Cop (Uncredited)
The Girl from Avenue A
Movie • 1940
Timson
The Mad Martindales
Movie • 1942
Policeman
The Buccaneer
Movie • 1958
Tom Carruthers - Captain of the Corinthian
Pride of the Marines
Movie • 1945
Uncle Ralph
Canyon Passage
Movie • 1946
Henry McLane (uncredited)
The Campus Mystery
Movie • 1932
Police Sergeant
Pride of Maryland
Movie • 1951
Walter Shannon
Cheyenne
TV • 1955
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Bowers
Lassie
TV • 1954
Angel
TV • 1960
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Dr. Harner
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Claggert
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Jesse
The Millionaire
TV • 1955
Judge William Jennings Westholme
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Uncle Josh
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Big Jim Heywood
The Thin Man
TV • 1957
The Real McCoys
TV • 1957
Navy Log
TV • 1955
Lock-Up
TV • 1959
The Dakotas
TV • 1963
Sugarfoot
TV • 1957
Henry Shipman
Bat Masterson
TV • 1958
Jobe Crail
The Texan
TV • 1958
Wire Service
TV • 1956
Harris Ellerby
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
State Trooper
TV • 1956
26 Men
TV • 1957
The Man Behind the Badge
TV • 1953
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Tom
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Kilo
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Sheriff Blanton
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Samuel Morse
The Ford Television Theatre
TV • 1952
Judge Varney
The Untouchables
TV • 1959
Michael Shaw
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Jeffries