James Westerfield
Acting • Born 1913-03-22 – Died 1971-09-20
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James A. Westerfield (22 March 1913 – 20 September 1971) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife Dora Elizabeth Bailey, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. (A news story in the June 12, 1949, issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle calls the information in the preceding sentence into question. It describes Westerfield as "the son of a famous producer-director" and says that he was "a youngster in Denver, Col.") He became interested in theatre as a young man and in the 1930s joined Gilmor Brown's famed Pasadena Community Playhouse, appearing in dozens of plays. He played in numerous films following his debut in 1940, then went to New York City and appeared on Broadway, winning two New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for his supporting roles in The Madwoman of Chaillot and Detective Story. He then returned to Hollywood and made more than 40 more films. Westerfield maintained an interest in the theatre. He directed more than 50 musicals in a summer-musical tent he owned in Danbury, Connecticut, and was the original stage director and producer for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. He directed three seasons of "Theatre Under the Stars" in Vancouver, British Columbia, and appeared in musical roles with the Detroit Civic Light Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and the San Francisco Civic Light Opera. On film, Westerfield had roles in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), On The Waterfront (1954), Lucy Gallant (1955), the 1957 Budd Boetticher-directed Western Decision at Sundown starring Randolph Scott, Cowboy (1958), a repeating role in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Man's Favorite Sport (1964), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969). Westerfield had many roles on television, including seven episodes as John Murrel from 1963 to 1964 on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Sheriff Bert Elmore in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Angry Mourner." He also appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1954 entitled "Texas Draw." Westerfield's other appearances were on such series as The Rifleman, The Californians, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Alaskans, The Rebel, Straightaway, Going My Way, The Asphalt Jungle, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show, Daniel Boone, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gunsmoke. He played the circus leader, Dr. Marvello, in an episode of Lost in Space "Space Circus" (1966). Westerfield as a young man was a roommate of fellow Pasadena Playhouse actor George Reeves. The two remained close friends until Reeves's death in 1959. Westerfield was married to Alice G. Fay (an actress under the name Fay Tracey), who, along with his mother, survived him. Westerfield died from a heart attack in Woodlands Hills, California, at the age of fifty-eight.
Filmography
121 credits
Birdman of Alcatraz
Movie • 1962
Jess Younger
On the Waterfront
Movie • 1954
Big Mac
Hang 'em High
Movie • 1968
Prisoner
Man with the Gun
Movie • 1955
Mr. Zender
The Chase
Movie • 1946
Job the Butler
Homicidal
Movie • 1961
Alfred S. Adrims
The Bachelor Party
Movie • 1953
Bookkeeper
The Human Jungle
Movie • 1954
Marty Harrison
Undercurrent
Movie • 1946
Henry Gilson
The Sons of Katie Elder
Movie • 1965
Mr. Vennar
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Movie • 1950
Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited)
Decision at Sundown
Movie • 1957
Otis, the Bartender
True Grit
Movie • 1969
Judge Parker
Away All Boats
Movie • 1956
Man's Favorite Sport?
Movie • 1964
Policeman
Scalplock
Movie • 1966
Nehemiah
Highway West
Movie • 1941
Swede, Trucker at Cafe
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
Movie • 1966
Jack Balter
A Man Called Gannon
Movie • 1968
Amos
Wild River
Movie • 1960
Cal Garth
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
Movie • 1965
Charley Mardis
The Cobweb
Movie • 1955
James Petlee
The Gunfight at Dodge City
Movie • 1959
Reverend Howard
The Proud Rebel
Movie • 1958
Birm Bates
Dead Aim
Movie • 1971
John Applebee
Now You See It, Now You Don't
Movie • 1968
Capt. Boyle
The Plunderers
Movie • 1960
Mike Baron
The Pride of the Yankees
Movie • 1942
Spectator (uncredited)
Jungle Heat
Movie • 1957
Harvey Mathews
The Scarlet Coat
Movie • 1955
Col. Jameson
Three Brave Men
Movie • 1956
Chief O'Reilly
Side Street
Movie • 1950
Charlie (policeman)
The Violent Men
Movie • 1955
Sheriff Magruder
Blue
Movie • 1968
Abe Parker
The Helen Morgan Story
Movie • 1957
Frank Piggin
Set This Town on Fire
Movie • 1973
Cark Rickter
The Shaggy Dog
Movie • 1959
Officer Hanson
Old Man
Movie • 1958
Warden
Cowboy
Movie • 1958
Mike Adams
The Magnificent Ambersons
Movie • 1942
Policeman at Accident (uncredited)
The Hangman
Movie • 1959
Herb Loftus
The Absent-Minded Professor
Movie • 1961
Officer Hanson
The Howards of Virginia
Movie • 1940
Backwoodsman
Son of Flubber
Movie • 1963
Officer Hanson
Three Hours to Kill
Movie • 1954
Sam Minor
That Funny Feeling
Movie • 1965
Officer Brokaw
Bartleby
Movie • 1969
The Lawyer
Smith!
Movie • 1969
Sheriff
The Love God?
Movie • 1969
Rev. Wilkerson
About Face
Movie • 1942
Soldier with Daisy (uncredited)
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Movie • 1951
Joe London
Chief Crazy Horse
Movie • 1955
Caleb Mantz
Around the World
Movie • 1943
Bashful Marine
The Boy Who Stole the Elephant
Movie • 1970
Sheriff Berry
Lucy Gallant
Movie • 1955
Harry Wilson
Bikini Beach
Movie • 1964
Cop #2
Alcatraz Express
Movie • 1961
The Time Tunnel
TV • 1966
Sheriff
The Andy Griffith Show
TV • 1960
Uncle Ollie
The Great Adventure
TV • 1963
Attorney Thomas Green
Trackdown
TV • 1957
Green Acres
TV • 1965
My Three Sons
TV • 1960
The Beverly Hillbillies
TV • 1962
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
TV • 1963
John Murrel
Mannix
TV • 1967
Lost in Space
TV • 1965
Dr. Marvello
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Rance Bradley
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Sheriff Elmore
Studio One
TV • 1948
Captain James Reagan
Bewitched
TV • 1964
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Bartender
Lassie
TV • 1954
The Twilight Zone
TV • 1959
Anthony O'Toole
The Tall Man
TV • 1960
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Commissioner Cummings
Straightaway
TV • 1961
Going My Way
TV • 1962
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV • 1958
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Matt Lucas
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Hand
The Outcasts
TV • 1968
Thriller
TV • 1960
Al Matthews
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
TV • 1957
McAllister
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Jeb Lassiter
The 20th Century Fox Hour
TV • 1955
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
Profiles in Courage
TV • 1964
Sen. Samuel Pomeroy
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
TV • 1956
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
The Alaskans
TV • 1959
Wanted: Dead or Alive
TV • 1958
Dr. Langland
The Rifleman
TV • 1958
The Rebel
TV • 1959
Suee
The Dakotas
TV • 1963
Bat Masterson
TV • 1958
Shapley Howell
Law of the Plainsman
TV • 1959
Joshua Jones
The Texan
TV • 1958
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Bert Farrow
Inner Sanctum
TV • 1954
Johnny Ringo
TV • 1959
Aben Burke
Tightrope
TV • 1959
The Walter Winchell File
TV • 1957
State Trooper
TV • 1956
The Asphalt Jungle
TV • 1961
Maverick
TV • 1957
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Mort Henry
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Harry Duggan
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Cleed
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Franks
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
The General
The Lucy Show
TV • 1962
Weitzman
Mayberry R.F.D.
TV • 1968
Sheriff Matson
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Simon Girty
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Roger Quigley
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Pops Lafferty
Studio One
TV • 1948
Bilgeboy / Jimmy Scaggs
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
H.T. Carmichael
Casey, Crime Photographer
TV • 1951
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
McAvity
Bonanza
TV • 1959
Arthur Blackwell