Harry Shannon (actor)

{{Short description|American actor (1890–1964)}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harry Shannon

| image = Harry Shannon in The Jackie Robinson Story.jpg

| caption = Shannon in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|06|13}}

| birth_place = Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1964|07|27|1890|06|13}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1930–1963

}}

Harry Shannon (June 13, 1890 – July 27, 1964) was an American character actor. He often appeared in Western films.

Biography

Shannon was born on a farm in Saginaw, Michigan. After beginning his career in live theater and vaudeville, be switched to the film industry in the 1930s.

His Broadway credits included Mrs. O'Brien Entertains (1939), Washington Jitters (1938), Under Glass (1933), Pardon My English (1933), Free For All (1931), Simple Simon (1931), Jonica (1930), Hold Everything (1928), and Oh, Kay! (1926).{{cite web |title=Harry Shannon |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/harry-shannon-59687 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181006022514/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/harry-shannon-59687 |archive-date=October 6, 2018 |url-status=live }}

Although he appeared most frequently in Westerns in the last decade of his career, his best-known film role was perhaps as Charles Foster Kane's rough father in Citizen Kane (1941).{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/64813/Harry-Shannon/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215235125/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/64813/Harry-Shannon/biography|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 15, 2014|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Hal Erickson|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2014|title=Harry Shannon biography|access-date=December 10, 2014}} Among his other films were Someone to Remember (1943), Alaska Highway (1943), San Quentin (1946), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) and Witness to Murder (1954).

In 1956 he appeared as Matt Crowley in the "Johnny Bravo" episode of the TV Western Cheyenne. In 1960, he was cast as outlaw Clay Hooper in the "Showdown at Goldtown" episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers Western television series, Colt .45.{{Citation needed |date=October 2020}} He appeared as the villain cowboy Dad "Jobe Craig" in S3E27's "Meeting at Mimbres" in the 1961 Western Bat Masterson. He appeared in several other TV Westerns in the late 1950s and early 1960s: Sheriff of Cochise, Have Gun - Will Travel, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Texan and Laramie.

Shannon died in Hollywood on July 27, 1964, at age 74.{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786409839 |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Harry+Shannon+%22+actor&pg=PA149 |access-date=October 6, 2018 |language=en}}

Selected filmography

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Television

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1955Alfred Hitchcock PresentsDr. HarnerSeason 1 Episode 7: "Breakdown"
1961RawhideJeffriesSeason 3 Episode 28: "Incident of the Blackstorms"
1961GunsmokeBowersSeason 6 Episode 23: "About Chester"

References

{{reflist}}