Actor

James Flavin

May 14, 1906 · Portland, Maine, USA

American character actor whose career lasted nearly half a century. James Wilson Flavin Jr. was the son of a hotel waiter of Canadian-English extraction and a mother, Katherine, whose father was an Irish immigrant. (Thus Flavin, well-known in Hollywood as an "Irish" type, was only one-quarter Irish.) Flavin was born and raised in Portland, Maine (a fact that may have enrichened his later working relationship with director John Ford, also a Portland native). He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, but (contrary to some sources) did not graduate. Instead he dropped out and returned to Portland where he drove a taxi. Then as now, summer stock companies flocked to Maine each year, and in 1929 he was asked to fill in for an actor.

Notable work

7.6
King Kong (1933)
as Mate Briggs
7.8
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
as Guard (uncredited)
8.5
The Twilight Zone (1959)
as 1962 Policeman and as Truck Driver
7.6
Laura (1944)
as Det. McEveety (uncredited)
7
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
as Patrolman (uncredited)
6.9
Saboteur (1942)
as Motorcycle Cop (voice) (uncredited)
7.6
Mildred Pierce (1945)
as Detective (uncredited)
7.5
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
as Jailer (uncredited)
8
The Addams Family (1964)
as Lt. Poston
7.5
In Cold Blood (1967)
as Clarence Duntz
7.6
My Man Godfrey (1936)
as Detective (uncredited)
6.9
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
as First Mate on Yacht (uncredited)

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