Harry Shannon
Acting
Born 1890-06-12
Died 1964-07-27
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
148 credits
Read 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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 148
Acting
49 credits
The Virginian
Have Gun, Will Travel
Rawhide
The Untouchables
Gunsmoke
Bat Masterson
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Sugarfoot
The Ford Television Theatre
The Millionaire
The Texan
Citizen Kane
High Noon
Cavalcade of America
Touch of Evil
Wire Service
The Lady from Shanghai
The Tall Men
Letter to Loretta
Crime, Inc.
The Buccaneer
Written on the Wind
The Gunfighter
Gypsy
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Canyon Passage
The Red House
In Old California
Wild in the Country
This Gun for Hire
In Old Oklahoma
At Gunpoint
The Violent Men
Champion
Where Danger Lives
Executive Suite
Yellowstone Kelly
The Mummy's Ghost
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Nora Prentiss
Flesh and Fury
Young Tom Edison
The Lonely Man
Tulsa
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Witness to Murder
Summer and Smoke
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Killer That Stalked New York
Other credits
11 credits
Lassie
Cheyenne
Navy Log
The Real McCoys
State Trooper
Lock-Up
The Thin Man
The Dakotas
26 Men
The Man Behind the Badge
Angel
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