Gordon Jones

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Gordon Wynnivo Jones April 5 1911 June 20 1963 was an American character actor a member of John Waynes informal acting company best known for playing Lou Costellos TV nemesis Mike the Cop and appearing as The Green Hornet in the first of two movie serials based on that oldtime radio program Iowaborn Jones had been a student athlete and star football guard Bull Jones at University of California Los Angeles and had also played a few seasons of professional football He started out playing small roles in Wesley Ruggles and Ernest B Schoedsacks The Monkeys Paw 1933 his first credited role in Sam Woods Let Em Have It 1935 and Sidney Lanfields Red Salute 1935 By 1937 he had moved on to a contract at RKO Radio Pictures In 1940 Jones had the title role in The Green Hornet but did not reprise the role in the sequel Jones held a reserve commission in the army and was called into the service after filming his roles as The Wreck in My Sister Eileen 1942 and Alabama Smith in Flying Tigers 1942 a John Wayne vehicle that was one of the most popular action films of the war This picture began Jones 20year onscreen association with Wayne who was also a former football player at the University of Southern California Jones remained associated with the service after the war encouraging college students to consider the Reserve Officers Training Corps After resuming his acting career in the late 1940s Jones appeared in prominent roles in the John Wayne features Big Jim McLain 1952 and Island in the Sky 1953 By the end of the 1940s Jones had aged into a beefier screen presence and into very physical character roles He was no longer a leading man but he had developed a comic villain persona which meshed with the work of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Jones association with the duo began in The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap 1947 with the role of the films heavy Jake Frame and continued through their television series The Abbott and Costello Show Jones played Mike the Cop Costellos hulking loudvoiced antagonist The program was produced for only two seasons but ensured continued recognition for Jones via frequent reruns and a 21st Century DVD release Jones also remained busy in films and on television throughout the 1950s in pictures that ranged from the scifi chiller The Monster That Challenged the World to the Tony CurtisJanet Leigh sex comedy The Perfect Furlough and on TV series ranging from The Real McCoys to The Rifleman Jones also appeared in two very successful Disney movies during the early 60s The AbsentMinded Professor and Son of Flubber He played harried school coaches in both pictures He also starred with Mitzi Green and Virginia Gibson in the shortlived TV sitcom So This Is Hollywood 1955 and had a recurring role as neighbor Butch Barton during the early years of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Jones returned to the John Wayne stock company portraying Douglas the bureaucrat antagonist to Waynes GW McLintock in the Western comedy McLintock 1963 Jones unexpectedly succumbed to a heart attack on June 12 1963 five months before the release of that movie Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the West side of the 1600 block of Vine Street