J. Farrell MacDonald

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia John Farrell MacDonald June 6 1875 August 2 1952 was an American character actor and director He played supporting roles and occasional leads He appeared in over 325 films over a 41year career from 1911 to 1951 and directed fortyfour silent films from 1912 to 1917 MacDonald was the principal director of L Frank Baums Oz Film Manufacturing Company and he can frequently be seen in the films of Frank Capra Preston Sturges and especially John Ford Early in his career MacDonald was a singer in minstrel shows and he toured the United States extensively for two years with stage productions He made his first silent film in 1911 a dramatic short entitled The Scarlett Letter made by Carl Laemmles Independent Moving Pictures Company IMP the forerunner of Universal Pictures He continued to act in numerous films each year from that time on and by 1912 he was directing them as well The first film he directed was The Worth of a Man another dramatic short again for IMP and he was to direct 43 more films until his last in 1917 Over the Fence which he codirected with Harold Lloyd MacDonald had crossed paths with Lloyd several years earlier when Lloyd was an extra and MacDonald had given him muchneeded work and he did the same with Hal Roach both of whom appearing in small roles in The Patchwork Girl of Oz which MacDonald directed in 1914 When Roach set up his own studio with Lloyd as his principal attraction he hired MacDonald to direct By 1918 MacDonald who was to become one of the most beloved character men in Hollywood had given up directing and was acting fulltime predominantly in Westerns and Irish comedies He first worked under director John Ford in 1919s A Fight for Love In all Ford would use MacDonald on twentyfive films between 1919 and 1950 With a voice that matched his personality MacDonald made the transition to sound films easily with no noticeable drop in his acting output if anything it went up In 1931 for instance MacDonald appeared in 14 films among them the first version of The Maltese Falcon in which he played Detective Tom Polhaus and in 22 of them in 1932 Although he played laborers policemen military men and priests among many other characters his roles were usually a cut above a bit part His characters usually had names and he was most often credited for his performances A highlight of this period was his performance as the hobo Mr Tramp in Our Little Girl with Shirley Temple 1935 In the 1940s MacDonald was part of Preston Sturges unofficial stock company of character actors appearing in seven films written and directed by Sturges MacDonald appeared in Sullivans Travels The Palm Beach Story The Miracle of Morgans Creek The Great Moment The Sin of Harold Diddlebock Unfaithfully Yours and The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Sturges last American film Earlier MacDonald had also appeared in The Power and the Glory which Sturges wrote His work on Sturges films was generally uncredited He was notable in 1946 in John Fords My Darling Clementine in which he played Mac the bartender in the town saloon MacDonald also had uncredited roles in Its a Wonderful Life and Here Comes The Groom