A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
James Austin Gleason
Jimmy Gleason
Джеймс Глисон
Birthplace:
New York City, New York, USA
Born:
May 22, 1882
Died:
April 12, 1959
James Gleason was born in New York City to William Gleason and Mina Crolius, who were both in the theatre. He was married to Lucile Gleason (born Lucile Webster), and had a son, Russell Gleason. As a young man James fought in the Spanish-American War. After the war he joined the stock company at the Liberty Theater in Oakland, California, which his parents were running. James and his wife then moved to Portland, Oregon, where they played in stock at the Baker Theater. For several years afterward they toured in road shows until James enlisted in the army during World War I. When he returned he appeared on the stage in "The Five Million." He then turned to writing, including "Is Zat So", which he produced for the NY stage. He also wrote and acted in "The Fall Guy" and "The Shannons on Broadway." Next he wrote The Broadway Melody (1929) for MGM. He collaborated, in 1930, on The Swellhead (1930), Dumbbells in Ermine (1930), What a Widow! (1930), Rain or Shine (1930) and His First Command (1929). He and his wife were then contracted to Pathe, Lucille to act, and James (or Jimmie as he was known) as a writer. Probably his most famous acting role was as Max Corkle, the manager of Joe Pendleton who was wrongly plucked from this life into the next, in the hit fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
Adaptation:
1930 What a Widow!
Additional Dialogue:
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 What a Widow!
Additional Writing:
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 What a Widow!
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Dialogue:
1929 High Voltage
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Swellhead
1930 What a Widow!
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Director:
1929 High Voltage
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Swellhead
1930 What a Widow!
1932 Always Kickin'
1932 Off His Base
1935 Hot Tip
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Screenplay:
1929 High Voltage
1929 His First Command
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Swellhead
1930 What a Widow!
1932 Always Kickin'
1932 Off His Base
1933 Orders Is Orders
1933 The Bowery
1934 Change of Heart
1935 Hot Tip
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Story:
1929 High Voltage
1929 His First Command
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Swellhead
1930 What a Widow!
1932 Always Kickin'
1932 Off His Base
1933 Orders Is Orders
1933 The Bowery
1934 Change of Heart
1935 Hot Tip
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Theatre Play:
1929 High Voltage
1929 His First Command
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Mammy
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Swellhead
1930 What a Widow!
1932 Always Kickin'
1932 Off His Base
1933 Orders Is Orders
1933 The Bowery
1934 Change of Heart
1935 Hot Tip
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Writer:
1929 High Voltage
1929 His First Command
1929 The Broadway Melody
1929 The Flying Fool
1930 Dumb-bells in Ermine
1930 Mammy
1930 Puttin' on the Ritz
1930 Rain or Shine
1930 Swellhead
1930 The Fall Guy
1930 What a Widow!
1931 Beyond Victory
1931 Three Hollywood Girls
1932 Always Kickin'
1932 Off His Base
1933 Orders Is Orders
1933 The Bowery
1934 Change of Heart
1935 Hot Tip
1935 Murder in the Fleet
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.