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Jim Davis (actor)
Encyclopedia
Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing
in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas
, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.
, his first major screen role was opposite Bette Davis
in the 1948 melodrama
Winter Meeting
. His film career consisted of mostly B movie
s, many of them westerns
, although he made an impression as a U.S. senator in the Warren Beatty
conspiracy thriller The Parallax View
. In the episode "Little Washington" of the syndicated television series
Death Valley Days
, Davis portrayed a Congressman from Nevada
.
From 1954-55, Davis starred and narrated the syndicated
western television series Stories of the Century
. He portrayed Matt Clark, a detective
for the Southwestern Railroad who works to bring notorious gunfighters to justice. His costars were Mary Castle
and Kristine Miller
. Stories of the Century was the first western series to win an Emmy Award
. Among the historical figures featured were John Wesley Hardin
, Sam Bass
, Doc Holliday
, the Dalton Brothers, the Younger Brothers, Belle Starr
, L.H. Musgrove
, and Clay Allison
.
From 1958-1960, Davis starred as Wes Cameron with Lang Jeffries
in the role of Skip Johnson in the syndicated
adventure
series Rescue 8
.
TV series.
During season three, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma
, but continued to film the show as long as he could. In many scenes as the season progressed, he was shown seated. He wore a wig to cover the hair he lost from chemotherapy. A season three storyline regarding the Takapa development and his separation from Miss Ellie was ended abruptly at the end of season three. The writers had the couple leave to go on an extended second honeymoon (their departure in a limousine in the episode "New Beginnings" was Davis's only scene in that episode and his final appearance on the show) when it became obvious that Davis could no longer continue to work. He died of complications from his illness while season three was on the air.
The show's writers made the decision not to write his death into the storyline right away. Initially, plans were made to replace him with another actor, but were dropped because of audience awareness, and that no suitable actor could be found for the role to be successfully recast.
His character was kept alive for 13 episodes after his death with the storyline that he was in South America
drilling for oil after taking care of Ewing Oil-related legislative business in Washington. The episode The Search confirmed the character's death in a helicopter crash was broadcast on January 8, 1982. A portrait of Davis in his role as Jock Ewing often appeared as a memorial on Dallas after his death.
Davis was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
.
at 6290 Hollywood Blvd.
Jock Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Sr., better known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Jim Davis and Dale Midkiff in Dallas: The Early Years...
in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.
Biography
Born as Marlin Davis in Edgerton, MissouriEdgerton, Missouri
Edgerton is a city in Platte County, Missouri, United States. The population was 533 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Edgerton is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, his first major screen role was opposite Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in the 1948 melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
Winter Meeting
Winter Meeting
Winter Meeting is a 1948 American drama film directed by Bretaigne Windust. The screenplay by Catherine Turney is based on the novel of the same title by Grace Zaring Stone, writing under the pseudonym Ethel Vance.-Synopsis:...
. His film career consisted of mostly B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s, many of them westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, although he made an impression as a U.S. senator in the Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
conspiracy thriller The Parallax View
The Parallax View
The Parallax View is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn and William Daniels. The film was adapted by David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr and an uncredited Robert Towne from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer...
. In the episode "Little Washington" of the syndicated television series
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
, Davis portrayed a Congressman from Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
From 1954-55, Davis starred and narrated the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western television series Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.-Synopsis:...
. He portrayed Matt Clark, a detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
for the Southwestern Railroad who works to bring notorious gunfighters to justice. His costars were Mary Castle
Mary Castle
Mary Ann Castle was an American actress of early film and television whose personal problems destroyed her once burgeoning career. Her best known role was as female detective Frankie Adams in the syndicated western series, Stories of the Century, which aired from 1954 to 1955.-Early years:Castle...
and Kristine Miller
Kristine Miller
Kristine Miller is an American actress who appeared in various supporting roles throughout the 1940s to the early 1960s.-Early life:...
. Stories of the Century was the first western series to win an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. Among the historical figures featured were John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin was an American outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk hero of the Old West. He was born in Bonham, Texas. Hardin found himself in trouble with the law at an early age, and spent the majority of his life being pursued by both local lawmen and federal troops of the...
, Sam Bass
Sam Bass
Sam Bass was a nineteenth-century American train robber and outlaw.-Early life:Bass was orphaned at the age of 10. For the next five years, he and his siblings lived with an abusive uncle. In 1869, he set out on his own and spent the next year in Mississippi...
, Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
, the Dalton Brothers, the Younger Brothers, Belle Starr
Belle Starr
Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr , better known as Belle Starr, was a notorious American outlaw.-Early life:...
, L.H. Musgrove
L.H. Musgrove
L. H. Musgrove was an outlaw of the American West who was sprung from jail in Denver, Colorado, and hanged by a vigilante mob. Over a number of years, he had been was charged with several murders and the theft of horses....
, and Clay Allison
Clay Allison
Clay Allison was a Texas cattle rancher and gunfighter. He is one of the best known historic figures of the American Old West.-Early life:...
.
From 1958-1960, Davis starred as Wes Cameron with Lang Jeffries
Lang Jeffries
Lang Jeffries was a Canadian-American actor of television and film who was married to actress Rhonda Fleming from 1960-1962....
in the role of Skip Johnson in the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
series Rescue 8
Rescue 8
Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1958, and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries...
.
Dallas (TV series)
After years of roles in a large number of Western films, in 1978 he was given the part of family patriarch Jock Ewing in the DallasDallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
TV series.
During season three, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...
, but continued to film the show as long as he could. In many scenes as the season progressed, he was shown seated. He wore a wig to cover the hair he lost from chemotherapy. A season three storyline regarding the Takapa development and his separation from Miss Ellie was ended abruptly at the end of season three. The writers had the couple leave to go on an extended second honeymoon (their departure in a limousine in the episode "New Beginnings" was Davis's only scene in that episode and his final appearance on the show) when it became obvious that Davis could no longer continue to work. He died of complications from his illness while season three was on the air.
The show's writers made the decision not to write his death into the storyline right away. Initially, plans were made to replace him with another actor, but were dropped because of audience awareness, and that no suitable actor could be found for the role to be successfully recast.
His character was kept alive for 13 episodes after his death with the storyline that he was in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
drilling for oil after taking care of Ewing Oil-related legislative business in Washington. The episode The Search confirmed the character's death in a helicopter crash was broadcast on January 8, 1982. A portrait of Davis in his role as Jock Ewing often appeared as a memorial on Dallas after his death.
Davis was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Other
From the late 1970s until his death, Davis was also a voice actor, in the commercials for the American Beef Council, voicing the slogan "Beef: It's what's for dinner". He was replaced by actor Robert MitchumRobert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
.
Family
He was married to Blanche Davis (1918-2009) in 1945 their only child, daughter Tara Diane Davis, was killed in a car crash in 1970.Hollywood Walk of Fame
For his contribution to the television industry, Jim Davis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6290 Hollywood Blvd.