Jimmy Hawkins
Encyclopedia
James F. Hawkins known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor
and film
producer
whose career began as a child actor
to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner
, Spencer Tracy
, James Stewart
, and Donna Reed
. His acting career spans the time frame from 1944-1974, after which he devoted his energies to the production of films and later to his building contracting business. Hawkins had starring roles in several television series: The Ruggles
(1949-1952), Annie Oakley
(1954-1957, syndicated
), The Donna Reed Show
(1958-1966, ABC
), and Petticoat Junction
(CBS, the first four seasons, 1963-1967). He also had recurring roles as (1) a friend of the Nelson brothers on ABC’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
and (2) as Jonathan Baylor on CBS's Ichabod and Me
sitcom with Robert Sterling
and George Chandler
in the 1961-1962 season. He guest starred in many other programs during his childhood and young adult years.
Hawkins was born in Los Angeles
to Thomas J. Hawkins (1913-1993) and Bette C. Hawkins (born ca. 1916). His first roles -- as a two-year-old -- were uncredited – Spencer Tracy
’s The Seventh Cross
and Lana Turner
’s Marriage Is A Private Affair at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Studios. His mother was the force behind his early childhood acting. He graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.
blockbuster It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, an actress for whom young Hawkins developed a lifelong admiration.
In 1958, he worked again with Reed in her sitcom, having portrayed Scotty, a persistent and loyal boyfriend of Donna’s television daughter Mary Stone, played by Shelley Fabares
. He became personally close to Fabares and Paul Petersen
, who played Reed’s son, Jeff Stone, on the series.
Hawkins recalls having visited Reed for the last time at Christmas
1985, just days before her death of cancer
: "I really loved that woman . . .[There is a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life] where she touched my cheek. Well, flashback to the eighties, Donna was really ill, it was around Christmas time, and I went to visit her at her home, I brought her an "It's A Wonderful Life" Christmas ornament for her tree. She asked me to put it on her tree, and we visited, but it was hard for her to expend any energy; so I wished her a Merry Christmas and told her I had to go, and then she reached her hand up to touch my cheek just like she did when I was in that scene with her when she drew me in, and in just two weeks, she died."
Hawkins is a mainstay of the Donna Reed Foundation. Each June, he, Shelley Fabares, and Paul Petersen travel to Denison, Iowa
(Reed’s hometown), for an annual celebration. During the week, classes in theatre arts are taught by professionals from Hollywood and New York City
.
home on July 2, 1997, the day after Stewart's death at the age of eighty-nine.
Hawkins also worked with Stewart again in the 1950 film Winchester '73, which was partially filmed at Old Tucson Studios
in Tucson, Arizona
. And Stewart wrote the foreword to Hawkins' previous It's a Wonderful Life Trivia Book. Hawkins said that Stewart's willingness to sign the books showed that the veteran star was "giving to the end."
Hawkins added that Stewart's public image as a friendly, caring man was indeed an accurate characterization: "He was just as people thought he was. He was a gentleman. He was a gentle man."
Hawkins’ other film roles included Caught (February 17, 1949), Love That Brute (May 26, 1950), The Blue Veil
(October 26, 1951), and two films with Elvis Presley
: Girl Happy
(April 7, 1965) and Spinout
(October 17, 1966).
On Annie Oakley, he portrayed Tagg Oakley, the younger brother of a fictionalized Annie Oakley
in the ABC Western
of the same name, a Gene Autry
production. In one episode, however, the part of Tagg was played by Billy Gray
, who then was cast as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in the sitcom Father Knows Best
. Hawkins' costars were Gail Davis
(1925-1997) as Annie and Brad Johnson (1924-1981) as Deputy Lofty Craig. Hawkins starred in all but one of the eighty-one episodes of the series, now available on DVD
and a favorite of western television buffs. In the series, Hawkins rode a Pinto pony
called Pixie and often used the childhood expression "Holy Toledo".
From 1963-1967, Hawkins was Orville Miggs in the first four seasons of Petticoat Junction, starring Bea Benaderet
and Edgar Buchanan
.
Jimmy starred in various TV pilots and won the role of Andy Hardy in the MGM/NBC pilot. He went on to star in the MGM/NBC pilot See Here, Private Hargrove, also based on an MGM motion picture.
Hawkins guest starred in many series, particularly comedies, including Margie
with Cynthia Pepper
, Leave It to Beaver
with Jerry Mathers
, My Three Sons
with Fred MacMurray
, Bachelor Father with John Forsythe
and Noreen Corcoran
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, and The Fugitive
with David Janssen
.
His last role on television was on November 1, 1974, as Father James Jay Remy on NBC
’s Kolchak: The Night Stalker
starring Darren McGavin
.
daredevil, and Don’t Look Back: The Life of Satchel Paige (1981), starring Lou Gossett, Jr., as the legendary African American
baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige
. He also produced Gary Coleman
in Scout’s Honor, the idea he developed from a 1952 film Mister Scoutmaster in which Hawkins, as an eleven-year-old, had starred. He produced a Walt Disney
film, Love Leads the Way, based on the first seeing-eye dog trained in Morristown, New Jersey
. He produced an updated version of The Little Rascals for the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo Theater
in Harlem, New York City
.
In 1961, Hawkins was voted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the fall of 1968, Hawkins entertained American troops in South Vietnam
in a 22-day United Service Organization tour.
. During the late 1990s, as ‘’It’s a Wonderful Life’’ enjoyed a revival of interest nationally, Hawkins and Paul Peterson wrote the "It’s a Wonderful Life Trivia Book". Hawkins explains the durability of It’s a Wonderful Life:
“Well, the reason it caught on was that the film fell into public domain
. Somebody at the studio let the copyright
go, and television stations all over the country could pick it up and show it for free. They took full advantage of that. It kind of caught on with people . . . More and more stations picked up on it. It was shown hundreds and hundreds of times at stations all across the country. I remember back in the early 1990s it was played fourteen times in Los Angeles between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Fourteen times!”
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
whose career began as a child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
, Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
, James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
, and Donna Reed
Donna Reed
Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
. His acting career spans the time frame from 1944-1974, after which he devoted his energies to the production of films and later to his building contracting business. Hawkins had starring roles in several television series: The Ruggles
The Ruggles
The Ruggles is an early American family-oriented situation comedies. The series, broadcast live on ABC, with a few episodes recorded on kinescope, began November 3, 1949--a month after radio hit The Life of Riley moved to television on NBC---and ended on June 19, 1952...
(1949-1952), Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
(1954-1957, 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...
), The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
(1958-1966, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
), and Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
(CBS, the first four seasons, 1963-1967). He also had recurring roles as (1) a friend of the Nelson brothers on ABC’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
and (2) as Jonathan Baylor on CBS's Ichabod and Me
Ichabod and Me
Ichabod and Me is a 36-episode situation comedy series set in a small New England town and starring Robert Sterling and George Chandler. It aired on CBS from September 26, 1961, to June 5, 1962, and was produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, in association with Jack Benny's "JaMco...
sitcom with Robert Sterling
Robert Sterling
Robert Sterling, born William Sterling Hart was an American film and television actor.-Early life:...
and George Chandler
George Chandler
George Chandler was an American actor best known for playing the character of "Uncle Petrie" on the television series Lassie...
in the 1961-1962 season. He guest starred in many other programs during his childhood and young adult years.
Hawkins was born in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to Thomas J. Hawkins (1913-1993) and Bette C. Hawkins (born ca. 1916). His first roles -- as a two-year-old -- were uncredited – Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
’s The Seventh Cross
The Seventh Cross
Anna Seghers' novel The Seventh Cross , is one of the better-known examples of German literature circa World War II. It was published first in America, in an abridged version, in September 1942 by Little, Brown and Company...
and Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
’s Marriage Is A Private Affair at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
Studios. His mother was the force behind his early childhood acting. He graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.
Hawkins and Donna Reed
Hawkins starred in December 1946 as four-year-old Tommy Bailey, the son of George and Mary Bailey, in the nostalgicNostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
blockbuster It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, an actress for whom young Hawkins developed a lifelong admiration.
In 1958, he worked again with Reed in her sitcom, having portrayed Scotty, a persistent and loyal boyfriend of Donna’s television daughter Mary Stone, played by Shelley Fabares
Shelley Fabares
Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
. He became personally close to Fabares and Paul Petersen
Paul Petersen
William Paul Petersen is an American movie actor, singer, novelist, and activist. Primarily known for his character-type roles in the 1960s and 1970s, as an adult Petersen established the organization A Minor Consideration to support child stars and other child laborers through legislation,...
, who played Reed’s son, Jeff Stone, on the series.
Hawkins recalls having visited Reed for the last time at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
1985, just days before her death of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
: "I really loved that woman . . .[There is a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life] where she touched my cheek. Well, flashback to the eighties, Donna was really ill, it was around Christmas time, and I went to visit her at her home, I brought her an "It's A Wonderful Life" Christmas ornament for her tree. She asked me to put it on her tree, and we visited, but it was hard for her to expend any energy; so I wished her a Merry Christmas and told her I had to go, and then she reached her hand up to touch my cheek just like she did when I was in that scene with her when she drew me in, and in just two weeks, she died."
Hawkins is a mainstay of the Donna Reed Foundation. Each June, he, Shelley Fabares, and Paul Petersen travel to Denison, Iowa
Denison, Iowa
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River. The population was 7,339 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.-Geography:Denison is located at ....
(Reed’s hometown), for an annual celebration. During the week, classes in theatre arts are taught by professionals from Hollywood and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Hawkins and Jimmy Stewart
Hawkins was also close to It's a Wonderful Life star Jimmy Stewart, who signed for various charities six copies of a commemorative 50th anniversary book on the classic film. Hawkins picked up the books at Stewart's Beverly HillsBeverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
home on July 2, 1997, the day after Stewart's death at the age of eighty-nine.
Hawkins also worked with Stewart again in the 1950 film Winchester '73, which was partially filmed at Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson Studios is a movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona, it has been used for the filming of several movies and television westerns since then,...
in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. And Stewart wrote the foreword to Hawkins' previous It's a Wonderful Life Trivia Book. Hawkins said that Stewart's willingness to sign the books showed that the veteran star was "giving to the end."
Hawkins added that Stewart's public image as a friendly, caring man was indeed an accurate characterization: "He was just as people thought he was. He was a gentleman. He was a gentle man."
Other acting roles
From 1949-1952, Hawkins was cast as young Donald Ruggles in the early ABC sitcom, The Ruggles.Hawkins’ other film roles included Caught (February 17, 1949), Love That Brute (May 26, 1950), The Blue Veil
The Blue Veil
The Blue Veil is a 1951 American drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt. The screenplay by Norman Corwin is based on a story by François Campaux, which was adapted for the French language film Le Voile bleu in 1942.-Plot:...
(October 26, 1951), and two films with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
: Girl Happy
Girl Happy
Girl Happy is a 1965 American musical romantic comedy in the beach party film and spring break style, starring Elvis Presley.This was the last mega-successful Elvis Presley film at the box office, finishing at #25 on the Variety year-end top-grossing films of 1965 chart and making $3 million,...
(April 7, 1965) and Spinout
Spinout
Spinout is a 1966 musical film and comedy starring Elvis Presley as the lead singer of a band and part-time race car driver. The movie was #57 on the year end list of the top-grossing films of 1966.-Plot:...
(October 17, 1966).
On Annie Oakley, he portrayed Tagg Oakley, the younger brother of a fictionalized Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
in the ABC Western
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...
of the same name, a Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
production. In one episode, however, the part of Tagg was played by Billy Gray
Billy Gray (actor)
William Thomas "Billy" Gray , is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,...
, who then was cast as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in the sitcom Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
. Hawkins' costars were Gail Davis
Gail Davis
Gail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
(1925-1997) as Annie and Brad Johnson (1924-1981) as Deputy Lofty Craig. Hawkins starred in all but one of the eighty-one episodes of the series, now available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and a favorite of western television buffs. In the series, Hawkins rode a Pinto pony
Pinto horse
A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. The distinction between "pinto" and "solid" can be tenuous, as so-called "solid" horses frequently have areas of white hair. Various cultures throughout history appear to have selectively bred for pinto...
called Pixie and often used the childhood expression "Holy Toledo".
From 1963-1967, Hawkins was Orville Miggs in the first four seasons of Petticoat Junction, starring Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
and Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
.
Jimmy starred in various TV pilots and won the role of Andy Hardy in the MGM/NBC pilot. He went on to star in the MGM/NBC pilot See Here, Private Hargrove, also based on an MGM motion picture.
Hawkins guest starred in many series, particularly comedies, including Margie
Margie (TV series)
Margie is a television situation comedy starring Cynthia Pepper that was broadcast on ABC from October 12, 1961 to April 12, 1962 in the 9:30 Eastern Thursday time slot, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was adapted from a 1946 film of the same name starring Jeanne Crain.- Plot :The show...
with Cynthia Pepper
Cynthia Pepper
Cynthia Pepper is a blonde American actress whose principal work was accomplished during the early 1960s. Born Cynthia Anne Culpepper in Hollywood, California, she was the daughter of entertainer Jack Pepper , and Pepper's second wife, Dawn...
, Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
with Jerry Mathers
Jerry Mathers
Gerald Patrick "Jerry" Mathers is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for his role in the television sitcom series Leave It to Beaver , in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of archetypal suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver , and the brother...
, My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
with Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, Bachelor Father with John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
and Noreen Corcoran
Noreen Corcoran
Noreen M. Corcoran is a former actress and dancer best known for her costarring role as the teenager Kelly Gregg, the niece of wealthy attorney Bentley Gregg, played by John Forsythe, in the television sitcom Bachelor Father, the only series to have been carried at one time by all three major...
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
, and The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
with David Janssen
David Janssen
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
.
His last role on television was on November 1, 1974, as Father James Jay Remy on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
’s Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974-1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter — Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin — who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly ones law...
starring Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...
.
Producing films
After his acting career, Hawkins produced films, a number for ABC Theatre Productions, including Evel Knievel, based on the late motorcycleMotorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
daredevil, and Don’t Look Back: The Life of Satchel Paige (1981), starring Lou Gossett, Jr., as the legendary African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
. He also produced Gary Coleman
Gary Coleman
Gary Wayne Coleman was an American actor, known for his childhood role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and for his small stature as an adult. He was described in the 1980s as "one of television's most promising stars". After a successful childhood acting career, Coleman...
in Scout’s Honor, the idea he developed from a 1952 film Mister Scoutmaster in which Hawkins, as an eleven-year-old, had starred. He produced a Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
film, Love Leads the Way, based on the first seeing-eye dog trained in Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
. He produced an updated version of The Little Rascals for the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
in Harlem, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
In 1961, Hawkins was voted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the fall of 1968, Hawkins entertained American troops in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
in a 22-day United Service Organization tour.
It’s still a wonderful life
At Christmas 1997, Hawkins produced a holiday special for the Public Broadcasting ServicePublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. During the late 1990s, as ‘’It’s a Wonderful Life’’ enjoyed a revival of interest nationally, Hawkins and Paul Peterson wrote the "It’s a Wonderful Life Trivia Book". Hawkins explains the durability of It’s a Wonderful Life:
“Well, the reason it caught on was that the film fell into public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. Somebody at the studio let the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
go, and television stations all over the country could pick it up and show it for free. They took full advantage of that. It kind of caught on with people . . . More and more stations picked up on it. It was shown hundreds and hundreds of times at stations all across the country. I remember back in the early 1990s it was played fourteen times in Los Angeles between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Fourteen times!”