QUOTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
REPEATED BY TCM
“Character actor James McCallion began his performing career as a child in the 1920s and acted on screen until the 1970s. He began acting on Broadway as a 9-year-old, opposite Errol Flynn in “Yours Truly.” His film career began with several roles in 1939, including one in the drama “Pride of the Blue Grass,” with Edith Fellows. After a hiatus that lasted a decade and a half, he returned in the 1954 adventure “Vera Cruz,” a Robert Aldrich film starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. In the 1950s he appeared with Edward G. Robinson in “Illegal,” a noir thriller playing gangster Allen Parker, and had a small part in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest.” He also appeared in the great director’s TV show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” as well as numerous other TV dramas. His biggest television part was a starring role in “National Velvet,” a series that ran for two seasons, beginning in 1960. He had a role in the biographical film “PT 109,” based on the wartime experiences of John F. Kennedy, and was a supporting actor in the 1965 comedy “Strange Bedfellows.” Many of his later film roles came in Westerns, such as the 1970 comedic feature “Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County” and the drama “Gunfight in Abilene.” He was also a frequent guest star on the detective dramas of the era like “Cannon,” “Ironside,” and”The Streets of San Francisco.””
Should TCM update/correct their bio to refetence another Australian-born American actor, not Flynn. Perhaps one that once appeared in the same film as Mr. & Mrs. Flynn?
— Tim
The Real Person!
October 22, 2018 at 1:37 pm
Yes it is N Y Times fake news as you said. According to the records when it was on Broadway 1927-1928 Errol was half a world away. Jimmy McCallion was listed in the cast. The mistake was possibly made confusing Leon Errol who was in the cast for Errol Flynn. Leon Errol was probably the same person as the comedian I enjoyed in many movies.
Gentleman Tim
October 22, 2018 at 10:06 pm
Man, you are good, Bob! Yes indeed, The Times and TCM (and all who are repeating them) should have said Leon Errol (originally from Sydney)!
Here’s Mr.Errol with Mr. and Mrs. Flynn in the great Pirate Party on Catalina. Errol and Lili at ~ 4:30, Leon Errol at ~ 6:55.
And here’s Leon with one of Flynn’s favorites, the wonderful Mrs. Tarzan, Lupe the Mexican Spitfire herself:
The Real Person!
October 24, 2018 at 5:04 pm
My favorite short of all time is Cruise of the Zaca. Pirate Party on Catalina is close to the top also. I’m sure you know Cruise is on Robin Hood package you my also know Pirate Party is on David Copperfield DVD, with my all time favorite comedian, WC Fields.