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1-23 of 23
- Actor
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Ideal for playing swarthy villains, James Griffith's tall, dark and gaunt features and shady countenance invaded hundreds of film and TV dramas (and a few comedies) throughout his career on-camera. Highlighted by his arched brows, hooded eyes and prominent proboscis, heavy character work would be his largest source of income for nearly four decades.
He was born James J. Griffith, of Welsh ancestry, on February 13, 1916, in Los Angeles. He and sister Dorothy were raised in the Santa Monica area. An early interest in music led to his learning to play several instruments, including the clarinet and saxophone. He got his first taste of entertaining audiences by performing in local bands while arranging music for them as well. An interest in acting came about participating in school plays and continued when he found parts to play in small theatre houses in such productions as "They Can't Get You Down" in 1939.
Unable to consistently pay the bills, however, Griffith found steadier work at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. Enlisting in the Marine Corps. in 1941, he served his country until 1947. Eventually married with a newborn, a chance meeting with bandleader Spike Jones while working as a gas station attendant led to a six month traveling gig with Jones' City Slicker Band playing tenor saxophone.
Griffith finally broke into "B" films with a smarmy but showy role as an insurance agent in the murder drama Blonde Ice (1948). He continued to sniff out work in both drama and occasional comedy usually as unsympathetic or shady characters, sometimes billed and sometimes not. Some of his bigger, noteworthy parts in the early years came with the pictures Alaska Patrol (1949), Indian Territory (1950) and Double Deal (1950). He also took on some famous and infamous figures of history as in Fighting Man of the Plains (1949) (as William Quantrill), Day of Triumph (1954) (as Judas Iscariot), Jesse James vs. the Daltons (1954) (as outlaw Bob Dalton), The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954) (as Pat Garrett), and Masterson of Kansas (1954) as Doc Holliday. He provided the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the Rod Cameron western Stage to Tucson (1950).
TV took much of the mustachioed actor's time from the 1950s on, notably in westerns such as "The Lone Ranger," "Annie Oakley," "Gunsmoke," "The Big Valley," "Bonanza," "Death Valley Days," "The Gene Autry Show," "Wagon Train," "Rawhide," "Maverick," "Little House on the Prairie," "B.J. and the Bear" and "Dallas." Elsewhere on the small screen he played cold-hearted villains twice on "Batman" in support of the nefarious Ma Parker and Catwoman. Not to be pegged in just oaters, he also appeared in less dusty TV fare such as "The Streets of San Francisco," "Fantasy Island" and Emergency!" Griffith made his final acting appearance on a 1984 "Trapper John" episode.
A gifted raconteur, his later years were spent writing theatre plays and movie scripts, and attending film festivals. Two of his earlier movie scripts that found releases were Russ Meyer's Lorna (1964) (in which he also appeared), Shalako (1968) and Catlow (1971). Griffith died of cancer on September 17, 1993, at age 77.- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Casting Department
Phillip James Griffith is known for The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Easter Mysteries (2016) and Jessica Jones (2015). He has been married to Kelly Karbacz since 14 September 2007.- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
James Griffith was a member of Lake Trout since the band formed in 1994 in Baltimore. He played the base, guitar and vocals. Lake Trout combined rock, ambient, jazz and many other styles.
The band toured extensively but in 2007 the band put a halt to its ongoing touring schedule. After the last album the band performed a few yearly shows on the east coast and James Griffith, Matthew Pierce and Mike Lowry have also toured extensively as part of Unkle's touring band since 2007 under the name Big In Japan.
Big In Japan was a Lake Trout side project, the music was instrumental, very improvisational, and ambient. In 2008 James Griffith started co-writing and co producing with Unkle, working on a number of Unkle albums. 'More Stories' (January 2008), 'End Titles Stories For Film' (July 2008), 'End Titles Redux' (December 2008) 'Where Did The Night Fall' (May 2010) and 'Where Did The Night Fall Another Night Out (April 2011).
In Unkle James worked on remixes for the likes of Noel Gallagher - AKA What A Life and Noel Gallagher - Let The Lord Shine A Light On Me - Black Mountain - No Hits, Autolux - Turnstile Blues, The Queens Of The Stone Age - I'm Designer, Evil Nine - 13 Icicles ,The Big Pink - Too Young To Love, Grinderman (Nick Cave) - Worm Tamer, Trentemoller - Neverglade. In 2012 James and Pablo Clements along with James Lavelle collected Remixer of the Year (for Unkle) award from the UK Music Producers Guild for the remix of Band of Skulls - The Devil Takes Care Of His Own.
James's work is very versatile, as well as writing music for his own collaborative projects he is able to switch his hand to scoring music for films. James has co-written, co -produced and recorded many tracks for the big screen, including With You In My Head for the Twilight Saga: Eclipse directed by David Slade, Every Single Prayer featuring Gavin Clark for the film The Caller directed by Matthew Parkhill, and the documentary Lives of The Artists for Relentless directed by Ross Cairns for Relentless, a film about extreme sports people (snowboarding, musicians and surfers).
Since 2011 James has teamed up with fellow Unkle band member and writer Pablo Clements, they operate under the Producer/Artist name Toydrum. They have worked on a variety of projects, Lawless with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Red Shoes - A short film For Vivienne Westwood, Pieces a film directed by Jack Weatherly, who they have worked with before on a film called The Score for Euro 2012, remixes for the likes of Trentemoller and Noel Gallagher.
Toydrum released Distant Focus (2014) on their own label Underscore Collective this year a 6 track mini album it is a progression of the work Pablo and James Griffith created under the Unkle name.
They are scoring London Fields (Billy Bob Thornton Johnny Depp, Amber Heard and Jim Strugess) and also the next This is England 90's with Shane Meadows.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
James F. Griffith is known for The Baggs (1973).- James Griffith is known for The House on Tombstone Hill (1989).
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Animation Department
- Griffith James is known for The Law and Mr. Jones (1960), Dr. Kildare (1961) and Profiles in Courage (1964).
- James Griffith is known for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2002).
- James Parker Griffith Jr. is known for Prosper (2014).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
James Griffith is known for Epic Movie (2007), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998) and Katie Joplin (1999).- Camera and Electrical Department
James Griffith is known for Darken (2017) and My Neuroplastic Adventure (2017).- Additional Crew
James Griffith is known for Random Acts of Flyness (2018).- James Griffith is known for The Red Hand Gang (1977).
- Cinematographer
James Griffith is known for Lights Out! (2012).- Camera and Electrical Department
James Griffith is known for Natural Selection (2011).- Composer
- Producer
- Actor
Brian James Griffith is known for Eastward Flame: l'éternèbre (2013), The Mystery Language of the Initiates (2014) and Hot Mess: Grey Ghost (2011).- James Griffith is known for Grand Army (2020).
- Actor
- Composer
- James Griffith is known for Ang pumatay ng dahil sa iyo (1989).
- Actor
- Transportation Department
James Griffith is known for How to Stop Being a Loser (2011).- Art Department
- Music Department
James Griffith is known for Lawless (2012).