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IMDbPro

Harry James(1916-1983)

  • Actor
  • Music Department
  • Composer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Harry James c. 1960
Harry James was born in a rundown hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia. His mother and father were members of a circus - she as a trapeze artist and he a band leader - with the Mighty Haag Circus. At seven, they settled in Beaumont, Texas where Harry learned to play drums. By twelve, he was playing trumpet in the Christy Brothers Circus band. In 1936 James joined Ben Pollack's band, soon leaving to lead the brass section of Benny Goodman's band. He even once applied to Lawrence Welk's band but was turned down because they said he played too loud and it was not Welk's style. After three years with Goodman, he wanted to leave, and with Goodman's backing, he formed the Music Makers. In 1943 he married pinup queen Betty Grable, his second of four wives. He had earlier married and divorced Louise Tobin, a singer. Grable kept appearing in movies and Harry kept playing while they raised horses. He made his debut in Philadelphia at the Ben Franklin Hotel and soon was a nationwide favorite of dance lovers and jazz addicts, rocking the rafters at the Hollywood Paladium, Chicago's famous College Inn at the Hotel Sherman, Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook in Cedar Cove, NJ, and then onto New York City. It was the Lincoln Hotel in NYC that the Music Makers called home, but James also starred at the Paramount Theater in the spring of 1943, with thousands of teenagers flocking to see him. His version of You Made Me Love You was a big hit and a favorite of many through the war years. James was a great discoverer of talent, finding Frank Sinatra working as a waiter in a New Jersey restaurant and giving him a job singing in his band. Dick Haymes, Kitty Kallen, Connie Haines and Helen Forrest can all thank James for giving them their first real break. In 1963 his band was featured at Disneyland, still known as the Music Makers. He played his last gig at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on June 26, 1983, just a few days before dying of lymphatic cancer.
BornMarch 15, 1916
DiedJuly 5, 1983(67)
BornMarch 15, 1916
DiedJuly 5, 1983(67)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos29

Harry James in Rytmin kuningas Benny Goodman (1956)
June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Harry James in Kolme sydäntä epätahdissa (1944)
Gloria DeHaven, June Haver, and Harry James in I'll Get By (1950)
Frank Sinatra and Harry James
Laverne Andrews, Maxene Andrews, Patty Andrews, Harry James, and The Andrews Sisters in Private Buckaroo (1942)
Betty Grable and Harry James
Harry James and Betty Jane Rhodes
Jerry Lewis, Harry James, and Sylvia Lewis in Jerry naisten miehenä (1961)
Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)

Known for:

Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Joe Pantoliano, and Carrie-Anne Moss in Matrix (1999)
Matrix
8.7
  • Soundtrack("I'm Beginning to See the Light")
  • 1999
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
The Matrix Revolutions
6.7
  • Soundtrack("I'm Beginning To See the Light")
  • 2003
Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
Raging Bull
8.1
  • Soundtrack("Two O'Clock Jump", "Flash", "Two O'Clock Jump", "All or Nothing at All", "Flash")
  • 1980
Michael Douglas in The Game - oletko valmis peliin? (1997)
The Game - oletko valmis peliin?
7.7
  • Soundtrack("Life Goes to a Party")
  • 1997

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Sting II (1983)
    The Sting II
    4.9
    • Band Leader
    • 1983
  • Happy Days
    7.5
    TV Series
    • Harry James
    • 1970
  • Angela Cartwright, Rusty Hamer, Sherry Jackson, Marjorie Lord, and Danny Thomas in Make Room for Daddy (1953)
    Make Room for Daddy
    7.1
    TV Series
    • Larry Norman
    • 1961
  • Jerry Lewis and Pat Stanley in Jerry naisten miehenä (1961)
    Jerry naisten miehenä
    6.3
    • Harry James
    • 1961
  • Shelley Fabares, Donna Reed, Carl Betz, and Paul Petersen in Donna Reed (1958)
    Donna Reed
    7.4
    TV Series
    • Trumpet Player (uncredited)
    • 1960
  • Buddy Bregman, Gus Backus, Charlie Barnet, Fats Domino, Gogi Grant, Harry James, Joe Lopes, Andra Martin, Freddy Martin, Howard Miller, Harry Mills, Herbert Mills, John Mills, Russ Morgan, William Reynolds, George Shearing, David Somerville, Jeri Southern, Cal Tjader, The Del Vikings, The Lancers, The Diamonds, and The Bill Thompson Singers in Rakkautta ja rytmiä (1958)
    Rakkautta ja rytmiä
    6.3
    • Harry James
    • 1958
  • The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957)
    The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
    8.3
    TV Series
    • Harry James
    • 1958
  • Harry James and Andrea King in Outlaw Queen (1957)
    Outlaw Queen
    5.7
    • Rick Mason
    • 1957
  • Leslie Nielsen, June Allyson, Joan Blondell, Joan Collins, Agnes Moorehead, Dolores Gray, Sam Levene, Ann Miller, and Ann Sheridan in Heikompi sukupuoli (1956)
    Heikompi sukupuoli
    6.1
    • Harry James
    • 1956
  • Donna Reed and Steve Allen in Rytmin kuningas Benny Goodman (1956)
    Rytmin kuningas Benny Goodman
    6.7
    • Harry James - Trumpeter at Carnegie Hall
    • 1956
  • Shower of Stars (1954)
    Shower of Stars
    7.5
    TV Series
    • 1955
  • Kuinka miljonääri naidaan (1953)
    Kuinka miljonääri naidaan
    6.8
    • Radio Trumpeter (uncredited)
    • 1953
  • James Stewart and Barbara Hale in Isä uhmaiässä (1950)
    Isä uhmaiässä
    6.6
    • Harry James (voice, uncredited)
    • 1950
  • Gloria DeHaven, Dennis Day, June Haver, Harry James, and William Lundigan in I'll Get By (1950)
    I'll Get By
    5.9
    • Harry James
    • 1950
  • James Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Harry James, Dorothy Lamour, and Fred MacMurray in Meidän iloinen joukkomme (1948)
    Meidän iloinen joukkomme
    5.7
    • Harry James
    • 1948

Music Department

  • Koirani Skip (2000)
    Koirani Skip
    7.0
    • musician: trumpet, "I'm Beginning to See the Light"
    • 2000
  • Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, and Hoagy Carmichael in Musiikkia veressä (1950)
    Musiikkia veressä
    7.2
    • musical advisor
    • musician: dubbed Kirk Douglas' trumpet playing
    • 1950
  • Eddie Acuff, Laverne Andrews, Maxene Andrews, Patty Andrews, Dick Foran, Jennifer Holt, Harry James, Joe E. Lewis, The Jivin' Jacks and Jills, and The Andrews Sisters in Private Buckaroo (1942)
    Private Buckaroo
    5.9
    • musical director
    • 1942

Composer

  • Bully the Kid
    Short
    • Composer
    • 2005

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Last.fm
    • MySpace
  • Height
    • 1.83 m
  • Born
    • March 15, 1916
    • Albany, Georgia, USA
  • Died
    • July 5, 1983
    • Las Vegas, Nevada, USA(lymphatic cancer)
  • Spouses
      Joan BoydDecember 27, 1967 - March 1970 (divorced, 1 child)
  • Other works
    TV commercial: demonstrated the strength of Kleenex tissue by playing his trumpet through a Kleenex while wife Betty Grable sang a jingle, in an early 1960s commercial.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 4 Portrayals

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    His son, Tim James, was an attorney working with the attorney general of Texas and was one of those responsible for enticing TV personality Marvin Zindler to investigate the famous Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas - eventually leading to its closure. The story became the basis of the Broadway and movie musical, Texasin paras pikku porttola (1982).
  • Quotes
    When I was boy down in Texas a bunch of us used to go to the theater every Saturday morning. The organist played the songs that we knew and the crowd of us would join in singing. That was the way we let off steam. It was a good thing for all of us and, take it from me, many a boy was kept straight by singing those songs.

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