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IMDbPro

Joe Sawyer(1906-1982)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Joe Sawyer in Brooklyn Orchid (1942)
Three Reasons Criterion Trailer for The Killing
Play trailer1:34
The Killing (1956)
5 Videos
99+ Photos
Joe Sawyer's familiar mug appeared everywhere during the 1930s and 1940s, particularly as a stock player for Warner Bros. in its more standard college musicals, comedies and crime yarns. He could play both sides of the fence, street cops and mob gunmen, with equal ease. He was born Joseph Sauers in Guelph, Canada, on August 29, 1906, and eventually moved to California to pursue a film career. Trained at the Pasadena Playhouse, he had a perfect "tough guy" look: sturdy build, jutting chin and beady eyes, made more distinctive by his shock of light hair and a slightly high-pitched voice. Sawyer made his film debut in 1931 under his real name, which, contrary to popular opinion, was German and not Irish, though he made a career out of playing Irishmen, and appeared mostly in strongarm bit parts in his early career until hitting his stride playing a variety of coaches, cops and sidekicks with imposing names like "Spud," "Slug" and "Whitey." He appeared in hundreds of films, in just about every genre, over a four-decade-long career, among them College Humor (1933), College Rhythm (1934), The Westerner (1934), The Informer (1935), in which his portrayal of an IRA gunman got him noticed by the public and critics alike, Pride of the Marines (1936), Black Legion (1937), The Petrified Forest (1936) (another "tough-guy" role that got him good reviews), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Sergeant York (1941), Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), Gilda (1946), It Came from Outer Space (1953), North to Alaska (1960) and How the West Was Won (1962). He also guest-starred on many TV series and was a regular on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954) as Sgt. Aloysius "Biff" O'Hara. His first wife was actress Jeane Wood, the daughter of Gone with the Wind (1939) uncredited director Sam Wood. His second wife, June, died in 1960. Sawyer died in Ashland, Oregon, on April 21, 1982 of liver cancer at the age of 75.
BornAugust 29, 1906
DiedApril 21, 1982(75)
BornAugust 29, 1906
DiedApril 21, 1982(75)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos144

Barbara Stanwyck, Lynne Overman, and Joe Sawyer in Union Pacific (1939)
Robert Easton, Joe Sawyer, and Guy Wilkerson in Comin' Round the Mountain (1951)
Ida Moore and Joe Sawyer in Comin' Round the Mountain (1951)
Joe Sawyer in Deadline - U.S.A. (1952)
Al Hill, Joe Sawyer, Harry Tenbrook, and John Wray in The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
Edward G. Robinson, Joe Sawyer, and John Wray in The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
Edward G. Robinson, Joe Sawyer, and John Wray in The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
Russell Johnson and Joe Sawyer in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Richard Carlson and Joe Sawyer in It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Lou Costello and Joe Sawyer in The Naughty Nineties (1945)
Lou Costello and Joe Sawyer in The Naughty Nineties (1945)
Lois Collier, Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson, Joe Sawyer, and Henry Travers in The Naughty Nineties (1945)

Known for

Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Leslie Howard in The Petrified Forest (1936)
The Petrified Forest
7.5
  • Jackie(as Joseph Sawyer)
  • 1936
Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Gilda
7.6
  • Casey
  • 1946
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, and Marie Windsor in The Killing (1956)
The Killing
8.0
  • Mike O'Reilly
  • 1956
Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Jane Darwell, Dorris Bowdon, Frank Darien, and Russell Simpson in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath
8.1
  • Bookkeeper(as Joseph Sawyer)
  • 1940

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • How the West Was Won (1962)
    How the West Was Won
    • (uncredited)
  • Everglades! (1961)
    Everglades!
    • (as Joseph Sawyer)
  • Diane McBain and Van Williams in Surfside 6 (1960)
    Surfside 6
  • Henry Fonda and Gene Barry in Bat Masterson (1958)
    Bat Masterson
    • (credit only)
  • Lock Up (1959)
    Lock Up
  • Georgine Darcy and Roger Perry in Harrigan and Son (1960)
    Harrigan and Son
  • John Wayne, Capucine, Stewart Granger, Fabian, and Ernie Kovacs in North to Alaska (1960)
    North to Alaska
  • Maisie
  • Craig Stevens in Peter Gunn (1958)
    Peter Gunn
  • Sugarfoot (1957)
    Sugarfoot
  • Maverick (1957)
    Maverick
  • Lee Aaker, James Brown, and Rin Tin Tin II in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954)
    The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
  • Rex Allen in Frontier Doctor (1956)
    Frontier Doctor
  • Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, and Marie Windsor in The Killing (1956)
    The Killing
  • Arthur Hunnicutt, Marjorie Main, and Una Merkel in The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956)
    The Kettles in the Ozarks

Writer

  • Operation Haylift (1950)
    Operation Haylift

Producer

  • Operation Haylift (1950)
    Operation Haylift

Videos5

The Killing: The Criterion Collection
Trailer 1:34
The Killing: The Criterion Collection
The Roaring Twenties
Trailer 3:29
The Roaring Twenties
The Petrified Forest
Trailer 4:13
The Petrified Forest
San Quentin
Trailer 1:56
San Quentin
It Came from Outer Space
Trailer 1:14
It Came from Outer Space

Personal details

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    • August 29, 1906
    • Guelph, Ontario, Canada
    • April 21, 1982
    • Ashland, Oregon, USA(liver cancer)
    • January 29, 1937 - June 26, 1960 (her death, 5 children)
  • Publicity listings
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Joe had a passion for cigars, sailing, cars and shooting, and a nice home in Glendale, where he could host gatherings with such friends as John Wayne and Bela Lugosi. He loved his Corvette and had a penchant for using his basement shooting range at any hour.

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