James Bacon

James Richard Hughes Bacon (born May 12, 1914 in Buffalo , New York , † September 18, 2010 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American columnist and film actor .

Life

James Bacon was born the son of journalist Thomas Bacon, who in turn worked for William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer . Bacon Jr. graduated from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana from 1933 to 1936 but had to drop out of the university last year to help his parents who lost their home in a flood. Bacon did not earn his degree in journalism until 1943 at Syracuse University . Bacon began working as a columnist for several newspapers, including the Clinton County Times in Pennsylvania and the Syracuse Herald Journal .

As an ensign ( lieutenant at sea ) in the US Navy , Bacon served in Panama and, thanks to his linguistic abilities, was able to decipher encrypted radio messages from Japanese combat units during World War II .

After a stopover in Chicago in 1946, Bacon came to Los Angeles in 1948, where he worked as a journalist for the Associated Press (AP) after the war . After 28 years with the AP , he moved to the Herald Examiner , for whom he again worked over a period of 18 years, and for whom he wrote a column once a week. In this way, Bacon got to know numerous show and political greats personally, including Frank Sinatra , Marilyn Monroe , Humphrey Bogart and even the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . In his book Hollywood Is a Four Letter Town , Bacon later claimed to have had an affair with Monroe. He also interviewed eight US presidents. When a doctor had to deliver the news of the accidental death of her husband Michael Todd to actress Elizabeth Taylor , James Bacon accompanied him.

In addition to his work in the journalistic field, Bacon also worked as an actor. Similar to Alfred Hitchcock , however, he mostly had cameo appearances and rarely major supporting roles. Mostly he embodied journalists, reporters or cowboys. He took part in all five Planet of the Apes films produced between 1968 and 1973; only in Escape from the Planet of the Apes from 1971 did he depict a person.

In 1990 he wrote his only screenplay with the crime film The Lost Capone ; he also produced the film.

In April 2007, he received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

James Bacon was married twice. With Thelma Love, his first wife, he had three children, two daughters and a son. With his second wife, Doris Klein, with whom he was married for 44 years, he had three more children, two sons and a daughter.

Filmography (selection)

• 1973: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (Escape from the Planet of the Apes)

Web links

• James Bacon in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.