Jameson Thomas

Jameson Thomas , actually Thomas Jameson , (born March 24, 1888 in London , England , † January 10, 1939 in Sierra Madre , California , USA ) was a British actor.

Life

Jameson Thomas, who has appeared on British stages since the 1900s, made his film debut in 1923 with a supporting role in a film by Herbert Wilcox . His first leading roles were in the war dramas Poppies of Flanders and Blighty (both 1927) and in Harley Knole's adventure film White Sheik (1928). His talent lay in character roles and in the portrayal of polite, gentle British gentlemen with a tendency to be extravagant.

In 1928 he played in The Farmer's Wife , a love comedy by the 29-year-old Alfred Hitchcock , a widowed farmer who wants to remarry and who, of all people, hires the woman who secretly loves him to choose a bride. Other leading roles followed in George J. Banfield's crime film Power Over Men , in Leslie S. Hiscott's love story The Feather and in Arnold Bennett's fateful film Piccadilly - Night World (all three 1929). In Piccadilly , Thomas played the role of a melancholy nightclub owner who is charged with murder after a beautiful Chinese dancer ( Anna May Wong ) whom he falls in love with is shot. Thomas and Wong met again on the screen in 1930 in the revue film Elstree Calling .

In 1929 Jameson Thomas appeared once in a German film production, namely in Erich Waschneck's Olga Chekhova film Die Liebe der Rott Brothers (1929). The following year he went to California with his wife, the actress Dorothy Dix, who suffered from tuberculosis , for health reasons and because he was hoping for better roles there . He played there initially small supporting roles until Raymond Cannon used him in 1931 alongside Virginia Valli as a leading actor in the divorce drama Night Life in Reno . Other major roles followed in the crime film The Devil Plays (1931), in the love story Stolen Sweets (1934) and in the crime film The Lady in Scarlet (1935). Leading roles remained rather the exception. Well-known films in which Thomas was seen in - mostly small - supporting roles include The Invisible Man (1933), The Scarlet Empress (1934), Bengali , Charlie Chan in Egypt (both 1935) and Mr. Deeds goes to the city ( 1936). Perhaps his most famous role to today's audiences, he played as "King Westley", the sleazy fiancée of Claudette Colbert in the classic comedy It Happened on a Night by Frank Capra .

After contracting tuberculosis himself, Jameson Thomas died in California at the age of 50. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery , Los Angeles .

Filmography

• 1923: Chu Chin Chow
• 1924: The Sins Ye Do
• 1924: The Drum
• 1924: Chester Forgets Himself
• 1924: The Cavern Spider
• 1924: Decameron Nights / Dekameron Nights
• 1925: The Gold Cure
• 1925: A Daughter of Love
• 1925: The Apache
• 1925: Afraid of Love
• 1926: Jungle Woman
• 1926: The Brotherhood
• 1926: The Hound of the Deep / Pearl of the South Seas
• 1927: Roses of Picardy
• 1927: Poppies of Flanders
• 1927: Blighty
• 1927: The Antidote (short film)
• 1928: The White Sheik / King's Mate
• 1928: Tesha / A Woman in Pain / A Woman in the Night
• 1928: The Rising Generation
• 1928: High Treason
• 1928: The Farmer's Wife
• 1928: The Apache
• 1929: Power Over Men
• 1929: The Feather
• 1929: Week-End Wives
• 1929: Piccadilly - Night World
• 1929: The love of the Rott brothers
• 1929: Hate Ship
• 1930: Elstree Calling
• 1930: Night Birds / The Copper
• 1930: extravagance
• 1931: Lover Come Back
• 1931: Chances / Changes
• 1931: Night Life in Reno
• 1931: Convicted
• 1931: The Devil Plays
• 1932: Three Wise Girls
• 1932: Escapade / Dangerous Ground
• 1932: The Trial of Vivienne Ware
• 1932: The Phantom President
• 1932: No More Orchids
• 1932: Self-Defense
• 1933: The Secret of Madame Blanche
• 1933: Letter moment
• 1933: The Solitaire Man
• 1933: The Invisible Man (The Invisible Man)
• 1934: Bombay Mail
• 1934: A Woman's Man
• 1934: It Happened One Night (It Happened One Night)
• 1934: Beggars in Ermine
• 1934: Stolen Sweets
• 1934: Call It Luck
• 1934: Jane Eyre
• 1934: The Moonstone
• 1934: The Scarlet Empress (The Scarlet Empress)
• 1934: A Lost Lady / Courageous
• 1934: The Curtain Falls
• 1934: A Successful Failure
• 1934: Happiness Ahead
• 1934: The World Accuses
• 1934: Sing Sing Nights / Reprieved
• 1934: The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
• 1935: Bengali (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer)
• 1935: Rumba
• 1935: Mr. Dynamite
• 1935: Charlie Chan in Egypt (Charlie Chan in Egypt)
• 1935: The Last Outpost
• 1935: The Lady in Scarlet
• 1935: Coronado
• 1936: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• 1936: House of Secrets
• 1937: Girl Loves Boy
• 1937: The League of Frightened Men
• 1937: Parnell
• 1937: Souls at Sea
• 1937: The Man Who Cried Wolf
• 1937: 100 men and a girl (One Hundred Men and a Girl)
• 1939: Death Goes North

Stage appearances (selection)

• The Squaw Man (London, 1900s)
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (with Bebe Daniels , USA)

Web links

• Jameson Thomas in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Jameson Thomas at screenonline.org (English)
• Jameson Thomas in the database of Find a Grave (English)