James MacArthur
| James MacArthur | |
|---|---|
 in The Young Stranger (1957) |
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| Born | James Gordon MacArthur December 8, 1937 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Spouse(s) | Joyce Bulifant (1958-1967) Melody Patterson (1970-1975) H.B. Duntz (1984-present) |
| Official website | |
James Gordon MacArthur (born December 8, 1937) is an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O, a role which won him fans all over the world.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Los Angeles, California, he was adopted as an infant by Charles MacArthur and Helen Hayes. He grew up in Nyack, New York, along with the MacArthurs' biological daughter, Mary. He was educated at Allen-Stevenson School in New York, and later at The Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he starred in basketball, football and baseball.
In his final year at Solebury he played guard on the football team; captained the basketball team; was president of his class, the student government, and the Drama Club; rewrote the school's constitution; edited the school paper, The Scribe; and played Scrooge in a local presentation of A Christmas Carol. He also started dating a fellow student, Joyce Bulifant; they were married in November 1958 and divorced nine years later.
MacArthur grew up around the greatest literary and theatrical talent of the time. Lillian Gish was his godmother, and his family guests included Ben Hecht, Harpo Marx, Robert Benchley, Beatrice Lillie, John Barrymore and John Steinbeck. His first radio role was on Theatre Guild of the Air, in 1948. The Theatre Guild of the Air was the premiere radio program of its day, producing one-hour plays that were performed in front of a live audience of 800. Helen Hayes accepted a role in one of the plays, which also had a small part for a child. Her son was asked if he would like to do it, and agreed.
[edit] Acting career
He made his stage debut at Olney, Maryland, in 1949, with a two-week stint in The Corn is Green. His sister, Mary, was in the play and telephoned their mother to request that James go to Olney to be in it with her. The following summer, he repeated the role at Dennis, Massachusetts, and his theatrical career was underway. In 1954, he played John Day in Life With Father with Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney. He became involved in important Broadway productions only after receiving his training in summer stock.
He also worked as a set painter, lighting director and chief of the parking lot. During a Helen Hayes festival at the Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod, he had a few walk-on parts. He also helped the theatre electrician and, in fact, grew so interested that he was allowed to stay on after Miss Hayes' plays had ended. As a result, he lighted the show for Barbara Bel Geddes in The Little Hut and for Gloria Vanderbilt in The Swan. When he visited Paris with his mother as a member of The Skin of Our Teeth Company, he was in charge of making thunder backstage with a sheet of metal.
At the age of 18, he played Hal Ditmar in the TV play, Deal a Blow, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring MacDonald Carey, Phyllis Thaxter and Edward Arnold. In 1956, Frankenheimer directed the movie version of the play, which was renamed The Young Stranger, with MacArthur again in the starring role. Again his performance was critically acclaimed, earning him a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1958 BAFTA awards.[citation needed] He made The Light in the Forest and Third Man on the Mountain, for Walt Disney, during summer breaks from Harvard University, where he was studying history. Deciding to make acting his full-time career, he left Harvard in his sophomore year to make two more Disney movies, Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson. These are now regarded as classics, and are still popular. In February 2003, Conrad Richter's novel The Light in the Forest was one of the books selected for Ohio's One Book, Two Counties project. MacArthur was a guest speaker, and talked of how the book was turned into the film and of his experiences making the movie.[citation needed]
He made his Broadway debut in 1960, playing opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March, for which he received a Theater World Award. Although he never returned to Broadway, he remained active in theatre, appearing in such productions as Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Moon Is Blue, John Loves Mary (with his then wife, Joyce Bulifant), Barefoot in the Park and Murder at the Howard Johnson's. He then went on to star in such movies as The Interns, Spencer's Mountain, The Truth About Spring and Cry of Battle, as well as in the rather less successful The Love-Ins and The Angry Breed. On the set of The Angry Breed, in 1968, MacArthur met Melody Patterson, who was to become his second wife. They were married on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, in July 1970, but divorced several years later. In 1963, he was a runner-up in the "Top New Male Personality" category of the Golden Laurel Awards.[citation needed]
Between movie and theatre roles, MacArthur was also much in demand for television guest appearances, which included parts in Studio One, G.E. Theatre, Bus Stop the play, Bus Stop the television series, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Eleventh Hour, The Great Adventure, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Great Adventure, Combat!, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High, and co-starred with his mother Helen Hayes in the 1968 episode "The Pride of the Lioness" on the Tarzan TV series. MacArthur also gave a particularly chilling performance as baby-faced opium dealer 'Johnny Lubin' in The Untouchables episode, Death For Sale.
Though not all his movie parts were starring roles, and some were quite brief, they were usually pivotal to the plot. His role in The Bedford Incident was that of a young ensign who becomes so rattled by the needling of his Captain (Richard Widmark) that he accidentally fires an anti-submarine missile|ASROC]] at Soviet submarine, thus (we are given to understand) starting World War III.
In Battle of the Bulge he again played the role of a young and inexperienced officer. This time, however, the officer finds courage and a sense of responsibility. His brief but memorable appearance in the Clint Eastwood movie, Hang 'Em High eventually led to his role as Dan Williams in Hawaii Five-O.
[edit] Hawaii Five-O
In 1967, Leonard Freeman, the producer of Hang 'Em High, made the pilot for a new television cop show, Hawaii Five-0. Before it went to air, the pilot was well-received by test audiences, except for some dislike of the actor in role of Dan Williams. Freeman remembered MacArthur's portrayal of the traveling preacher in Hang 'Em High: he had come on the set and done the scene in one take. He called MacArthur and offered him the role of Dan Williams. Hawaii Five-O ran for twelve years—eleven with MacArthur. Leaving Hawaii Five-O at the end of its eleventh season, MacArthur returned to the theatre in The Lunch Hour with Cybill Shepherd.
[edit] Post- Hawaii Five-O
He appeared in A Bedfull of Foreigners in Chicago in 1984, and in Michigan in 1985. He followed this with The Hasty Heart, before taking a year out of showbusiness. In 1987, he returned to the stage in The Foreigner, then played Mortimer in the national tour of Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross and Larry Storch. In 1989, he followed another stint in The Foreigner with Love Letters and, in 1990 – 1991, A Bedfull of Foreigners, this time in Las Vegas.
Since leaving Hawaii Five-O, McArthur has guest-starred on such TV shows as Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Vega$, as well as in the mini series Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story and The Night the Bridge Fell Down, and in the 1998 TV movie Stormchasers: Revenge of the Twister, with Kelly McGillis.
[edit] Semi-retirement
Throughout his career, MacArthur has also found time for various other ventures. From 1959-60, he partnered with actor James Franciscus and Alan Ladd, Jr. in a Beverly Hills telephone answering service; in June 1972, he directed The Honolulu Community Theatre in a production of his father's play The Front Page; and, for a period in the 1990s he was part-owner of Senior World publication as well as writing the occasional celebrity interview.
In 2000 MacArthur was awarded his own 'sidewalk star' in Palm Springs. Today he enjoys spending time with his third wife, H. B. Duntz, and his four children and six grandchildren. He continues to appear at conventions, collectors' shows, and celebrity sporting events. A keen golfer, he was the winner of the 2002 Frank Sinatra Invitational Charity Golf Tournament.
He still appears in television and radio specials and interview programs. His most recent appearances include spots on Entertainment Tonight, Christopher's Closeup and the BBC Radio 5 Live obituary program Brief Lives, in which he paid tribute to late Hawaii Five-O castmate, Kam Fong. In April 2003, he traveled to Honolulu for a cameo role in Joe Moore's play Dirty Laundry, appearing as a priest accused of molestation.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Climax! | Hal Ditmar | Deal a Blow |
| 1957 | The Arthur Murray Party | Self | April 30, 1957 |
| The Young Stranger | Harold James 'Hal' Ditmar | ||
| 1958 | General Electric Theater | Johnny Dundeen | The Young and the Scared |
| Studio One | Jim Gibson | Ticket to Tahiti | |
| Ben Adams | Tongues of Angels | ||
| The Light in the Forest | Johnny Butler/True Son | ||
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Jamsie Corcoran | The Innocent Assassin |
| Third Man on the Mountain | Rudi Matt | ||
| Wagon Train | (uncredited) | The Jenny Tannen Story | |
| 1960 | Kidnapped | David Balfour | |
| Night of the Auk | Lt. Mac Hartman | ||
| Swiss Family Robinson | Fritz Robinson | ||
| Play of the Week | Lieutenant Max | Night of the Auk | |
| 1961 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Johnny Butler/True Son | Archive footage
Light in the Forest: True Son's Revenge |
| Play of the Week | Lt. Max Hartman | Night of the Auk | |
| The Untouchables | Johnny Lubin | Death for Sale | |
| Bus Stop | Thomas 'Tom' Quincy Hagan | And the Pursuit of Evil | |
| 1962 | Insight | Jim Brown | The Sophomore |
| Wagon Train | Dick Pederson | The Dick Pederson Story | |
| The Interns | Dr. Lew Worship | ||
| The Dick Powell Show | Jack Doffer | The Court Martial of Captain Wycliff | |
| 1963 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Rudi Matt | Archive footage
Banner in the Sky: To Conquer the Mountain |
| Rudi Matt | Archive footage
Banner in the Sky: The Killer Mountain |
||
| David Balfour | Archive footage
Kidnapped: Part 1 |
||
| David Balfour | Archife footage
Kidnapped: Part 2 |
||
| Sam Benedict | Bert Stover | Some Fires Die Slowly | |
| Spencer's Mountain | Clayboy Spencer | ||
| Arrest and Trial | Deke Palmer | A Shield is for Hiding Behind | |
| Cry of Battle | David McVey | ||
| Amos Burke: Secret Agent | Larry Forsythe | Who Killed the Kind Doctor? | |
| The Eleventh Hour | Mason Walker | La Belle Indifference | |
| The Great Adventure | Lieutenant Alexander | The Hunley | |
| 1964 | The Great Adventure | Rodger Young | Rodger Young |
| The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Dave Snowden | Behind the Locked Door | |
| 1965 | The Truth About Spring | William Ashton | |
| The Bedford Incident | Ensign Ralston | ||
| The Virginian | Johnny Bradford | Jennifer | |
| Battle of the Bulge | Lieutenant Weaver | ||
| 1966 | Ride Beyond Vengeance | The Census Taker | |
| Branded | Lt. Laurence | A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers | |
| 12 O'Clock High | Lt. Wilson | The Outsider | |
| Gunsmoke | David McGovern | Harvest | |
| 1967 | Dateline: Hollywood | Self | June 19, 1967 |
| Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Cpl. Henry Jenkins | Willie and the Yank: The Deserter | |
| Willie and the Yank: The Mosby Raiders | |||
| Combat! | Jack Cole | Encounter | |
| The Love-Ins | Larry Osborne | ||
| Insight | Billy Thorp | Some Talk About Pool Rooms and Gin Mills | |
| Hondo | Judd Barton | Hondo and the Mad Dog | |
| Tarzan | Dr. Richard Wilson | The Pride of the Lioness | |
| Bonanza | Jason 'Jase' Fredericks | Check Rein | |
| Death Valley Days | Kit Carson | Spring Rendevous | |
| 1968 | Death Valley Days | Kit Carson | The Indian Girl |
| The Angry Breed | Deek Stacey | ||
| Premiere | Russ Faine | Lassiter | |
| Hang 'Em High | The Preacher | ||
| 1968-1979 | Hawaii Five-O | Det. Danny Williams | 259 episodes |
| 1971 | The Movie Game | Self | June 28, 1971 |
| July 4, 1971 | |||
| The Hollywood Squares | Self | April 12, 1971 | |
| 1972 | The Hollywood Squares | Self | March 6, 1972 |
| 1973 | The Hollywood Squares | Self | January 1, 1973 |
| 1977 | Battle of the Network Stars III | Self | |
| 1978 | Battle of the Network Stars IV | Self | |
| Fantasy Island | Fantasy Island | The Funny Girl/Butch and Sundance | |
| 1979 | Time Express | Dr. Mark Toland | Garbage Man/Doctor's Wife |
| The Love Boat | Chet Hanson | The Spider Serenade/The Wife Next Door/The Harder They Fall | |
| 1980 | 34th Annual Tony Awards | Self | |
| Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story | Walt Stomer | ||
| The Love Boat | Scott Burgess | The Caller/The Marriage of Convenience/No Girls for Doc/Witness for the Prosecution | |
| 1981 | Fantasy Island | Bob Graham | The Heroine/The Warrior |
| Vega$ | Jerry Lang | Heist | |
| Walking Tall | Father Adair | The Fire Within | |
| The Littlest Hobo | Jim Haley | Trail of No Return | |
| 1983 | The Scheme of Things | Self | |
| The Night the Bridge Fell Down | Cal Miller | ||
| The Love Boat | Paul Krakauer | I Don't Play Anymore/Gopher's Roomate/Crazy for You | |
| 1985 | The Love Boat | Marc Silver | Vicki's Gentleman Caller/Partners to the End/The Perfect Arrangement |
| 1989 | The Adventures of Superboy | Hogan | Birdwoman of the Swamps |
| 1991 | JFK | uncredited David McVey | Archive footage Cry of Battle |
| American Masters | Self | Helen Hayes: First Lady of of the American Theatre | |
| 1994 | The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic | Self | |
| 1997 | Hawaii Five-O | Governor Danny Williams | |
| Light Lunch | Self | 70 Super Cops | |
| 1998 | Storm Chasers: Revenge of the Twister | Frank Del Rio | |
| 2002 | Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making | Narrator | Special thanks |
| Inside TVLand: 40 Greatest Theme Songs | Self | ||
| Inside TVLand: Cops on Camera | Self | ||
| 2005 | The 100 Greatest Family Films | Self | |
| 2006 | The 100 TV Quotes and Greatest Catch Phases | Self | |
| 2007 | Entertainment and TVLand Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons | Self | |
| 2008 | The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics | Self | Grateful thanks |
[edit] External links
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