J. P. McGowan
J. P. McGowan | |
---|---|
Born | John Paterson McGowan February 24, 1880 Terowie, South Australia, Australia |
Died | March 26, 1952 Hollywood, California, United States | (aged 72)
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation(s) | Actor Director Writer |
Years active | 1910–1938 |
John Paterson McGowan (February 24, 1880 – March 26, 1952) was a pioneering Hollywood actor and director and occasionally a screenwriter and producer. McGowan remains the only Australian to have been made a life member of the Screen Directors Guild (now Directors Guild of America).
Biography
Born in the then-bustling railway centre of Terowie in South Australia, McGowan grew up in Adelaide (Islington) and Sydney (Eveleigh, Newtown). He was a capable horseman and served in the Second Boer War with Montmorency's Scouts as a special dispatch rider.
From South Africa McGowan was recruited to take part in a Boer War exhibit in the US at the 1904 World's Fair. He then began working in live theatre, and in 1910 joined Kalem Studios in New York City. That year McGowan made his first film appearance in A Lad from Old Ireland as part of the crew that traveled to Ireland to do the first American film shot on location outside of the United States. His horseback riding ability enabled him to do many of Kalem's riding stunts.
McGowan directed and often acted in the first 33 episodes of Kalem's 1914 adventure film series, The Hazards of Helen, which eventually ran to 54 episodes, some still with McGowan's participation. With other contributors, the series ran on to 119 episodes in all. While filming he began a relationship with Helen Holmes, the film's star, and the two married. They left Kalem to set up their own production company, Signal Films, which successfully made mainly railroad melodrama serials and features but lost out when their distributor (Mutual) failed. The collaboration ended when they divorced in 1925. There was an adopted daughter, Kaye.
McGowan successfully made the transition from silent film to talkies. While never a major star, in a busy career that spanned four decades he is credited with acting in 232 films—mostly strong roles like sheriff or villain—writing 26 screenplays and directing 242 productions. In 1932 he directed a young John Wayne in the 12-episode rail vs airplane serial The Hurricane Express for the independent Mascot Pictures. From 1938 to 1951, as Executive Secretary of the Screen Directors Guild, he fought to secure recognition for the director within the studio systems of the film and emerging television industry.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/J.P._McGowan_in_%22Discontented_Wives%22.jpg/220px-J.P._McGowan_in_%22Discontented_Wives%22.jpg)
J.P. McGowan died in 1952 in Hollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
McGowan's career was celebrated in the town of his birth with the Terowie Days of Rail and Screen 2002-2010. The adventurous, stunt-filled partnership with Helen Holmes has been celebrated in the inventive bio-tribute, 'Stunt Love', which was presented at the Adelaide Film Festival in February 2011 and at Museum of Modern Art, New York, in April 2011.
Selected filmography
Director
- Tragedy of the Desert (1912)
- The Hazards of Helen (1914 - 1915)
- The Voice in the Fog (1915)
- Blackbirds (1915)
- Elmo the Mighty (1919)
- Elmo the Fearless (1920)
- Do or Die (1921)
- Perils of the Yukon (1922)
- Stormy Seas (1923)
- Mistaken Orders (1925)
- The Fear Fighter (1925)
- Crack o' Dawn (1925)
- Outwitted (1925)
- Señor Daredevil (1926)
- Crossed Signals (1926)
- The Brown Derby (1926)
- Danger Quest (1926)
- Arizona Nights (1927)
- The Lost Limited (1927)
- Thunderbolt's Tracks (1927)
- The Red Raiders (1927)
- The Slaver (1927)
- Aflame in the Sky (1927)
- The Chinatown Mystery (1928, serial)
- Trailin' Back (1928)
- Arizona Days (1928)
- Trail Riders (1928)
- On the Divide (1928)
- West of Santa Fe (1928)
- Manhattan Cowboy (1928)
- Lightnin' Shot (1928)
- The Devil's Tower (1928)
- Two Outlaws (1928)
- Mystery Valley (1928)
- Devil Dogs (1928)
- Silent Trail (1928)
- Texas Tommy (1928)
- Law of the Mounted (1928)
- The Painted Trail (1928)
- The Black Ace (1928)
- The Clean Up (1929)
- The Man from Nevada (1929)
- Below the Deadline (1929)
- Beyond the Law (1930)
- Quick Trigger Lee (1931)
- Riders of the North (1931)
- Headin' for Trouble (1931)
- So This Is Arizona (1931)
- The Cyclone Kid (1931)
- A Son of the Plains (1931)
- The Man from New Mexico (1932)
- The Scarlet Brand (1932)
- Tangled Fortunes (1932)
- The Hurricane Express (1932)
- Human Targets (1932)
- When a Man Rides Alone (1933)
- No More Women (1934)
- Stampede (1936)
- Slave Ship (1937)
- Heart of the Rockies (1937)
Actor
- From the Manger to the Cross (1912) - Wise Man 1
- The Hazards of Helen (1914, Serial) - Train Controller / Benton / Rand - Yeggman / Dan Haddon - Cowboy / Brandt - Cashier / Blake - Lineman / Rand - Fireman / Lockwood - Flagman / Warren - Railman / Thomas - Wiretapper Chief / Trow - Wrecking Crewman
- Fury and the Woman (1936)
References
Further reading
- McGowan, John J. J. P. McGowan: Biography of a Hollywood Pioneer. McFarland, 2005.
- McGowan, John J. "Hollywood's First Australian". Digital Print Australia, 2016.
- Lahue, Kalton C, "Bound and Gagged, the story of the silent serials". Castle Books, New York, 1968.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Works by or about J. P. McGowan at the Internet Archive
- J. P. McGowan at IMDb
- (in French) JP McGowan, website dedicated to Sidney Olcott
- Australian male film actors
- Australian film directors
- Australian screenwriters
- American male film actors
- American male silent film actors
- People of the Second Boer War
- People from Terowie, South Australia
- 1880 births
- 1952 deaths
- 20th-century American male actors
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
- 20th-century Australian male actors
- Male actors from South Australia
- Australian emigrants to the United States