Jimmy Lydon

Biography: Jimmy Lydon

To help support his large family, American actor Jimmy Lydon was forced along with his eight siblings to seek out work at an early age. The boy began picking up acting jobs, appearing in such plays as Western Waters and The Happiest Days. Lydon's first film was Back Door to Heaven, after which he appeared as the title character of Tom Brown's School Days (1940). The essential seriousness with which he tackled his work may have stemmed from Lydon's dislike of the demeaning audition process and the callous manner in which child actors were treated by many adult directors. When Jackie Cooper balked at continuing the role of Henry Aldrich in a series of Paramount B-pictures, Lydon was assigned to the part, ultimately appearing in nine Henry Aldrich films. The adenoidal, trouble-prone Henry was a hard image for Lydon to shake, but he did his best with polished performances in such films as Strange Illusion (1945) (a bizarre "B"-film based on Hamlet), and Life with Father (1947), in which Lydon was paired with Elizabeth Taylor. Finding film work sparse in the '50s, Lydon began doing commercial voiceovers and acting in television: he played a newlywed in the 1952 daytime serial The First Hundred Years, a benign space alien on the syndicated 1953 sci-fier Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, an actor's agent on So This is Hollywood (1955), and Anne Jeffreys' secretary in the 1958 sitcom Love That Jill. From 1956 onward, Lydon, wearying of the headaches and heartaches of an acting career (though he'd still accept a part if he liked it), began training for production work behind the cameras. He worked on the producer's staff of such series as Wagon Train and 77 Sunset Strip, and on occasion (notably the 1965 TV version of Mister Roberts) directed as well as produced. Lydon also functioned as producer on several films, such as the Sean Connery vehicle Chubasco (1968). Frequently, Lydon used his production clout to secure work for his ailing father-in-law, veteran movie villain Bernard Nedell. But while he was willing to help an older relative, James Lydon, still smarting from losing out on a normal childhood, actively discouraged his children from entering show business -- at least until they were grown up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less

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Corky of Gasoline Alley (1951)
Cast: Edward Bernds Jimmy Lydon Gordon Jones Scotty Beckett Don Beddoe
Tags: Slapstick Comedy
Length: 80min
Corky of Gasoline Alley was the second and last Columbia "B"-picture inspired by Frank King's popular comic strip -Gasoline Alley. As in the first film, the emphasis is on young gas jockey Corky (Scotty Beckett), who must put up with Elwood Martin...
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Gasoline Alley (1951)
Cast: Edward Bernds Scotty Beckett Don Beddoe Jimmy Lydon Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Tags: Comedy
Length: 76min
Gasoline Alley was based on Frank King's popular comic strip of the same name. The strip's central characters, service station owner Walt Wallet (Don Beddoe) and his adopted son Skeezix (James Lydon), take a back seat to newlyweds Corky (Scotty...
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The Desperado (1954)
Cast: Thomas Carr Jimmy Lydon Beverly Garland Rayford Barnes Lee Van Cleef
Tags: Action Western
Length: 81min
The third of four Wayne Morris B-westerns for Allied Artists, Desperado casts Morris as fugitive gunman Sam Garrett. The early reels are devoted to Tall Cameron (James Lydon) and Ray Novac (Rayford Barnes), who run afoul of the post-Civil War Texas...
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Destination Big House (1950)
Cast: Robert Armstrong Jimmy Lydon George Blair Tony Martinelli Stanley Wilson
Tags: Crime Thriller Crime
Length: 60min
Destination Big House is a well directed Republic Programmer starring Dorothy Patrick as a vacationing schoolteacher. Gangster Richard Benedict bursts into Dorothy's mountain cabin, where he dies in a shootout with the Law. As he breathes his last,...
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Hot Rod (1950)
Cast: Lewis D. Collins Gil Stratton Jimmy Lydon Myron Healey Art Baker
Tags: Drama Crime
Length: 61min
The postwar hot-rod craze spawned a whole new movie subgenre. This Monogram entry, titled simply Hot Rod, stars Jimmy Lydon as David Langham, the son of a juvenile court judge (Art Baker) who'd like nothing better than to throw all hot-rodders in the...
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Tarnished (1950)
Cast: Harry Keller Jimmy Lydon Gig Young Dorothy Patrick Arthur Franz
Tags: Drama
Length: 60min
Dorothy Patrick, Republic Pictures' all-purpose leading lady, heads the cast of Tarnished. Arthur Franz co-stars as Bud Dolliver, who returns to his hometown after a hitch in the Marines. Because of Bud's previous bad reputation, the townsfolk assume...
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Miss Mink of 1949 (1949)
Cast: Richard Lane Glenn Tryon Jimmy Lydon Barbara Brown Grandon Rhodes
Tags: Comedy
Length: 69min
The "B"-picture unit at 20th Century-Fox was slowly being phased out when Miss Mink of 1949 was produced. Lois Collier heads the cast as Alice Forrester, an office clerk who wins a 10,000 mink coat in a radio contest. This windfall proves disastrous...
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When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950)
Cast: John Ford William Demarest Jimmy Lydon Corinne Calvet Mae Marsh
Tags: War Adventure Adventure Comedy War
Length: 90min
A rare comedy from director John Ford, this story about a WWII soldier trying to gain some respect is based on the published war memoirs of Sy Gomberg. Bill Kluggs (Dan Dailey) is the first man in his small West Virginia town to enlist, and his father...
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Joan of Arc (1948)
Cast: Ingrid Bergman Cecil Kellaway Victor Fleming José Ferrer Ward Bond
Tags: Biopic Religious Drama Historical Film Hagiography
Length: 100min
Director Victor Fleming's final film features Ingrid Bergman as a vivid and luminous Joan of Arc, the 15th-century French peasant girl who led the French in battle against the invading English, becoming a national hero. When she was captured,...
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Tucson (1949)
Cast: William F. Claxton Jimmy Lydon Penny Edwards Joe Sawyer Gil Stratton
Tags: Drama
Length: 64min
Former "Henry Aldrich" Jimmy Lydon had matured into a capable leading man by the time Tucson went before the cameras. Lydon plays Andy Bryant, a University of Arizona student whose grades suffer because of his preoccupation with an upcoming...
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Jimmy Lydon

Biography: Jimmy Lydon

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