Jack Norton
100 movies
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Sep 1, 1889
- Died
- Oct 15, 1958 (age 69)
- Place of birth
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Also known as
- Mortimer John Naughton
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jack Norton (September 2, 1882 – October 15, 1958) was an American stage and film character actor who appeared in 184 films between 1934 and 1948, often playing drunks, although in real life he was a teetotaler.
Read the full biography
Career
Jack Norton was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 2, 1882.
In his early career he had a vaudeville comedy act with his wife Lillian Healy. Norton made his Broadway debut in 1925 in that year's edition of Earl Carroll's Vanities, and also appeared in Florida Girl, which was produced and staged by Carroll.
Norton's first film work was for a musical short, School for Romance, in 1934, in which a young Betty Grable appeared, but his scenes were deleted. His work survived to reach the screen in his next assignment, The Super Snooper, a comedy short, and in his third film, his first full-length movie, Finishing School, which featured Frances Dee, Billie Burke, Ginger Rogers and Bruce Cabot, Norton played a drunk, setting the pattern for many of his future performances. Although he also played stone sober characters as well, he was best known for his inebriated characterizations, and he improved his work by following genuine drunks around, picking up behavioral tips.
Norton worked continuously and consistently, sometimes appearing in as many as 20 films in one year, although many of his performances went uncredited. One of the few times he was credited as part of the main cast was in 1945 for the film A Guy, a Gal and a Pal In the 1940s, Norton was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in five films written and directed by Sturges. He is perhaps best known to modern audiences as A. Pismo Clam, the drunken film director whom W.C. Fields is hired to replace in The Bank Dick (1940).
In 1947, Norton retired from films due to illness, his last appearance being in Alias a Gentlemen, which was released in 1948, although he did make some live television appearances in the early 1950s.
Jack Norton's final appearance would have been in the 1956 episode of The Honeymooners entitled "Unconventional Behavior", but age and infirmity had so overwhelmed him that he was literally written out of the show as it was being filmed, though Jackie Gleason saw to it that Norton was paid fully for the performance he was ready, willing, but unable to give.
Norton died on October 15, 1958 in Saranac Lake, New York at the age of 76. He is buried in Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton, New York on Long Island.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Jack Norton: movies and TV shows
Acting (100)
- 1964 The Big Parade of Comedy
as Actor in 'The Girl from Missouri' (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1953 I Was a Burlesque Queen
as Jim Benson
- 1949 Malice in the Palace
as Emir of Schmoe (uncredited)
- 1947 Linda, Be Good
as Jim Benson
- 1947 Variety Girl
as Busboy at Brown Derby
- 1947 Hired Husband
as Mr. Drinkwater
- 1947 The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
as James R. Smoke
- 1946 Nocturne
as Charlie (uncredited)
- 1946 Rhythm and Weep
as Mr. Walsh
- 1946 Shadows Over Chinatown
as Cosgrove
- 1945 Hold That Blonde!
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1945 Captain Tugboat Annie
as Shiftless
- 1945 Man Alive
as William T. Lafferty
- 1945 Strange Confession
as Jack
- 1945 The Naughty Nineties
as Drunk at the Gilded Cage (uncredited)
- 1945 Flame of Barbary Coast
as Byline Conners, Reporter San Francisco Star
- 1945 The Scarlet Clue
as Willie Rand
- 1945 Two O'Clock Courage
as Drunk at Blue Room Bar (uncredited)
- 1945 A Guy, a Gal and a Pal
as Norton
- 1945 Fashion Model
as Herbert
- 1944 The Big Noise
as Drunk on Train
- 1944 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
as Country Club Man Ordering Champagne (uncredited)
- 1944 Hail the Conquering Hero
as Second Bandleader (uncredited)
- 1944 The Story of Dr. Wassell
as 'Janssen' Passenger (uncredited)
- 1944 Once Upon a Time
as Man In Barber Chair (uncredited)
- 1944 Make Your Own Bed
as Drunk
- 1944 Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat
as Hotel Desk Clerk
- 1944 Going My Way
as Mr. Lilly (uncredited)
- 1943 Crazy House
as Drunk
- 1943 Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Customer in Bette Davis Number (uncredited)
- 1943 The Kansan
as Saloon Drunk
- 1943 So's Your Uncle
as Drunk
- 1943 Prairie Chickens
as Henry Lewis-Clark III
- 1943 Taxi, Mister
as Reginald Van Nostrum - the Drunk
- 1943 The Falcon Strikes Back
as Second Hobo (uncredited)
- 1943 It Ain't Hay
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1942 Dr. Renault's Secret
as Mr. Austin
- 1942 Moonlight in Havana
as George
- 1942 The Palm Beach Story
as Second Member Ale and Quail Club
- 1942 My Favorite Spy
as Orchid Room Drunk
- 1942 The Spoilers
as Mr. Skinner
- 1942 Dr. Broadway
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1942 Brooklyn Orchid
as Jonathan McFeeder
- 1942 The Fleet's In
as Kellogg
- 1941 Pacific Blackout
as Drunk
- 1941 Louisiana Purchase
as Jester
- 1941 No Hands on the Clock
as Bartender at The Nugget Room
- 1941
- 1941 Let's Make Music
as Drunk
- 1940 A Night at Earl Carroll's
as Alonzo Smith
- 1940 The Bank Dick
as A. Pismo Clam
- 1940 The Villain Still Pursued Her
as Drunk
- 1940 The Way of All Flesh
as Barber
- 1940 The Ghost Breakers
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1940 Opened by Mistake
as Al, the Bartender
- 1940 The Farmer's Daughter
as Shimmy Conway
- 1940 City of Chance
as Mr. Murphy
- 1939 Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
as Parker
- 1939 The Roaring Twenties
as Drunk at Henderson Club (uncredited)
- 1939 News Is Made at Night
as Drunk
- 1939 Grand Jury Secrets
as Doyle
- 1939 Society Smugglers
as Prentis
- 1939 The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt
as Charlie Fenton - the Party Drunk (uncredited)
- 1938 Thanks for the Memory
as Bert Monroe
- 1938 Meet the Girls
as Fletcher
- 1938 The Awful Tooth
as Dr. Schultz
- 1938 Hold That Kiss
as Mallory
- 1938 Jezebel
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1938 Arsène Lupin Returns
as Hotel Manager (uncredited)
- 1938 Love Is a Headache
as Bartender (uncredited)
- 1938 Everybody's Doing It
as Harry The Drunk
- 1937 My Dear Miss Aldrich
as First Drunk at Red Apple Inn (uncredited)
- 1937 The Women Men Marry
as Wilhelm Peebles (uncredited)
- 1937 Meet the Missus
as Mr. Norton
- 1937 Marked Woman
as Drunk
- 1937 Time Out for Romance
as Crapshooter
- 1936 Who's Looney Now
as Herbert Brown
- 1936 Forgotten Faces
as Drunk
- 1936
- 1936 The Preview Murder Mystery
as Comedy Director (Uncredited)
- 1935 Foolish Hearts
as Jimmy
- 1935 Ship Cafe
as Mr. Randall (uncredited)
- 1935 Dr. Socrates
as Drunk in Park
- 1935 His Night Out
as Dr. Singer
- 1935 Page Miss Glory
as Reporter (uncredited)
- 1935 Broadway Gondolier
as Man on Ship with Pipe
- 1935 Don't Bet on Blondes
as J. Mortimer 'Mousy' Slade
- 1935 Going Highbrow
as Sinclair
- 1935 Stolen Harmony
as Phillips (uncredited)
- 1935 Sweet Music
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1935 One More Spring
as Drunk
- 1935 Calling All Cars
as Duke Costello
- 1935 The Gilded Lily
as Photographer (uncredited)
- 1934
- 1934 Fixing a Stew
as Pete
- 1934
- 1934 Cockeyed Cavaliers
as King's Physician
- 1934 Woman Haters
as Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
- 1934 Finishing School
as Drunk (uncredited)
- 1934