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Jim Backus
Age: 76 (passed away Jul. 3rd, 1989)
Height:
Birth Place: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Born: Feb. 25th, 1913
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Jim Backus' Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: Jim Backus was one of the few actors to do it all: radio, Broadway, movies, television and cartoons. After attending prep school in his native Cleveland, Backus enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, to ply his trade. While waiting for parts, he did radio and became friends with such future notables as Garson Kanin and Keenan Wynn. Backus stuck it out and soon was doing motion pictures in addition to radio. He was typecast in roles as "rich types" but broke the mold when he portrayed James Dean (I)'s father in the classic Rebel Without a Cause (1955). With his career in full swing, Backus also tackled two roles that he would be best known for, Mr. Magoo in cartoons and Thurston Howell III, in "Gilligan's Island" (1964). After the show's run ended, he continued doing guest spots on television and movies, before passing away on July 3, 1989.
TRIVIA:
- One of his teachers in grade school was 'Margaret Hamilton' (qv), who would later play Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch, in _The Wizard of Oz (1939)_ (qv).
- He not only played Thurston Howell III, he also portrayed a man who impersonates Thurston for criminal gain (the man later falls off a ship while drinking wine from a lady's slipper!).
- Was the first choice to play Abner Kravitz in _"Bewitched" (1964)_ (qv), but turned it down, as he was already working on _"Gilligan's Island" (1964)_ (qv).
- When Backus was doing radio plays, one of his characters "Hubert Updyke III" would become the basis for "Thurston Howell III" in _"Gilligan's Island" (1964)_ (qv).
- Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Section D, #203.
- Attended the Kentucky Military Institute. One of his classmates was future fellow actor 'Victor Mature' (qv).
- He provided the voice of Wally the Bird on the Western Airlines ads of the 1950s. His one-liner was simply "Western Airlines, the O-O-ONLY way to fly." He repeated this line in _It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)_ (qv).
- Suffered from Parkinson's disease in later years and had to be carried into "Gilligan's Island" creator Sherwood Schwartz's 70th-birthday party in 1987 because he couldn't manage the steps into Schwartz's house.
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