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James A. Westerfield (22 March 1913 – 20 September 1971) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife Dora Elizabeth Bailey, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. (A news story in the June 12, 1949, issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle calls the information in the preceding sentence into question. It describes Westerfield as "the son of a famous producer-director" and says that he was "a youngster in Denver, Col.")
He became interested in theatre as a young man and in the 1930s joined Gilmor Brown's famed Pasadena Community Playhouse, appearing in dozens of plays. He played in numerous films following his debut in 1940, then went to New York City and appeared on Broadway, winning two New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for his supporting roles in The Madwoman of Chaillot and Detective Story. He then returned to Hollywood and made more than 40 more films. Westerfield maintained an interest in the theatre. He directed more than 50 musicals in a summer-musical tent he owned in Danbury, Connecticut, and was the original stage director and producer for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. He directed three seasons of "Theatre Under the Stars" in Vancouver, British Columbia, and appeared in musical roles with the Detroit Civic Light Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and the San Francisco Civic Light Opera.
On film, Westerfield had roles in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), On The Waterfront (1954), Lucy Gallant (1955), the 1957 Budd Boetticher-directed Western Decision at Sundown starring Randolph Scott, Cowboy (1958), a repeating role in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Man's Favorite Sport (1964), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969).
Westerfield had many roles on television, including seven episodes as John Murrel from 1963 to 1964 on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Sheriff Bert Elmore in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Angry Mourner." He also appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1954 entitled "Texas Draw."
Westerfield's other appearances were on such series as The Rifleman, The Californians, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Alaskans, The Rebel, Straightaway, Going My Way, The Asphalt Jungle, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show, Daniel Boone, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gunsmoke. He played the circus leader, Dr. Marvello, in an episode of Lost in Space "Space Circus" (1966).
Westerfield as a young man was a roommate of fellow Pasadena Playhouse actor George Reeves. The two remained close friends until Reeves's death in 1959.
Westerfield was married to Alice G. Fay (an actress under the name Fay Tracey), who, along with his mother, survived him. Westerfield died from a heart attack in Woodlands Hills, California, at the age of fifty-eight.
as John Applebee
as Cark Rickter
as Sheriff Berry
as The Lawyer
as Rev. Wilkerson
as Judge Parker
as Sheriff
as Capt. Boyle
as Sheriff Matson(1 ep)
as Abe Parker
as Prisoner
as Amos
as Jack Balter
as Sheriff(1 ep)
as Nehemiah
as Charley Mardis
as McAvity(1 ep)
as Dr. Marvello(1 ep)
as Jeb Lassiter(1 ep)
as Officer Brokaw
as Mr. Vennar
as Sen. Samuel Pomeroy(1 ep)
as Hand(1 ep)
as Simon Girty(1 ep)
as Cop #2
as Policeman
as John Murrel(2 eps)
as Attorney Thomas Green(1 ep)
as Officer Hanson
as Weitzman(1 ep)
as Jess Younger
as Alfred S. Adrims
as Officer Hanson
as Mike Baron
as Uncle Ollie(1 ep)
as Al Matthews(1 ep)
as Cal Garth
as Suee(1 ep)
as Anthony O'Toole(1 ep)
as Aben Burke(1 ep)
as Joshua Jones(1 ep)
as Arthur Blackwell(1 ep)
as Herb Loftus
as Reverend Howard
as Officer Hanson
as Matt Lucas(1 ep)
as Mort Henry(1 ep)
as Warden
as Shapley Howell(1 ep)
as Dr. Langland(1 ep)
as Birm Bates
as Mike Adams
as Otis, the Bartender
as Sheriff Elmore(1 ep)
as Roger Quigley(1 ep)
as Harvey Mathews
as McAllister(1 ep)
as Frank Piggin
as Chief O'Reilly
as Bert Farrow(1 ep)
as Harry Wilson
as Mr. Zender
as Mapes(1 ep)
as Commissioner Cummings(1 ep)
as Pops Lafferty(1 ep)
as Rance Bradley(1 ep)
as Harry Duggan(1 ep)
as Cleed(1 ep)
as Franks(1 ep)
as Col. Jameson
as James Petlee
as Caleb Mantz
as Sheriff Magruder
as Sam Minor
as Marty Harrison
as Big Mac
as Bookkeeper
as Bartender(1 ep)
as The General(1 ep)
as Joe London
as Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited)
as Charlie (policeman)
as Captain James Reagan(1 ep)
as Bilgeboy / Jimmy Scaggs(1 ep)
as H.T. Carmichael(1 ep)
as Job the Butler
as Henry Gilson
as Bashful Marine
as Spectator (uncredited)
as Policeman at Accident (uncredited)
as Soldier with Daisy (uncredited)
as Swede, Trucker at Cafe
as Backwoodsman
