Sah-LOOT!

[Richard Kimble]

A few days ago I got to thinking about a character actor I'd seen in several '50s movies, but whose name I can never recall. I went to IMDb and IDed him through checking the cast lists of two films, Wake Me When It's Over and Away All Boats. The name they had in common was George Dunn.

 

 

Dunn was most familiar as a drawling Southerner in military comedies. In addition to the aforementioned, he was also in The Long Hot Summer and perhaps his best-remembered role, Operation Petticoat.

 

Researching him I learned that he started out as an Andy Griffithish nightclub performer.

 

Dunn doing his nightclub act:

 

 

 

Probably an ad Dunn placed in show biz trade publications:

 

 

 

He eventually got into straight acting, appearing off Broadway in The Rainmaker then moving on to Hollywood and service comedies. Curiously, he would go on to appear in several John Cassavetes films.

 

George Dunn's resume, 1970s:

 

 

 

Reading Dunn's bio I saw he'd been born in Brownwood Texas. That name rang a bell, and I remembered it as the hometown of Bob Denver. I'd only learned that fact recently -- Denver had never struck me as a Texan (and didn't he attend L.A's Loyola Marymount University with Dwayne Hickman? How'd he end up at LMU from Brownwood?). Checking up on Brownwood, I saw they've had a number of notables pass through:

 

-- Candy Barr, stripper, burlesque dancer
-- Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, attended Howard Payne University and is buried in Greenleaf Memorial Cemetery in Brownwood

-- Paul & Paula, or Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, singers, attended Howard Payne University in 1962; their song "Hey Paula" was a #1 hit.
-- Glenn Strange, who played Sam the Bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke from 1961 until his death in 1973, grew up in Brown County near Cross Cut.
-- Madylin, Sullivan,and Sawyer Sweeten played the Barone children on the television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond [How is it that they're all blond? I suspect somebody got in there before Ray]
-- Clint Walker lived briefly in Brownwood prior to launching his acting career.

 

Not to mention the oldest bank robber in history (91 years old) and a Medal of Honor winner. If I included athletes, the list would easily double.

 

Not bad for town of less than 20K people.

 

So let's give a tip of the TCM hat to Brownwood, Texas -- and George Dunn.

 

Sah-LOOT!

 

 

[CaveGirl]

What a great expose of some of the denizens of Brownwood, Texas, at least the ones who escaped.

 

Richard, you really missed your calling since you could have been a fine contributor to "Confidential" magazine and I think your detective work is even better than Paul Drake.

 

Thanks, I for one really enjoy reading great research like that on movie players from the past and their connections!

[DownGoesFrazier]

A few days ago I got to thinking about a character actor I'd seen in several '50s movies, but whose name I can never recall. I went to IMDb and IDed him through checking the cast lists of two films, Wake Me When It's Over and Away All Boats. The name they had in common was George Dunn.

 

 

Dunn was most familiar as a drawling Southerner in military comedies. In addition to the aforementioned, he was also in The Long Hot Summer and perhaps his best-remembered role, Operation Petticoat.

 

Researching him I learned that he started out as an Andy Griffithish nightclub performer.

 

Dunn doing his nightclub act:

 

 

 

Probably an ad Dunn placed in show biz trade publications:

 

 

 

He eventually got into straight acting, appearing off Broadway in The Rainmaker then moving on to Hollywood and service comedies. Curiously, he would go on to appear in several John Cassavetes films.

 

George Dunn's resume, 1970s:

 

 

 

Reading Dunn's bio I saw he'd been born in Brownwood Texas. That name rang a bell, and I remembered it as the hometown of Bob Denver. I'd only learned that fact recently -- Denver had never struck me as a Texan (and didn't he attend L.A's Loyola Marymount University with Dwayne Hickman? How'd he end up at LMU from Brownwood?). Checking up on Brownwood, I saw they've had a number of notables pass through:

 

-- Candy Barr, stripper, burlesque dancer

-- Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, attended Howard Payne University and is buried in Greenleaf Memorial Cemetery in Brownwood

-- Paul & Paula, or Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, singers, attended Howard Payne University in 1962; their song "Hey Paula" was a #1 hit.

-- Glenn Strange, who played Sam the Bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke from 1961 until his death in 1973, grew up in Brown County near Cross Cut.

-- Madylin, Sullivan,and Sawyer Sweeten played the Barone children on the television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond [How is it that they're all blond? I suspect somebody got in there before Ray]

-- Clint Walker lived briefly in Brownwood prior to launching his acting career.

 

Not to mention the oldest bank robber in history (91 years old) and a Medal of Honor winner. If I included athletes, the list would easily double.

 

Not bad for town of less than 20K people.

 

So let's give a tip of the TCM hat to Brownwood, Texas -- and George Dunn.

 

Sah-LOOT!

 

 

Looks as if George's career was dunn very quickly.

[Richard Kimble]

Looks as if George's career was dunn very quickly.

 

Well he was in Hollywood movies for more than two decades, and worked with directors like George Stevens, Martin Ritt, Antonioni (!), and as I stated previously, John Cassavetes in several films. So you really should have thought of another way to work in your Dunn pun.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Well he was in Hollywood movies for more than two decades, and worked with directors like George Stevens, Martin Ritt, Antonioni (!), and as I stated previously, John Cassavetes in several films. So you really should have thought of another way to work in your Dunn pun.

Well, since he had minor roles, he probably didn't earn much money, and might have had trouble paying his bills. He may have received a number of dunn-ing phone calls. How's that?

[Richard Kimble]

Well, since he had minor roles, he probably didn't earn much money, and might have had trouble paying his bills. He may have received a number of dunn-ing phone calls. How's that?

 

He probably made most of his money making live appearances, as the Three Stooges did.

 

But more than that, I don't understand why you feel the need to cr@p on a thread that is intended to pay tribute to the unsung character actors, without whom the films we supposedly gather here to celebrate would be far less worth celebrating. Many if not most of them did not receive the respect they were due during their careers -- perhaps we can show them a little respect now.

[DownGoesFrazier]

He probably made most of his money making live appearances, as the Three Stooges did.

 

But more than that, I don't understand why you feel the need to cr@p on a thread that is intended to pay tribute to the unsung character actors, without whom the films we supposedly gather here to celebrate would be far less worth celebrating. Many if not most of them did not receive the respect they were due during their careers -- perhaps we can show them a little respect now.

You kind of invited me to do another pun, and I did. Sorry. Didn't mean to disrespect the guy.