Jack Norton Trailers
Bob Hope's World of Comedy TrailerThe Big Parade of Comedy TrailerI Was a Burlesque Queen Trailer
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.
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.
Most Popular Jack Norton Trailers
Total trailers found: 101
27 June 1946
In San Francisco's Chinatown, Charlie helps two different people search for their missing relatives and uncovers a murder for insurance scheme.
28 February 1936
Someone is murdering the cast and crew of a new Hollywood movie, and the leading lady may be next. As a police detective locks down the lot and refuses to let anyone leave, the studio’s publicity head and his secretary attempt to solve the murders themselves.
09 May 1947
The millionairess aunt of Errol's previously married wife is coming to visit, and since the aunt is dead set against divorce, the wife prevails upon Errol to pose as the butler, and brings back her inebriated first husband to pose as her current mate.
08 March 1945
A young woman devises a clever scheme to secure a train reservation by pretending to be married to a stranger.
20 April 1935
Band leader Jack Conrad is impressed by prison inmate Ray Ferrera on saxophone. Conrad hires Ray to join his band and tour upon his release.
10 September 1937
A newsman with a no-good wife exposes a religious racket with a newswoman who loves him.
19 October 1935
Dr. Socrates gave up his brilliant career as surgeon in a prominent hospital because his betrothed died under his knife.
16 April 1943
The owner (William Bendix) of a cab company tries to foil a racketeer.
05 July 1940
Paul Kriza is a cashier of a bank in a small town, and the happy husband of Anna and the father of four children.
15 May 1936
Harry Ashton is a superstitious gambling house owner, who relies on sprigs of heliotrope as his good luck charm.
24 October 1934
New lawyer Harry defends a woman charged with poisoning her husband.
20 July 1939
Newspaper editor (Foster) will do almost anything to increase circulation. He campaigns to free a condemned man while accusing a wealthy ex-criminal of a string of murders.
12 June 1942
The Army takes a bandleader (Kay Kyser) away from his bride (Ellen Drew) and sends him on a spy mission with a woman (Jane Wyman).
31 December 1941
A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.
13 July 1935
Owen, a small time bookie, decides to open an insurance business as it involves lesser risk. His first client is Colonel Youngblood who insures his daughter, Marilyn, against marriage.
01 December 1939
Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.
17 September 1937
A young woman inherits a newspaper whose editor refuses to hire lady reporters.
13 January 1940
Texas girl goes to New York, becomes a newspaper reporter, and tries to get her gambler boyfriend to come home.
20 June 1945
In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first act is to change the showboat into a floating gambling house.
06 July 1935
A ditzy wife yearns to join "high society" when she and her husband become suddenly wealthy.
29 June 1934
Two yokels try to crash royal society by posing as the King's physicians.
05 October 1945
A scientist who is working on a cure for influenza is victimized by his unscrupulous boss, who releases the vaccine before it's ready, resulting in the death of the scientist's son.
06 December 1940
Newly-elected reform Mayor Jones celebrates his victory over the crooked political machine with a party at Earl Carroll's night club.
01 April 1943
The Falcon is framed for the murder of a banker and the theft of war bonds. He makes his escape into the mountains where he hides out in a rustic lodge.
13 April 1945
A cab driver nearly hits a man with amnesia, then helps him unravel his past, only to discover he's a murder suspect as she falls for him.
26 May 1938
When one of the Our Gang kids finds money under his pillow after losing a tooth, all the kids decide to get rich by having all their teeth pulled.
05 May 1934
The stooges join the "Women Haters" club and vow to have nothing to do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip.
08 October 1943
Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson are Broadway stars who return to Universal Studios to make another movie. The mere mention of Olsen and Johnson's names evacuates the studio and terrorizes the management and personnel.
29 October 1946
In 1940s Los Angeles, when womanizing composer Keith Vincent is found dead, the inquest concludes it was a suicide but police detective Joe Warne isn't so sure.
20 May 1944
To solve the murder of a man shot in a locked room, Chan must wade through a Fun House, the writings of an unscrupulous author, and chess pieces.
10 June 1944
Walter and Vivian live in the country and have a difficult time keeping servants. Walter then hires a private detective who has been fired for arresting the District Attorney.
18 April 1941
The Cisco Kid is captured while keeping a rendezvous with cantina dancer Dolores but is released by his captor, the commander of a U.
02 September 1964
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
13 May 1938
Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.
09 November 1935
The singing stoker and the vamp.
17 November 1945
This tale of two tugboats focuses upon the rivalries between two operators competing to win a major shipping contract.
23 June 1939
A newspaper reporter gets involved with shady stock promoters when he listens in on a jury room session.
21 June 1940
After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle.
15 February 1935
Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.
17 January 1941
An elderly schoolmarm makes a hit in New York after a bandleader jazzes up her corny song.
09 February 1934
Andy is a rich and well-respected man. But he's concerned what sort of boyfriend his daughter might have gotten as she's talking marriage and her previous boyfriends were very short-term and he didn't like them very much.
29 August 1947
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful young ladies who come to Hollywood, exchange identities, and cause comic confusion (with slapstick interludes) throughout the Paramount studio.
14 January 1938
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans, without her knowledge.
04 May 1934
Virginia, who studies at a boarding school for upper-class girls, falls in love with a medical intern who works as a waiter for a living.
25 January 1935
A reporter out to break up a criminal gang finds time to make a play for a mobster's girlfriend.
26 March 1938
In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.
29 March 1940
Broadway producer Nicksie North and press agent Scoop Trimble find an investor for their next show who insists that they cast his ex-girlfriend, Clarice Sheldon, in the lead role and rehearse out of town.
13 July 1953
1947 film "Linda, Be Good" with added 3-D scenes with chorus girls.
02 November 1934
Leon Erroll drinks too much, in the opinion of his mother-in-law, Dot Farley. So she arranges for everyone around him to talk in non-sequiturs until he decides to sober up permanently.
10 April 1937
In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
11 June 1942
When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.
01 October 1935
When a meek purchasing agent is told by a quack doctor that he only has three months to live, he gets involved with a bank robbery and kidnapped by the gang.
27 January 1939
Spies force former jewel thief Michael Lanyard to steal defense secrets in Washington.
27 March 1936
Leon Errol trying to report a stolen car.
16 October 1942
A talented baseball player discovers he can only sing beautifully when he has a cold, leading a nightclub manager to hilariously attempt to keep him sick while featuring a host of musical performances.
06 October 1938
Entertainers lose their jobs and their fares from Honolulu back to San Francisco so they must become stowaways.
01 January 1944
Youthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy.
28 October 1939
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver.
10 September 1943
Wounded while stopping the James gang from robbing the local bank, a cowboy wakes up in the hospital to find that he's been elected town marshal.
28 August 1942
A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J.
