Person Detail
Jim Backus
Catalogued films 97Actor 97
James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, the father of James Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, the voice of the nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, and Joan Davis' character's husband (a domestic court judge) on TV's I Married Joan. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire. An avid golfer, Backus made the 36-hole cut at the 1964 Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournament. He was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Filmography
Titles and credit roles
Director credits
0/0Actor credits
0/97
Rebel Without a Cause: Defiant Innocents
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Prince Jack
The Unpredictable Pudgy!
Slapstick of Another Kind
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
Enchanted Journey
There Goes The Bride
The Gossip Columnist
C.H.O.M.P.S.
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
Angels' Brigade
Rescue from Gilligan's Island
Good Guys Wear Black
Have I Got a Christmas for You
Pete's Dragon
Never Con a Killer
Friday Foster
Crazy Mama
Goodnight Jackie
The Girl Most Likely To...
Magic Carpet
Of Thee I Sing
Now You See Him, Now You Don't
Getting Away from It All
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
Myra Breckinridge
The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
Wake Me When the War Is Over
Hello Down There
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
Damn Yankees
Billie
Fluffy
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
Advance to the Rear
Mr. Magoo in Sherwood Forest
The Wheeler Dealers
Sunday in New York
Johnny Cool
Operation Bikini
Critic's Choice
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol
Zotz!
The Horizontal Lieutenant
Inside Magoo
Ice Palace
1001 Arabian Nights
Ask Any Girl
The Big Operator
The Wild and the Innocent
A Private's Affair
Macabre
The High Cost of Loving
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Eighteen and Anxious
Man of a Thousand Faces
Top Secret Affair
The Great Man
The Girl He Left Behind
Trailblazer Magoo
Magoo's Puddle Jumper
The Naked Hills
Meet Me in Las Vegas
You Can't Run Away from It
The Square Jungle
Rebel Without a Cause
Francis in the Navy
Deep in My Heart
When Magoo Flew
I Love Melvin
Angel Face
Geraldine
Mr. Magoo Cartoon Merry-Go-Round
Androcles and the Lion
The Rose Bowl Story
Pink and Blue Blues
Don't Bother to Knock
Deadline - U.S.A.
Here Come the Nelsons
I Want You
I'll See You in My Dreams
The Man with a Cloak
Iron Man
His Kind of Woman
Bright Victory
Hollywood Story
Plutopia
Half Angel
Emergency Wedding
Trouble Indemnity
Customs Agent
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
A Dangerous Profession
Father Was a Fullback
Ragtime Bear
One Last Fling