James Craig | |
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Craig in Boys' Ranch (1946)
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Born |
James Henry Meador February 4, 1912 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
Died | June 28, 1985 Santa Ana, California, U.S. |
(aged 73)
Occupation | Film actor |
Years active | 1937–1972 |
Spouse(s) | Sumie Jassi (1969-1980) Jill Jarmyn (1959-1962) (divorced) Mary June Ray (?-?) |
James Craig (February 4, 1912 – June 28, 1985), born James Henry Meador, was an American actor.
After graduating from the Rice Institute, Craig began appearing in films in 1937, most often in B-movies and serials. In 1939, he appeared in the Three Stooges film Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise.
Craig received critical praise (and a step up to A-movies) when he played a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul in All That Money Can Buy, also titled The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941). He also appeared in the films Kitty Foyle (1940), The Human Comedy (1943), Lost Angel (1943), and Kismet (1944).
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Louis B. Mayer thought Craig resembled the studio's most popular male star Clark Gable that led him to sign Craig to a seven-year contract to potentially fill in for Gable when he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. In 1944, he co-starred with William Powell and Hedy Lamarr in The Heavenly Body. That year exhibitors voted him the second most likely to be a "star of tomorrow".
Craig was married three times and had two sons and a daughter. After retiring from acting in 1972, Craig became a successful real estate agent. He died of lung cancer in 1985.