Jimmie Dodd

Jimmie Dodd
Jimmie Dodd as a Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club, circa 1956
Born	James Wesley Dodd (1910-03-28)March 28, 1910 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	November 10, 1964(1964-11-10) (aged 54) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer-songwriter
Years active	1940–1959
Spouse(s)	Ruth Carrell (1940–1964; his death)

James Wesley Dodd, better known as Jimmie Dodd (March 28, 1910 – November 10, 1964), was best known as the MC of the popular 1950s Walt Disney television series The Mickey Mouse Club, as well as the writer of its well-known theme song, "The Mickey Mouse Club March." A slowed-down version of this march, with different lyrics, became the alma mater that closed the show.

Dodd had some early film roles in The Three Mesquiteers series of westerns. Coincidentally, he performed in two unrelated series whose names were plays on "musketeers". He made his first screen appearance in the 1940 William Holden film Those Were the Days! in a minor role. He also appeared in many theatrical films in the 1940s and 1950s, often uncredited. He appeared with John Wayne in the war film Flying Tigers (1942) and with Harry Carey in China's Little Devils (1945), another film involving the Flying Tigers. He also played the taxi driver in the MGM film Easter Parade (1948), starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Dodd had a small, but important part in the Mickey Rooney hit Quicksand (1950). Two of his films were biographies of baseball players: The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), in which Jackie Robinson played himself, and The Winning Team (1952), in which future president Ronald Reagan portrayed pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander. He played a taxi driver again in Phffft (1954).