James Patrick O'Malley was an English actor, voice actor, and singer, who appeared in many American films and television programs from the 1940s to 1982. He also appeared on the Broadway stage in Ten Little Indians (1944), as well as in the crime thriller film Dial M for Murder (1954).
History[]
O'Malley began his entertainment career in 1925 as a recording artist and then as a principal singer with Jack Hylton and his orchestra in the U.K. from 1930 to 1933. Known at that time as "Pat O'Malley", he recorded over 400 popular songs of the day. O'Malley began a solo recording career in 1935 in parallel with his work with Hylton. At the end of 1935, Hylton and O'Malley went to the U.S. to record with a band composed of American musicians, thus emulating Ray Noble and Al Bowlly. The venture was short-lived but O'Malley remained in the United States.
Now known as J. Pat O'Malley, he had a long and varied acting career, including the film Lassie Come Home in 1943 as Hynes, and later in Disney's Spin and Marty hit television serials as Perkins (1955–1957). O'Malley also appeared in the CBS sci-fi horror anthology series Twilight Zone episode called "The Fugitive" (1962). In 1960, he guest-starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Tab Hunter Show and the ABC drama The Law and Mr. Jones with James Whitmore. In 1961, he guest-starred in ABC's Bus Stop as Marilyn Maxwell, the owner of a diner in a fictitious small Colorado town. In the 1962–1963 season, he guest-starred twice on Gene Kelly's ABC comedy-drama Going My Way about a Roman Catholic priest in New York City. He and Spring Byington starred in an episode of Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth, which aired in the 1963–1964 season.
In the 1964–1965 season, O'Malley appeared as a handyman in the ABC sitcom Wendy and Me with co-stars George Burns, Connie Stevens, and Ron Harper. He also appeared as Carol Brady's father in the premiere episode of the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch. Additionally, he made several appearances in the CBS sitcom Maude as Hermione Baddeley's beauty (1973–1975).
Walt Disney also engaged O'Malley to provide voices for animated films, such as the cockney co-star in the "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" sequence in Mary Poppins. He also served as Dick Van Dyke's dialect coach for the film, and Van Dyke blamed O'Malley for his often criticized poor cockney accent. Additionally, he voiced the roles of Cyril Proudbottom in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in Alice in Wonderland, the Colonel and Jasper in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Colonel Hathi and Buzzie the vulture in The Jungle Book, Otto in Robin Hood, and did several voice roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, including the original voice of the Pirate Captain dunking the magistrate into the well.
O'Malley died from a heart condition in San Juan Capistrano, California at the age of 80, survived by his wife and two children.
Filmography[]
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Spin and Marty: The Movie (1955)
- The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1959)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- The Saga of Windwagon Smith (1961) (uncredited)
- Son of Flubber (1963) (uncredited)
- Mary Poppins (1964) (uncredited)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- Robin Hood (1973)
Gallery[]
(briefly)
(Alice in Wonderland)
(Alice in Wonderland)
(Walt Disney's Song Parade from Disneyland)
(One Hundred and One Dalmatians)
(The Saga of Windwagon Smith)
(Mary Poppins)
(Mary Poppins)
(The Jungle Book)
External links[]
J. Pat O'Malley on Wikipedia- J. Pat O'Malley on IMDb
- J. Pat O'Malley at Find a Grave
- MMC Serials: J. Pat O'Malley
