J. Pat O'Malley

Not to be confused with Pat O'Malley (actor).

James Rudolph O'Malley (15 March 1904 – 27 February 1985) was an English character actor and singer who appeared in many American films and television programmes from the 1940s to 1982, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley. He also appeared on the Broadway stage in Ten Little Indians (1944) and Dial M for Murder (1954).

J. Pat O'Malley
J. Pat O'Malley and Susan Gordon in "The Fugitive", a 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone
Born	James Rudolph O'Malley (1904-03-15)15 March 1904 Burnley, Lancashire, England
Died	27 February 1985(1985-02-27) (aged 80) San Juan Capistrano, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer
Years active	1925–1982
Spouse	Fay M. O'Malley ​ (m. 1936)​
Children	2

The New York Times drama critic Theodore Goldsmith praised O'Malley's performance in Ten Little Indians, calling him "a rara avis, a comedian who does not gauge the success of his efforts by the number of laughs he induces at each performance".

Career

Early years

Born into an Irish family in Burnley, Lancashire, O’Malley sang with Jack Hylton and his orchestra in the United Kingdom from 1930 to 1935. Known at that time as Pat O'Malley, in 1930 he sang "Amy, Wonderful Amy", a song about aviator Amy Johnson, performed by Jack Hylton's band.

At the end of 1935 Hylton and O'Malley came to the United States to record with a band composed of American musicians, thus emulating Ray Noble and Al Bowlly. The venture was short-lived. O'Malley remained in the US, known professionally as J. Pat O'Malley (to avoid confusion with another film actor named Pat O'Malley); he had a long and varied acting career, including the 1943 film Lassie Come Home as "Hynes".

Television career

O'Malley guest-starred in 1951 as a sheriff on the syndicated western series, The Adventures of Kit Carson. From 1950-55, he appeared in five episodes of The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse. From 1951-57 he was cast in eight episodes of another anthology series, Robert Montgomery Presents. Other television work from this period include roles in Spin and Marty film (1955) and serial (1955-57) as the always-faithful ranch steward, Perkins.

In 1956 he guest-starred in "The Guilty", one of the last episodes of the NBC legal drama Justice. In 1958 he was a guest star in Peter Gunn (Season 1, Episode 3, "The Vicious Dog") as Homer Tweed.

He also appeared in the syndicated City Detective in the episode "Found in a Pawnshop" (1955). In 1960 O'Malley was cast in another syndicated series, Coronado 9. In 1959 and 1960 O'Malley portrayed a judge and a newspaper editor in three episodes of the ABC western series The Rebel about a roaming former Confederate soldier.

On January 6, 1959, O'Malley played a priest in the episode "The Secret of the Mission" on the syndicated adventure series Rescue 8.

The same year, he guest starred on the TV Western Gunsmoke as the title character “Print Asper” (S4E36).

O'Malley was cast as Walter Morgan in the 1959 episode "The First Gold Brick" of the NBC western series The Californians. In 1959-1960 he made eight appearances as Judge Caleb Marsh in Black Saddle. In 1959 he was cast as Dr Hardy in an early episode of Hennesey. In season 3, Episode 10 of the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive, "The Medicine Man", O'Malley played Doc. He also appeared in the role of a bank president in an episode of The Real McCoys titled "The Bank Loan", which was released January 15, 1959.

In 1959 and 1960, O'Malley appeared in the Disney series The Swamp Fox. In the first episode, he played a British guard at the gates to the fortifications of Charlestown. In subsequent episodes, he was listed as a co-star, playing Sgt. O'Reilly, one of Francis Marion's closest men.

In 1960 O'Malley made guest appearances on The Tab Hunter Show, The Law and Mr. Jones, Johnny Midnight, Johnny Staccato, Harrigan and Son, Adventures in Paradise, The Islanders, Going My Way, The Tall Man, and as Jim Phelan on Lawman episode titled "The Swamper." He made numerous guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason, including as the defendant in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor" and as the murderer in the 1961 episode "The Case of the Roving River". O'Malley also appeared in The Twilight Zone episode "The Chaser".

In 1961 O'Malley appeared in 3 episodes of Tales of Wells Fargo, in different roles. In the episode "The Has-Been" he had the title role, playing a fading entertainer grieving over the loss of his wife. In one scene, O'Malley sang and danced as he performed for an imaginary audience in an abandoned dance hall. Later that year he guest-starred in the television version of Bus Stop and the following year appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone, "The Fugitive" and "Mr. Garrity and the Graves". He also guest-starred twice on The Lloyd Bridges Show in that series' 1962-1963 season. He then co-starred in the 1964 episode "This Train Don't Stop Till It Gets There" of The Greatest Show on Earth.

During the 1963-1964 season O'Malley appeared in eight episodes of My Favorite Martian and returned to The Twilight Zone, playing a bit part in the episode "The Self-Improvement of Salvatore Ross". In the 1964-1965 season, he was cast in Wendy and Me. O'Malley appeared in the Hogan's Heroes episode "How to Cook a German Goose by Radar" in 1966, and the 1967 episode "D-Day at Stalag 13". In 1966 he also appeared as Ed Breck in the episode "Win Place and Die" of the sitcom Run, Buddy, Run. He appeared occasionally as Vince in The Rounders. In the 1966 episode "The Four Dollar Law Suit" of the syndicated western series Death Valley Days, O'Malley played a lawyer. In the January 19 and January 25, 1967 episodes of Batman, he played an eccentric inventor, Pat Pending, who is robbed by Catwoman.

In 1969 O'Malley portrayed Carol Brady's father in the first episode of ABC's The Brady Bunch. The name Fleming was used in O'Malley's first two appearances on The Fugitive (Season 1, "See Hollywood And Die"; Season 3, "Crack in a Crystal Ball"). In 1973 O'Malley co-starred in the comedy A Touch of Grace. He made several appearances on Maude between 1973 and 1975; and he performed on other series such as It Takes a Thief, One Day at a Time, Emergency!, Adam-12, The Practice, Three's Company, and Taxi. O'Malley also appeared on the ABC television series Family in 1979.

O'Malley appeared three times on the ABC television series Barney Miller. In the 1975 episode "You Dirty Rat" O'Malley played Mr. Holliman, the likeable homeless man who fell asleep and spent the weekend in Siegel’s department store. In the 1981 "Rainmaker" episode, O'Malley played Walter Dooley, a traveling rainmaker hired by the NYC water department to end a drought but was arrested for setting a ritual fire in the park.

Voice work

O'Malley is perhaps best known for his many voice roles with The Walt Disney Company such as the Cockney costermonger in the "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" sequence in Mary Poppins (1964); Cyril Proudbottom in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); and the role of Colonel Hathi and the vulture Buzzie in The Jungle Book (1967). His voice can be heard in Alice in Wonderland (1951), in which he performs all the character voices in "The Walrus and the Carpenter" segment (excepting Alice), including Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Walrus, the Carpenter, and Mother Oyster. Actor Dick Van Dyke has said that O'Malley was his dialect coach on Mary Poppins, attributing his infamous Cockney accent in that film to O'Malley.

Personal life

O'Malley and his wife Fay, married in 1936, they remained married until his death in 1985. Together, they had two children.

Death

O'Malley died of cardiovascular disease at his home in San Juan Capistrano on 27 February 1985, aged 80.

Selected TV and filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Captain Caution	Fish Peddler
1941	Private Nurse	Henry's Friend	Uncredited
	Paris Calling	Sergeant Bruce McAvoy
1942	Over My Dead Body	Petie Stuyvesant
1943	Thumbs Up	Sam Keats
	Lassie Come Home	Hynes
1944	The White Cliffs of Dover	Martin	Uncredited
1949	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	Cyril Proudbottom	Voice
1951	Alice in Wonderland	Tweedledum and Tweedledee / Walrus and Carpenter / Mother Oyster	Voice
1955	Spin and Marty	Perkins	TV series
1956	The Fastest Gun Alive	Cross Creek Townsman	Uncredited
1957	Four Boys and a Gun	Fight Manager
	Courage of Black Beauty	Mike Green
	Witness for the Prosecution	The Shorts Salesman	Uncredited
1958	The Long, Hot Summer	Ratliff
	Playhouse 90	Pubkeeper	Episode: "Bomber's Moon"
	Peter Gunn	Homer Tweed	Season 1 Episode 3: "The Vicious Dog"
1959	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Colonel Binns	Season 4 Episode 33: "The Dusty Drawer"
	Gunsmoke	Print Asper	Episode: "Print Asper" (S4E36)
1960	Perry Mason	Jefferson Pike	Episode: "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor"
	Lawman	Jim Phelan	Episode "The Swamper"
	Wanted Dead or Alive	Doc Farnsworth	Season 3, Episode 10 "The Medicine Man"
1960–1964	The Twilight Zone	Gooberman, Town Drunk / Old Man / Old Ben / Homburg	4 episodes
1961	Tales of Wells Fargo	Dr. Cobb / Cedric Manning	2 episodes
	One Hundred and One Dalmatians	Jasper Baddun / Colonel	Voice
	Blueprint for Robbery	Pop Kane
	The Real McCoys	Chris McClean	Episode: "A Man of Influence"
	The Saga of Windwagon Smith	Mayor Crum	Short, Voice, Uncredited
	Perry Mason	Seth Tyson	Episode: "The Case of the Roving River"
1961-1971	Bonanza	Harry Simpson / Clancy / Big Mac	3 episodes
1962	The Cabinet of Caligari	Martin
	Gunsmoke	Gabe	Episode: "Old Comrade"
1963	My Favorite Martian	Mr. Burns	8 episodes
	Son of Flubber	Sign-Painter	Uncredited
	The Andy Griffith Show	Mr. Fields	Episode: "Up in Barney's Room"
	Shotgun Wedding	Buford Anchors
1964	Hey There, It's Yogi Bear	Snively	Voice
	A House Is Not a Home	Muldoon
	Mary Poppins	Pearly Drummer / Master of Hounds / Huntsman / various other roles	Voice, Uncredited
	Apache Rifles	Captain Thatcher
	The Lucy Show	Major MacFarland	Episode: "Lucy Goes into Politics"
	The Dick Van Dyke Show	Sam Petrie	Episode: "The Plots Thicken"
1965	Jonny Quest	Chopper	Voice, Episode: "Attack of the Tree People"
1966	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Francis X. O'Reilly / The Old Prospector	2 episodes
1967	The Guns of Will Sonnett	The Drummer	Episode "Ride the Long Trail"
	Batman	Pat Pending	2 episodes
	Gunn	Tinker
1966-1967	Hogan's Heroes	British General / Corporal Walter Tillman	2 episodes
1966-1968	Green Acres	Ben Hanks / Windy Hinkle / Dooly Watkins / Diller Fangworth	4 episodes
1967	The Jungle Book	Colonel Hathi, the Elephant / Buzzie, the Vulture	Voices
1968	It Takes a Thief	Thoreau	Episode: "A Matter of Royal Larceny"
	The Flying Nun	Captain Barnaby	Episode: "The Sister and the Old Salt"
	Star!	Dan
1969	Daniel Boone	Uncle Brian	Episode: "Copperhead Izzy"
	Hello, Dolly!	Park Policeman
1970	The Cheyenne Social Club	Dr. Foy
1971	Willard	Jonathan Farley
	Skin Game	William
1973	Robin Hood	Otto the Blacksmith, a dog	Voice, Uncredited
	A Touch of Grace	Herbert Morrison	Regular cast member; 13 episodes
	Gunsmoke	Drummer	Episode: "A Quiet Day in Dodge"
	Emergency!	Old Bill	Episode: "Messin' Around"
1975-1977	Maude	Bert Beasley	10 episodes
1975–1981	Barney Miller	Walter Dooley / Walt Hathaway / Mr. Holliman	3 episodes
1976	The Gumball Rally	Barney Donahue
1977	The Rockford Files	Billy Baines	Episode: "A Deadly Maze"
1978	Quincy, M.E.	Mr. Barrington	Episode: "Crib Job” s3 e13
	One Day at a Time	Mr. Peabody	Episode: "Peabody's War"
1979	Three's Company	Leo Moran	Episode: "Old Folks at Home"
	Family	Harry Duffy	Episode: "‘Tis the Season"
1980	The Dukes of Hazzard	Henstep	Episode: "Return of the Ridge Raiders"
1981	Cheaper to Keep Her	Landlord
	Freedom	Papa J.
1981–1982	Fantasy Island	Barkeep / Reverend	2 episodes
1982	Taxi	Tom	Episode: "The Road Not Taken (Part 1)"

External links

• J. Pat O'Malley at IMDb 
• J. Pat O'Malley at the Internet Broadway Database
• J. Pat O'Malley at Behind The Voice Actors
• J. Pat O'Malley Archived 14 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine at The Original Mickey Mouse Club