Dean Jagger
Encyclopedia
Dean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film
actor.
, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell (1929) with Mary Astor
. He became a successful character actor, without becoming a major star, and appeared in almost 100 films in a career that lasted until shortly before his death.
Jagger made his breakthrough to major roles in film with his portrayal of Brigham Young
in Brigham Young
(1940). According to George D. Pyper
, a technical consultant on the film who had personally known Brigham Young, said that Jagger not only resembled Young, he also spoke like him and had many of his mannerisms.
Jagger then played prominent roles in Western Union
(1941), Sister Kenny
(1946) and Raoul Walsh
's Western
neo-noir
Pursued
(1947).
He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for his role in Twelve O'Clock High
(1949). In the film he played the middle-aged adjutant Major Stovall, who acts as an advisor to the commander General Savage (Gregory Peck
), and is tasked with writing letters to the next of kin of slain airmen. He appeared in the biblical epic The Robe
(1953) as the weaver Justus of Cana, "whose words were like his work: simple, lasting, and strong," as Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton
) put it later in the film.
He was the retired general honored by Bing Crosby
and Danny Kaye
in the musical White Christmas
(1954) and a helpless sheriff in the iconic Bad Day at Black Rock
(1955) directed by John Eliot Sturges
.
For the 1956 British science-fiction film X the Unknown
, there was controversy when the actor refused to work with director Joseph Losey
on this film because Losey was on the Hollywood blacklist
. Losey was removed from the project after a few days shooting and replaced with Les Norman
.
Jagger portrayed the father of Elvis Presley
in 1958's King Creole
. He was the traveling manager for an evangelist played by Jean Simmons
in the acclaimed 1960 drama Elmer Gantry
, which won three Academy Awards.
In 1969 Jagger played "The Highwayman" in John Huston
's The Kremlin Letter
. In 1971's Vanishing Point, the actor made a brief but memorable appearance as a prospector in the desert with a knack for handling rattlesnakes.
Jagger also achieved success in the television series Mr. Novak
, receiving Emmy Award
nominations for his role, in 1964 and 1965. He won a Daytime Emmy award
for a guest appearance in the religious series This Is the Life
. He did dozens of TV dramatic roles, including an episode of The Twilight Zone
called "Static." In an early episode of the television series Kung Fu
Jagger appeared as Caine's Grandfather who wants little to do with him, but starts Caine on his series long search for his half brother Danny. One of Jagger's last television roles was a guest appearance on St. Elsewhere
, The Fugitive
.
In later years, Jagger played outstanding made for TV successful movie roles in The Glass House (1972, ABC) which also starred Alan Alda and Vic Morrow. The screenplay was done by Truman Capote. Jagger played state prison Warden Auerbach. And then in 1973, he was in another TV movie which was a pilot for TV series called "The Stranger". This movie was science fiction where Glenn Corbett of Star Trek (TOS) guest star fame where he was one called Metamorphosis. In this intended new show he was a stranded earthman astronaut on the alien planet called Terra, and Jagger was a leader of a corrupt deceptive government known as "The Perfect Order". The great TV movie also starred Lew Ayres and Cameron Mitchell. None of the major three networks ever picked it up as a weekly series as the moon missions ended and cops and robber shows were dominating the networks of the day.
Dean Jagger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
for his contribution to motion pictures, at 1523 Vine Street.
. While at Wabash he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity. He worked as a teacher before studying acting at Chicago's Lyceum Art Conservatory. Before making his first movie "in 1929, Jagger had worked in stock, vaudeville and radio."
Jagger was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972.
He died from heart disease
in Santa Monica, California
. He was 87, and was buried in the small hamlin town of Hughson, CA. at Lakewood Memorial Park. His widow Etta Mae Norton Jagger joined him there in death just 11 months later, in January 17, 1992. She was 67.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actor.
Career
Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, OhioColumbus Grove, Ohio
Columbus Grove is a village in Putnam County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,200 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Columbus Grove is located at ....
, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell (1929) with Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
. He became a successful character actor, without becoming a major star, and appeared in almost 100 films in a career that lasted until shortly before his death.
Jagger made his breakthrough to major roles in film with his portrayal of Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
in Brigham Young
Brigham Young (1940 film)
Brigham Young is an American film that was released in 1940. It describes Young's succession to the presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after founder Joseph Smith, Jr. was assassinated in 1844.-Plot:The story begins in frontier-town Nauvoo, Illinois in 1844...
(1940). According to George D. Pyper
George D. Pyper
George Dollinger Pyper was the fifth general superintendent of the Sunday School of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a member and manager of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the editor of a number of Latter Day Saint periodicals.Pyper was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory...
, a technical consultant on the film who had personally known Brigham Young, said that Jagger not only resembled Young, he also spoke like him and had many of his mannerisms.
Jagger then played prominent roles in Western Union
Western Union (film)
Western Union is a 1941 western feature film directed by Fritz Lang. Filmed in Technicolor on location in Arizona and Utah, Western Union tells the story of a reformed outlaw named Vance Shaw who tries to make good by joining the team wiring the Great Plains for telegraph service in 1861...
(1941), Sister Kenny
Sister Kenny
Sister Kenny is a 1946 biographical film about Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian bush nurse, who fought to help people who suffered from polio, despite opposition from the medical establishment...
(1946) and Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
's Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
Pursued
Pursued
Pursued is a 1947 movie starring Robert Mitchum that combines western, film noir and psychological melodrama. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and photographed in black-and-white by James Wong Howe.-Plot summary:...
(1947).
He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for his role in Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ...
(1949). In the film he played the middle-aged adjutant Major Stovall, who acts as an advisor to the commander General Savage (Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
), and is tasked with writing letters to the next of kin of slain airmen. He appeared in the biblical epic The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
(1953) as the weaver Justus of Cana, "whose words were like his work: simple, lasting, and strong," as Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
) put it later in the film.
He was the retired general honored by Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
and Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
in the musical White Christmas
White Christmas (film)
White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
(1954) and a helpless sheriff in the iconic Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 thriller film directed by John Sturges that combines elements of Westerns and film noir. It tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a tiny isolated town in a desert of the southwest United States in search of a man...
(1955) directed by John Eliot Sturges
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
.
For the 1956 British science-fiction film X the Unknown
X the Unknown
X the Unknown is a British science-fiction / horror film made by the Hammer Films company and released in 1956.-Production:The film was originally intended by Hammer to be a sequel to the previous year's successful The Quatermass Xperiment, but writer Nigel Kneale refused permission for the...
, there was controversy when the actor refused to work with director Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
on this film because Losey was on the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
. Losey was removed from the project after a few days shooting and replaced with Les Norman
Les Norman
Leslie A. Norman was a British director and producer. His career spanned nearly fifty years, from 1930 until 1978, and in that time he tried his hand at many different jobs, including editor, producer, and writer...
.
Jagger portrayed the father of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in 1958's King Creole
King Creole
King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...
. He was the traveling manager for an evangelist played by Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
in the acclaimed 1960 drama Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry (film)
Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons.Lancaster won an Academy Award for...
, which won three Academy Awards.
In 1969 Jagger played "The Highwayman" in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
's The Kremlin Letter
The Kremlin Letter
The Kremlin Letter is an American noir film directed by John Huston, starring Richard Boone, Orson Welles, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Patrick O'Neal and George Sanders. It was released in February 1970 by 20th Century-Fox...
. In 1971's Vanishing Point, the actor made a brief but memorable appearance as a prospector in the desert with a knack for handling rattlesnakes.
Jagger also achieved success in the television series Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...
, receiving Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations for his role, in 1964 and 1965. He won a Daytime Emmy award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
for a guest appearance in the religious series This Is the Life
This is the Life (TV series)
This Is the Life is an American Christian television dramatic series. This anthology series aired in syndication from the 1950s through 1980s. The series was originally produced by the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and distributed by the International Lutheran Laymen's League.-Format:This Is...
. He did dozens of TV dramatic roles, including an episode of The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
called "Static." In an early episode of the television series Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
Jagger appeared as Caine's Grandfather who wants little to do with him, but starts Caine on his series long search for his half brother Danny. One of Jagger's last television roles was a guest appearance on St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
, The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
.
In later years, Jagger played outstanding made for TV successful movie roles in The Glass House (1972, ABC) which also starred Alan Alda and Vic Morrow. The screenplay was done by Truman Capote. Jagger played state prison Warden Auerbach. And then in 1973, he was in another TV movie which was a pilot for TV series called "The Stranger". This movie was science fiction where Glenn Corbett of Star Trek (TOS) guest star fame where he was one called Metamorphosis. In this intended new show he was a stranded earthman astronaut on the alien planet called Terra, and Jagger was a leader of a corrupt deceptive government known as "The Perfect Order". The great TV movie also starred Lew Ayres and Cameron Mitchell. None of the major three networks ever picked it up as a weekly series as the moon missions ended and cops and robber shows were dominating the networks of the day.
Dean Jagger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
for his contribution to motion pictures, at 1523 Vine Street.
Personal life
He dropped out of school several times before finally attending Wabash CollegeWabash College
Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Morehouse College, Wabash is one of only three remaining traditional all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.-History:Wabash College was founded...
. While at Wabash he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a...
fraternity. He worked as a teacher before studying acting at Chicago's Lyceum Art Conservatory. Before making his first movie "in 1929, Jagger had worked in stock, vaudeville and radio."
Jagger was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972.
He died from heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. He was 87, and was buried in the small hamlin town of Hughson, CA. at Lakewood Memorial Park. His widow Etta Mae Norton Jagger joined him there in death just 11 months later, in January 17, 1992. She was 67.