I. Stanford Jolley
Encyclopedia
Isaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley (October 24, 1900 – December 7, 1978) was a prolific American
character actor
of film
and television
, primarily in western
roles as cowboy
s, law-enforcement officers, or villain
s. Recognized by his slight build, narrow face, and pencil-thin moustache
, Jolley appeared some five hundred times on the large or small screen.
, New Jersey
, Jolley toured as a child with his father's traveling circus
and worked in vaudeville
. He first performed on Broadway in 1924 opposite Charles Trowbridge
in Sweet Seventeen. He also worked in radio
until he performed his first uncredited part in the 1935 Bette Davis
film, Front Page Woman
. He appeared in twenty-five films for Republic Pictures
between 1936 and 1954, but he was never under contract to the studio. According to his wife, he never earned more than $100 on any of his multiple film appearances.
In 1939, he played an uncredited part as a hotel clerk in Mr. Wong in Chinatown
. Appearing in scores of films, mostly westerns, Jolley was cast in 1940 as Molotoff in Chasing Trouble
, with other performers in the comedy/espionage film including western actors Milburn Stone
and Tristram Coffin. In 1942, he was cast as Gil Harkness in the western Outlaws of Boulder Pass
. In 1944, he was cast as Saladin in the swashbuckling "western" film set in the Middle East
, The Desert Hawk
, and as Bart Kern in the Tex Ritter
film, Gangsters of the Frontier
. In 1945, Jolley was cast as Marshal Mullins in Springtime in Texas, a 55-minute film about a crime boss, Pete Grant, played by Rex Lease
, who controls the West Texas
town of Pecos
.
In 1946, Jolley portrayed Dr. Blackton in The Crimson Ghost
and also did the voice of the undefined title character. That same year, he portrayed Sheriff
Bill Armstrong in Silver Range and James Beeton in the western musical, Swing, Cowboy, Swing. In 1948, Jolley was cast as the loan shark Rance Carson in Tex Granger, Midnight Rider of the Plains
, with Robert Kellard
in the title role. In 1949, Jolley appeared as Professor Bryant in King of the Rocket Men
, again with Tristram Coffin. That same year, he was cast as Mark Simmons in Trouble at Melody Mesa
, starring Brad King
as a marshal
. In 1950, Jolley was cast as J.B. "Dude" Dawson in the low-budgeted Republic Pictures film serial, Desperadoes of the West
. In 1951, he was cast as Sam Fleming in Oklahoma Justice, with Johnny Mack Brown
, with whom he had also appeared in Silver Range. In 1953, he appeared as Ted in the Audie Murphy
and Lee Van Cleef
film Tumbleweed, set on a wagon train
that encounters problems with Indians
. That same year, Jolley appeared as Rocky in the western film, Son of Belle Starr, a drama about Starr's son, "The Kid" or Ed Reed, played by Keith Larsen
, who attempts to lead an upright life despite his family background. In 1954, he played the stationmaster in Vermont
in the Bing Crosby
/Danny Kaye
Christmas
classic White Christmas
. In 1956, Jolley appeared as Henry Longtree in the short film I Killed Wild Bill Hickok
.
series The Lone Ranger
with Clayton Moore
. He appeared twice in 1953 in another syndicated western series, The Range Rider
. He guest starred as the henchman Walt, along with Clayton Moore and Darryl Hickman
, in the 1954 episode "Annie Gets Her Man" of the syndicated Gail Davis
and Brad Johnson western, Annie Oakley
. He appeared as Sheriff Bascom in the 1954 episode "Black Bart
" of the syndicated Jim Davis
series, Stories of the Century
.
In 1958, Jolley appeared on ABC
's Walt Disney Presents in the role of Sheriff Adams in the episode "Law and Order, Incorporated", with Robert Loggia
as Elfego Baca
. His then 32-year-old son, Stan Jolley
, was the art director of the segment. Others in the episode were former child actor
Skip Homeier
and Raymond Bailey
, later the banker Milburn Drysdale of CBS
's The Beverly Hillbillies
.
Jolley soon appeared multiple times on a wide range of other western series, including, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
(three times), The Cisco Kid
(ten), Tales of the Texas Rangers
(twice), Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (twice), The Roy Rogers Show
(three), The Gene Autry Show
(four), Sky King
(four), Death Valley Days
(five), 26 Men
(five appearances, again with Tristram Coffin, the series star), Wanted Dead or Alive (two), Bronco
(twice), Tales of Wells Fargo
(twice), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
(six), Maverick
(six), Lawman
(six), Cheyenne
(seven), Rawhide
(five), Wagon Train
(ten), The Virginian
(two), Daniel Boone
(two), Laredo
(two), The Big Valley
(three), Bonanza
(eight), and Gunsmoke
(nine). In 1957, he appeared once on the Will Hutchins
western, Sugarfoot
, as The Nighthawk in "Reluctant Hero". In 1965, he appeared as Enos Scoggins in "The Greatest Coward on Earth" of the Chuck Connors
series, Branded. He had also appeared with Connors on ABC's The Rifleman
in one of the last episodes of the series in 1963 in the role of Joe Fogner in "Hostages to Fortune" (1963). He appeared four times in 1956 in archival footage on the children's western The Gabby Hayes Show
.
Jolley's last western roles were in 1976: as (1) a farmer in ABC's The Macahans, the pilot of James Arness
's second western series, How the West Was Won
, and as a (2) drunkard in the short-lived Tim Matheson
and Kurt Russell
series The Quest
.
Jolley's non-western appearances included The Adventures of Superman (twice), Perry Mason
(twice), The Untouchables
as Pete Laffey in "The Man in the Cooler", Profiles in Courage
in the episode "Andrew Johnson
" (with Walter Matthau
in the title role), Man with a Camera
as Dr. Ben Todd in "The Killer", Mr. and Mrs. North
as Harry in "The Ungrateful Killer", and in Johnny Weismuller's Jungle Jim
as Bremer in "Voodoo Drums".
and the widow of actor Jack Carson
. Sandra Jolley was originally an Earl Carroll
showgirl. Jolley was hence the father-in-law of Tucker from 1940–1950 and of Carson from 1961 until Carson's death in 1963.
Jolley died of emphysema
at the age of seventy-eight at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, California
. His wife died in the same facility in 2003. The Jolleys are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills
neighborhood of Los Angeles
.
Pamela "Brooke" Tucker, offered this reflection of her grandfather: "The most important thing about my grandfather was that he was the antithesis of all the villains he portrayed. He was a gentleman and a gentle man. He was ALWAYS interested in what the other person had to say and when you met him, he made you feel as though you were very important and special. All of my friends growing up loved him.
Jolley's grave marker reads:
I. Stanford Jolley
Loving Husband And Father
1900-1978
A Gentle Man And As Jolly By Nature As He Was By Name
Loved By All and Especially His Family
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
of film
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...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, primarily in 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...
roles as cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
s, law-enforcement officers, or villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
s. Recognized by his slight build, narrow face, and pencil-thin moustache
Moustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
, Jolley appeared some five hundred times on the large or small screen.
Film roles
Born in MorristownMorristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Jolley toured as a child with his father's traveling circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
and worked in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. He first performed on Broadway in 1924 opposite Charles Trowbridge
Charles Trowbridge
Charles Trowbridge was an American film actor. He appeared in 233 films between 1915 and 1958.He was born in Veracruz, Mexico and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:*Tycoon...
in Sweet Seventeen. He also worked in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
until he performed his first uncredited part in the 1935 Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
film, Front Page Woman
Front Page Woman
Front Page Woman is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Roy Chanslor, Laird Doyle, and Lillie Hayward is based on the novel Women Are Bum Newspapermen by Richard Macauley.-Plot:...
. He appeared in twenty-five films for Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
between 1936 and 1954, but he was never under contract to the studio. According to his wife, he never earned more than $100 on any of his multiple film appearances.
In 1939, he played an uncredited part as a hotel clerk in Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Mr. Wong in Chinatown is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff.-Cast:* Boris Karloff - Mr. James Lee Wong* Marjorie Reynolds - Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan * Grant Withers - Police Capt. Bill Street...
. Appearing in scores of films, mostly westerns, Jolley was cast in 1940 as Molotoff in Chasing Trouble
Chasing Trouble
- Cast :*Frankie Darro as Frankie 'Cupid' O'Brien*Marjorie Reynolds as Susie*Mantan Moreland as Jefferson*Milburn Stone as Callahan*Cheryl Walker as Phyllis Bentley*George Cleveland as Lester*Alex Callam as Morgan*Tristram Coffin as Phillips...
, with other performers in the comedy/espionage film including western actors Milburn Stone
Milburn Stone
Milburn Stone was an American television actor, a nephew of Broadway comedian Fred Stone and the son of a shopkeeper, best known for his role as "Doc" on the CBS western series Gunsmoke. He also played a doctor, CDR Blake, in the 1943 film Gung Ho!.Stone was born in Burrton in Harvey County in...
and Tristram Coffin. In 1942, he was cast as Gil Harkness in the western Outlaws of Boulder Pass
Outlaws of Boulder Pass
- Cast :*George Houston as Tom Cameron / The Lone Rider*Al St. John as Fuzzy Jones*Dennis Moore as Smoky Hammer*Marjorie Manners as Tess Hammer, alias Tess Clayton*I...
. In 1944, he was cast as Saladin in the swashbuckling "western" film set in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, The Desert Hawk
The Desert Hawk
The Desert Hawk is a Columbia film serial. It was the 23rd serial produced by Columbia.-Cast:* Gilbert Roland - Kasim, The Desert Hawk and Hassan, his Evil Twin Brother...
, and as Bart Kern in the Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
film, Gangsters of the Frontier
Gangsters of the Frontier
Gangsters of the Frontier is a 1944 American film directed by Elmer Clifton.The film is also known as Raiders of the Frontier in the United Kingdom.- Cast :*Tex Ritter as Tex Haines*Dave O'Brien as Texas Ranger Dave Wyatt...
. In 1945, Jolley was cast as Marshal Mullins in Springtime in Texas, a 55-minute film about a crime boss, Pete Grant, played by Rex Lease
Rex Lease
Rex Lloyd Lease was an American actor. He appeared in over 300 films, mainly in westerns. Lease was accused in 1930 by Vivian Duncan of the Duncan Sisters for assault...
, who controls the West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
town of Pecos
Pecos, Texas
Pecos is the largest city in and the county seat of Reeves County, Texas, United States. It is situated in the river valley on the west bank of the Pecos River at the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert and the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas and near the southern border of New Mexico...
.
In 1946, Jolley portrayed Dr. Blackton in The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost is a Republic film serial directed by Fred C. Brannon and William Witney with Charles Quigley and Linda Stirling playing the leads. This was Witney's last serial, after a career that left him one of the most praised of all serial directors...
and also did the voice of the undefined title character. That same year, he portrayed Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Bill Armstrong in Silver Range and James Beeton in the western musical, Swing, Cowboy, Swing. In 1948, Jolley was cast as the loan shark Rance Carson in Tex Granger, Midnight Rider of the Plains
Tex Granger
Tex Granger is a Columbia movie serial featuring the title character as a masked cowboy referred to as The Midnight Rider of the Plains in the serial's subtitle. It was based on a character from the comic Calling All Boys while the plot was taken from The Last Frontier , which was itself based on...
, with Robert Kellard
Robert Kellard
Robert Kellard was an American actor who appeared in over 60 films between 1937 and 1951.-Career:Kellard entered in Hollywood in 1937 in the film Annapolis Salute, directed by Christy Cabanne...
in the title role. In 1949, Jolley appeared as Professor Bryant in King of the Rocket Men
King of the Rocket Men
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949 Republic movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the...
, again with Tristram Coffin. That same year, he was cast as Mark Simmons in Trouble at Melody Mesa
Trouble at Melody Mesa
-Cast:*Brad King as Marshal Brad King*Cal Shrum as Cal Shrum*Lorraine Miller as Mathilda 'Matty' Simmons*I. Stanford Jolley as Mark Simmons*Walt Shrum as Walt Shrum*Alta Lee as Alta Lee *Jimmie Shrum as Jimmy Henshaw*Carl Sepulveda as Henchman...
, starring Brad King
Brad King (actor)
- Filmography :* Trouble at Melody Mesa * Pistol Packin' Nitwits * Secret of the Wastelands * Outlaws of the Desert * Twilight on the Trail * Riders of the Timberline * Stick to Your Guns...
as a marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
. In 1950, Jolley was cast as J.B. "Dude" Dawson in the low-budgeted Republic Pictures film serial, Desperadoes of the West
Desperadoes of the West
Desperadoes of the West is a Republic film serial.-Cast:*Richard Powers as Ward Gordon*Judy Clark as Sally Arnold*Roy Barcroft as Hacker, a henchman*I. Stanford Jolley as J. B...
. In 1951, he was cast as Sam Fleming in Oklahoma Justice, with Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
, with whom he had also appeared in Silver Range. In 1953, he appeared as Ted in the Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy was a highly decorated and famous soldier. Through LIFE magazine's July 16, 1945 issue , he became one the most famous soldiers of World War II and widely regarded as the most decorated American soldier of the war...
and Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
film Tumbleweed, set on a wagon train
Wagon train
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...
that encounters problems with Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. That same year, Jolley appeared as Rocky in the western film, Son of Belle Starr, a drama about Starr's son, "The Kid" or Ed Reed, played by Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961.-Background:...
, who attempts to lead an upright life despite his family background. In 1954, he played the stationmaster in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
in the 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....
/Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
classic 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"...
. In 1956, Jolley appeared as Henry Longtree in the short film I Killed Wild Bill Hickok
I Killed Wild Bill Hickok
- Cast :*Johnny Carpenter as 'Johnny Rebel' Savage*Denver Pyle as Jim Bailey*Virginia Gibson as Anne James*Tom Brown as Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok*Helen Westcott as Bella Longtree*I. Stanford Jolley as Henry Longtree*Frank 'Red' Carpenter as Ring Pardo...
.
Television roles
From 1950-1953, Jolley first appeared on television with six castings in different role in the syndicatedTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
series The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger (TV Series)
The Lone Ranger is an American western television series starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator...
with Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character The Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954-1957 on the television series of the same name.-Early years:...
. He appeared twice in 1953 in another syndicated western series, The Range Rider
The Range Rider
The Range Rider is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from 1951-1953. A single lost episode was first shown in 1959...
. He guest starred as the henchman Walt, along with Clayton Moore and Darryl Hickman
Darryl Hickman
Darryl Gerard Hickman is an American film and television actor, former television executive, and child star of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
, in the 1954 episode "Annie Gets Her Man" of the syndicated Gail Davis
Gail Davis
Gail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
and Brad Johnson western, Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
. He appeared as Sheriff Bascom in the 1954 episode "Black Bart
Black Bart
Black Bart may refer to:*Black Bart , notorious American Old West outlaw* Bartholomew Roberts , Welsh pirate in the late 17th and early 18th centuries* Black Bart , a musical theater group...
" of the syndicated Jim Davis
Jim Davis (actor)
Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
series, Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century
Stories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.-Synopsis:...
.
In 1958, Jolley appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Walt Disney Presents in the role of Sheriff Adams in the episode "Law and Order, Incorporated", with Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
as Elfego Baca
Elfego Baca
Elfego Baca was a gunman, lawman, lawyer, and politician in the closing days of the American wild west. Baca was born in Socorro, New Mexico just before the end of the American Civil War to Francisco and Juana Maria Baca. His family moved to Topeka, Kansas when he was a young child...
. His then 32-year-old son, Stan Jolley
Stan Jolley
Isaac Stanford Jolley, Jr., known as Stan Jolley , is an American art director and production designer, originally employed by Walt Disney Studios before he struck out on his own. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the 1985 film Witness.He is the son of...
, was the art director of the segment. Others in the episode were former child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Skip Homeier
Skip Homeier
-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
and Raymond Bailey
Raymond Bailey
Raymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, movies, and television. He is best known for his role as wealthy banker, Milburn Drysdale, in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies....
, later the banker Milburn Drysdale of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
.
Jolley soon appeared multiple times on a wide range of other western series, including, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.-Synopsis:The Adventures of Wild...
(three times), The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
(ten), Tales of the Texas Rangers
Tales of the Texas Rangers
Tales of the Texas Rangers, a western adventure old-time radio drama, premiered on July 8, 1950, on the US NBC radio network and remained on the air through September 14, 1952...
(twice), Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (twice), The Roy Rogers Show
The Roy Rogers Show
The Roy Rogers Show is an American Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietor of the Eureka Cafe in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as...
(three), The Gene Autry Show
The Gene Autry Show
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.-Overview:...
(four), Sky King
Sky King
Sky King is a 1940s and 1950s American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King...
(four), Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
(five), 26 Men
26 Men
26 Men is a syndicated American western television series about the Arizona Rangers, an elite group commissioned in 1901 by the legislature of the Arizona Territory and limited, for financial reasons, to twenty-six active members. Russell Hayden was the producer of the series and the co-composer of...
(five appearances, again with Tristram Coffin, the series star), Wanted Dead or Alive (two), Bronco
Bronco (TV series)
Bronco is a Western series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James,...
(twice), Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
(twice), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a Western television series loosely based on the adventures of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black and white series ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Earp. An off-camera barbershop quartet sang the theme song and hummed...
(six), Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
(six), Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
(six), Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
(seven), Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
(five), Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
(ten), The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
(two), Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
(two), Laredo
Laredo (TV series)
Laredo is an NBC Western television series starring Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. The program premiered on September 16, 1965, and the final new episode was broadcast on April 7, 1967. The series was produced by Universal Television.-Synopsis:Laredo...
(two), The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
(three), Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
(eight), and Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(nine). In 1957, he appeared once on the Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster in the Warner Brothers Western television series Sugarfoot on ABC from 1957-1961.-Biography:...
western, Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...
, as The Nighthawk in "Reluctant Hero". In 1965, he appeared as Enos Scoggins in "The Greatest Coward on Earth" of the Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
series, Branded. He had also appeared with Connors on ABC's The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
in one of the last episodes of the series in 1963 in the role of Joe Fogner in "Hostages to Fortune" (1963). He appeared four times in 1956 in archival footage on the children's western The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
.
Jolley's last western roles were in 1976: as (1) a farmer in ABC's The Macahans, the pilot of James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
's second western series, How the West Was Won
How the West Was Won (TV series)
How the West Was Won is an American western television series that featured an all star cast that included: James Arness, Eva Marie Saint, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner, G. W. Bailey, Trisha Noble, William Shatner, Jack Elam, Woody Strode, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Kiley, Lloyd Bridges,...
, and as a (2) drunkard in the short-lived Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
and Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
series The Quest
The Quest (TV series)
The Quest, a 15-episode Western television series which aired on NBC beginning September 22, 1976, starring Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson.-Overview:...
.
Jolley's non-western appearances included The Adventures of Superman (twice), Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
(twice), The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
as Pete Laffey in "The Man in the Cooler", Profiles in Courage
Profiles in Courage (TV series)
Profiles in Courage was a historical anthology series that appeared on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965 . The series was based on the recently assassinated President John F...
in the episode "Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
" (with Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
in the title role), Man with a Camera
Man with a Camera (TV series)
Man with a Camera is a 1950s television crime drama starring Charles Bronson.Throughout the 1950s, Charles Bronson spent most of his early acting career in TV-shows as well as small parts in films, until he landed the lead in the ABC series The Man with a Camera.-Plot:In the series Bronson...
as Dr. Ben Todd in "The Killer", Mr. and Mrs. North
Mr. and Mrs. North
Mr. and Mrs. North are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple were featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television series....
as Harry in "The Ungrateful Killer", and in Johnny Weismuller's Jungle Jim
Jungle Jim (TV series)
Jungle Jim is a 26-episode syndicated adventure television series which aired from 1955-1956, starring Johnny Weismuller, as Jim "Jungle Jim" Bradley, a hunter, guide, and explorer in, primarily, Africa. The program should not be confused with Ramar of the Jungle, but is based on the Jungle Jim...
as Bremer in "Voodoo Drums".
Personal life and legacy
Jolley and his wife, Emily Mae or "Peggy" Jolley (1901–2003), had two children, the art director I. Stanford "Stan" Jolley, Jr. (born 1926), and the late Sandra Jolley Carson (1919–1986), the former wife of actor Forrest TuckerForrest Tucker
Forrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood 190 cm tall and weighed 93 kg , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:Forrest Meredith Tucker was born in Plainfield, Indiana, a son of...
and the widow of actor Jack Carson
Jack Carson
John Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...
. Sandra Jolley was originally an Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll was an American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Career:...
showgirl. Jolley was hence the father-in-law of Tucker from 1940–1950 and of Carson from 1961 until Carson's death in 1963.
Jolley died of emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
at the age of seventy-eight at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. His wife died in the same facility in 2003. The Jolleys are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
neighborhood of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Pamela "Brooke" Tucker, offered this reflection of her grandfather: "The most important thing about my grandfather was that he was the antithesis of all the villains he portrayed. He was a gentleman and a gentle man. He was ALWAYS interested in what the other person had to say and when you met him, he made you feel as though you were very important and special. All of my friends growing up loved him.
Jolley's grave marker reads:
I. Stanford Jolley
Loving Husband And Father
1900-1978
A Gentle Man And As Jolly By Nature As He Was By Name
Loved By All and Especially His Family