Jeff York
Encyclopedia
Jeff York was an American film and television actor who began his career in the late 1930s using his given name Granville Owen Schofield. He was also sometimes credited as Jeff Yorke.
During his early career, the tall, dark haired actor was a natural to play characters such as Pat Ryan in the 1940 serial Terry and the Pirates
and was given the lead in the 1940 film Li'l Abner
. However, he is perhaps most remembered for his role as Bud Searcy in Disney
's classic Old Yeller
and its 1963 sequel Savage Sam
. Beverly Washburn
played Lisbeth Searcy, Bud's daughter. York also appeared in The Great Locomotive Chase, Westward Ho, the Wagons!
, and Johnny Tremain
which were all part of Walt Disney
's productions.
York attracted considerable attention in the mid-1950s with his television portrayal of Mike Fink
, the flamboyant keelboat operator in two episodes of Disney's hugely popular Davy Crockett miniseries
in the episodes "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" and "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." York was cast opposite Fess Parker in the role. The first episode featured a memorable boasting contest and a keelboat race, with Fink's boat named The Gullywumper; in the second, Crockett and Fink join forces to fight a band of river pirates who blame their depredations on local Native Americans.
He also starred as mountain man/fur trapper Joe Crane in two different Disney series, The Saga of Andy Burnett, adapted from the Stewart Edward White
novel The Long Rifle and Zorro.
In addition, York was a guest star of The Lone Ranger
, Waterfront
, Studio 57
, Medic
, Fireside Theater
, You Are There, The Californians
, Peter Gunn
, Bronco
, Lawman
, Cheyenne, The Rifleman
, Outlaws, Perry Mason
, Daniel Boone
and The Iron Horse. He also co-starred as "Reno McKee" with Roger Moore
in the 1959 Warner Bros.
television series The Alaskans
.
During his early career, the tall, dark haired actor was a natural to play characters such as Pat Ryan in the 1940 serial Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates (serial)
Terry and the Pirates was the 10th film serial released by Columbia. It was based on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates created by Milton Caniff...
and was given the lead in the 1940 film Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner (1940 film)
Li'l Abner is a 1940 film based on the comic strip of the same name created by Al Capp. The three most recognizable names associated with the film are Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat, Jeff York as Li'l Abner, and Milton Berle, who co-wrote the title song.-Synopsis:Li'l Abner becomes...
. However, he is perhaps most remembered for his role as Bud Searcy in Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
's classic Old Yeller
Old Yeller (1957 film)
Old Yeller is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Beverly Washburn, and directed by Robert Stevenson. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The story is based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Gipson...
and its 1963 sequel Savage Sam
Savage Sam
Savage Sam is the 1963 film sequel to Old Yeller written by Fred Gipson. It was inspired by the story of former Apache captive Herman Lehmann, whom Gipson had seen give an exhibition when he was a child....
. Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn is an American actress who appeared as a young girl in NBC's The Loretta Young Show and as an older teenager in Loretta Young's 1962-1963 CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show...
played Lisbeth Searcy, Bud's daughter. York also appeared in The Great Locomotive Chase, Westward Ho, the Wagons!
Westward Ho, The Wagons!
Westward Ho, the Wagons! is a 1956 live-action Disney western film, aimed at family audiences. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel Children of the Covered Wagon, the film was produced by Bill Walsh, directed by William Beaudine, and released to theatres on December 20, 1956 by Buena Vista Distribution...
, and Johnny Tremain
Johnny Tremain (film)
Johnny Tremain is a 1957 film made by Walt Disney Productions, based on the 1944 Newbery Medal-winning children's novel of the same name by Esther Forbes, retelling the story of the years in Boston, Massachusetts prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. The movie was directed by Robert...
which were all part of Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's productions.
York attracted considerable attention in the mid-1950s with his television portrayal of Mike Fink
Mike Fink
Mike Fink called "king of the keelboaters", was a semi-legendary brawler and boatman who exemplified the tough and hard-drinking men who ran keelboats up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers....
, the flamboyant keelboat operator in two episodes of Disney's hugely popular Davy Crockett miniseries
Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)
Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
in the episodes "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" and "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." York was cast opposite Fess Parker in the role. The first episode featured a memorable boasting contest and a keelboat race, with Fink's boat named The Gullywumper; in the second, Crockett and Fink join forces to fight a band of river pirates who blame their depredations on local Native Americans.
He also starred as mountain man/fur trapper Joe Crane in two different Disney series, The Saga of Andy Burnett, adapted from the Stewart Edward White
Stewart Edward White
Stewart Edward White was an American author.-Biography:Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan he attended Grand Rapids High School, and earned degrees from University of Michigan ....
novel The Long Rifle and Zorro.
In addition, York was a guest star of 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...
, Waterfront
Waterfront (TV series)
Waterfront is a television drama set in Providence, Rhode Island that was originally scheduled to be a midseason replacement on CBS in 2007, but was shelved by the network in 2006 before any of its five completed episodes had aired. The series was produced by Warner Bros...
, Studio 57
Studio 57
Studio 57 was the name of an American television series that was broadcast on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network.The program was a filmed anthology television series sponsored by Heinz 57 and produced by Revue Studios...
, Medic
Medic (TV series)
Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television's first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures, establishing the style for later medical series.Created by its principal writer James E...
, Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran from on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned...
, You Are There, The Californians
The Californians (TV series)
The Californians is a 54-episode half-hour Western television series, set in the San Francisco gold rush of the 1850s, which aired on NBC from September 24, 1957, to May 26, 1959...
, Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
, 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,...
, 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....
, Cheyenne, 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...
, Outlaws, 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...
, 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...
and The Iron Horse. He also co-starred as "Reno McKee" with Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
in the 1959 Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
television series The Alaskans
The Alaskans
The Alaskans is a 1959 television series set in the port of Skagway, Alaska during the 1890s. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold...
.
Filmography
- 1967 Tammy and the Millionaire - Grundy Onyx Purewater Tate
- 1963 Savage SamSavage SamSavage Sam is the 1963 film sequel to Old Yeller written by Fred Gipson. It was inspired by the story of former Apache captive Herman Lehmann, whom Gipson had seen give an exhibition when he was a child....
- Bud Searcy - 1957 Old YellerOld Yeller (1957 film)Old Yeller is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Beverly Washburn, and directed by Robert Stevenson. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The story is based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Gipson...
- Bud Searcy - 1956 Westward Ho, the Wagons!Westward Ho, The Wagons!Westward Ho, the Wagons! is a 1956 live-action Disney western film, aimed at family audiences. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel Children of the Covered Wagon, the film was produced by Bill Walsh, directed by William Beaudine, and released to theatres on December 20, 1956 by Buena Vista Distribution...
- Hank Breckenridge - 1956 The Great Locomotive Chase - William Campbell
- 1955 It's a Dog's Life - John L. Sullivan
- 1954 Demetrius and the GladiatorsDemetrius and the GladiatorsDemetrius and the Gladiators is a 1954 sword and sandal drama film and a sequel to The Robe. It was made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Delmer Daves and produced by Frank Ross. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne based on characters created by Lloyd C...
- Albus - 1952 Kansas City Confidential - Captain McBride (uncredited)
- 1952 The Duel at Silver CreekThe Duel at Silver CreekThe Duel at Silver Creek is a 1952 Western film directed by Don Siegel and starring Audie Murphy...
- Abe Cooney (uncredited) - 1951 The Lady Says NoThe Lady Says NoThe Lady Says No is a 1952 American film directed by Frank Ross.- Plot summary :Suave bachelor globe-trotting photographer David Niven is assigned to shoot best-selling feminist author Joan Caulfield, who turns out to be virginal, cool, blonde and smart....
- Goose - 1951 The Unknown ManThe Unknown Man-Plot:Defense attorney Dwight Bradley Masen is successful in seeking the acquittal of a young man, Rudi Walchek, accused of knifing to death the 19-year-old son of a local locksmith, but when Rudi lets a comment slip after the trial, Masen realizes he has defended a guilty man...
- Jail Guard (uncredited) - 1951 The Redhead and the CowboyThe Redhead and the CowboyThe Redhead and the Cowboy is a 1951 western movie starring Glenn Ford. Directed by Leslie Fenton.- Synopsis :Gil Kyle finds himself caught up in the politics and unrest of the American Civil War and soon gets himself framed for a murder...
- Lt. Wylie (uncredited) - 1950 Father of the BrideFather of the Bride (1950 film)Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...
- Policeman (uncredited) - 1950 The Asphalt JungleThe Asphalt JungleThe Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 film noir directed by John Huston. The caper film is based on the novel of the same name by W. R. Burnett and stars an ensemble cast including Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, and, in a minor but key role, Marilyn Monroe, an unknown...
- Policeman (uncredited) - 1949 The Inspector GeneralThe Inspector General (film)The Inspector General is a 1949 musical comedy film. It stars Danny Kaye and was directed by Henry Koster. The film also stars Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale Sr. and Rhys Williams. Original music by Sylvia Fine and Johnny Green.-Premise:The film is loosely...
- Guard (uncredited) - 1949 Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah (1949 film)Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...
- Spectator at Temple (uncredited) - 1946 The Postman Always Rings Twice - Blair
- 1945 They Were ExpendableThey Were ExpendableThey Were Expendable is a 1945 American war film directed by John Ford and starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne. The film is based on the book by William L. White, relating the story of the exploits of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a PT boat unit defending the Philippines against Japanese...
- Ens. Tony Aiken - 1942 Kid Glove KillerKid Glove KillerKid Glove Killer is a 1942 crime film starring Van Heflin as a criminologist investigating the murder of a mayor. The B film was the feature-length directorial debut of Fred Zinnemann.-Cast:*Van Heflin as Gordon McKay*Marsha Hunt as Jane Mitchell...
- Henchman (uncredited) - 1942 Nazi AgentNazi AgentNazi Agent is a 1942 spy film directed by Jules Dassin. It stars Conrad Veidt playing identical twins, one loyal to the United States , the other a dedicated German Nazi....
- Keeler (uncredited) - 1940 Li'l AbnerLi'l Abner (1940 film)Li'l Abner is a 1940 film based on the comic strip of the same name created by Al Capp. The three most recognizable names associated with the film are Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat, Jeff York as Li'l Abner, and Milton Berle, who co-wrote the title song.-Synopsis:Li'l Abner becomes...
- Li'l Abner - 1940 Terry and the PiratesTerry and the Pirates (serial)Terry and the Pirates was the 10th film serial released by Columbia. It was based on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates created by Milton Caniff...
- Pat Ryan - 1938 Start CheeringStart CheeringStart Cheering is a musical motion picture starring Jimmy Durante, Walter Connolly and Joan Perry. It is best remember today for a cameo appearance by The Three Stooges as Campus Firemen, who were Columbia Pictures' short subject headliners at the time...
- Student (uncredited) - 1937 That Certain WomanThat Certain WomanThat Certain Woman is a 1937 American drama film written and directed by Edmund Goulding. It is a remake of Goulding's 1929 film The Tresspasser, Gloria Swanson's first sound film.-Synopsis:...
- Reporter (uncredited) - 1937 Kid GalahadKid Galahad (1937 film)Kid Galahad is a 1937 prizefighter film starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz....
- Reporter (uncredited)