Back to prior page

The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc.


Whatever Happened To ...

James Blaine

AKA: James G. Blaine

(Image courtesy of Jack Tillmany)


James Blaine is another lost/missing player and no one has any biographical info on him. If an Old Corral visitor has info on Blaine, please shoot the webmaster an e-mail.

We do know that for a brief period in the late 1930s-early 1940s, Blaine seemed to have found a niche and regular paydays at Universal. Examples: he was the scheming boss or co-brains heavy in FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal serial, 1938), OREGON TRAIL (Universal serial, 1939), RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY (Universal serial, 1941) and Johnny Mack Brown adventures such as OKLAHOMA FRONTIER (Universal, 1939), FIGHTING BILL FARGO (Universal, 1941) and MAN FROM MONTANA (Universal, 1941).

The Internet Movie Database shows Blaine in about 75 films during the period 1936-1944, and many of his roles were bit/minor support jobs as a detective or police officer.

Some reports indicate that Blaine may have passed away on March 18, 1967 at the age of 69, but that appears to be suspect/incorrect (see info below).

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on James Blaine: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0086151/



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from L-to-R are Eleanor Hansen, Tom Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Ed Cassidy, William Royle, Charles Stevens and James Blaine (as "Bart Eaton") in a scene from the cliffhanger FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1938).



Crop/blowup of James Blaine from the above image.


Jack Tillmany has been doing research on the lost/missing James Blaine:

I believe Blaine's ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT (1944) credit on IMDb is bogus, added by some well-meaning, but incorrect contributor when the Boston Blackie series was resurrected on TCM. AFI, using the Call Bureau Cast Sheet, has a pretty healthy list of uncredited names for that one, including Dick Jensen, George Magrill, Cy Malis, Ed Allen as "Policemen" and Ben Taggart as "Traffic Officer". I can't imagine Blaine's role could have been so unimportant that he didn't even make the Call Bureau Cast Sheet list.

This now leaves us with 1942 as his last year of active film work, with only two titles actually filmed and released that year, after more than a dozen in 1941. (Actually TWO YANKS IN TRINIDAD was filmed late in 1941, and released in 1942) so his final films seem to be FLIGHT LIEUTENANT (filmed March-April 1942) and BABY FACE MORGAN, which seems to have been filmed around July 1942.

Could he have gone into military service and never returned? He looks too old for combat, but may have been involved in some other kind of duty.

He does not appear in my 1943 Players Directory or any later ones, implying he was no longer "in the business" by this time.

AFI lists "James G. Blaine" as an AKA so he must have been so credited at some time.

Checking ancestry.com:

JAMES GIBSON BLAINE (born Oakland, California) born 28 February 1895. residence: Santa Barbara, California, is listed in the WWI draft registrations as a 22 year old out of work delivery clerk.

JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE born 25 July 1881 residence: Long Beach, California; occupation: "automobile". I think this guy is too old. So let's focus on the other one.

1930 Census Records:

James G. Blaine: age 34, living in Santa Barbara with his mother, occupation: grocery store clerk, looks like same guy as above.

James G. Blaine: age 33, (born Colorado), living in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters, occupation: some kind of plant superintendent;

James G. Blaine: age 43, (born Maine), living in Coronado, California

James G. Blaine: age 47, (born Kansas), living in National City (San Diego County), California, occupaton: paper hanger.

Of course, these are just the James G. Blaines LIVING IN CALIFORNIA in 1930.

Since there's no record of any film work prior to 1936, at which time he looks like he was at least 40 years old, this may be another case of someone migrating to Hollywood late in life, and connecting, not unusual in the 1930s.

Regarding the James Blaine who passed away on March 18, 1967: This info seems to have come from the obit in Variety, published 22 March 1967. I only have the index, not all the obits themselves, but in the index, it's listed as "Blaine, Jimmy (James William Bunn)". The Internet Movie Database link for Jimmy Blaine (1924-1967; real name: James Bunn) is at: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0086155/


Back to prior page