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Harry James

Harry James

Actor · 1916 – 1983 · Albany, Georgia, USA

Harry James was born in a rundown hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia. His mother and father were members of a circus - she as a trapeze artist and he a band leader - with the Mighty Haag Circus. At seven, they settled in Beaumont, Texas where Harry learned yo play drums. By twelve, he was playing trumpet in the Christy Brothers circus band. In 1936 James joined Ben Pollack's band, soon leaving to lead the brass section of Benny Goodman's band. He even once applied to Lawrence Welk's band but was turned down because they said he played too loud and it was not Welk's style. After three years with Goodman, he wanted to leave, and with Goodman's backing, he formed the Music Makers. In 1943 he married pinup queen Betty Grable, his second of four wives. He had earlier married and divorced Louise Tobin, a singer. Grable kept appearing in movies and Harry kept playing while they raised horses. He made his debut in Philadelphia at the Ben Franklin Hotel and soon was a nationwide favorite of dance lovers and jazz addicts, rocking the rafters at the Hollywood Paladium, Chicago's famous College Inn at the Hotel Sherman, Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook in Cedar Cove, NJ, and then onto New York City. It was the Lincoln Hotel in NYC that the Music Makers called home, but James also starred at the Paramount Theater in the spring of 1943, with thousands of teenagers flocking to see him. His version of You Made Me Love You was a big hit and a favorite of many through the war years. James was a great discoverer of talent, finding Frank Sinatra working as a waiter in a New Jersey restaurant and giving him a job singing in his band. Dick Haymes, Kitty Kallen, Connie Haines and Helen Forrest can all thank James for giving them their first real break. In 1963 his band was featured at Disneyland, still known as the Music Makers. He played his last gig at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on June 26, 1983, just a few days before dying of lymphatic cancer.

Movies23

  • Movie6.8
  • Movie6.3

    The Ladies Man

    1961 · 147 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Bathing Beauty

    1944 · 33 votes

  • Movie7.1
  • Movie7.0
  • Movie5.8

    Two Girls and a Sailor

    1944 · 12 votes

  • Movie4.7

    The Sting II

    1983 · 53 votes

  • Movie5.7

    On Our Merry Way

    1948 · 18 votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Benny Goodman Story

    1956 · 15 votes

  • Movie5.4

    The Opposite Sex

    1956 · 21 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Showbiz Goes to War

    1982 · 1 votes

  • Movie7.7

    This Is Bob Hope...

    2017 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Swing Fever

    1943 · 4 votes

  • Movie6.9
  • Movie4.7

    Do You Love Me

    1946 · 6 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Hollywood Hotel

    1938 · 13 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Best Foot Forward

    1943 · 5 votes

  • Movie5.9

    I'll Get By

    1950 · 8 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Too Many Girls

    1940 · 14 votes

  • Movie6.7

    If I'm Lucky

    1946 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie5.0

    Private Buckaroo

    1942 · 11 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Syncopation

    1942 · 6 votes

Series8

  • TV7.6
  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV6.4
  • TV5.0

    The Hollywood Palace

    1964 · 5 votes

  • TV8.6
  • TV7.0

    Cavalcade of Bands

    1950 · 1 votes