Jay C. Flippen

4/5

Biography

Jay C. Flippen could probably be characterized these days as one of those distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing old 50s and 60s movies and TV. His distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for roles as criminals and rugged adventurers, while his background in vaudeville and minstrel shows helped him obtain roles in occasional fluffy slapstick and light musical comedy. Flippen was already a veteran performer on radio and the Broadway stage by the time he focused on film. He could be counted on to provide his patented gruff and bluster in many a action film whether playing a sheriff, prison warden, military high-ranker, bartender, or farmer. Moreover, his characters supported 'James Stewart , whose work included a couple of Gidget movies. He died at age 72 of an aneurysm; which is a rupture of a swollen artery.

  • Primary profession
  • Actor·soundtrack·writer
  • Country
  • United States
  • Nationality
  • American
  • Gender
  • Male
  • Birth date
  • 06 March 1899
  • Place of birth
  • Little Rock· Arkansas
  • Death date
  • 1971-02-03
  • Death age
  • 72
  • Place of death
  • Los Angeles
  • Spouses
  • Ruth Brooks Flippen

Music

Movies

TV

Trivia

Entombed at Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California - Corridor of Memories (Five crypts to the right of Marilyn Monroe)

Can be seen in his wheelchair, minus his right leg, in the party scene at Jim Backus house in the movie Mooch Goes to Hollywood , which was filmed shortly before his death. The great character actor is having a good time in his brief cameo, and obviously is beloved by the other guests.

The actor lost a leg to diabetes in the late 60s.

Flippen was a Vaudeville performer and recording star in the 1920s, recording 33 sides between 1924 and 1929 for Columbia, Pathe/Perfect, and Brunswick. He made a handful of musical shorts in the early 1930s, as well.

Comments