J. Carrol Naish

J. Carrol Naish
from the trailer for Hit The Deck (1955)
Born	Joseph Patrick Carroll Naish January 21, 1896 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	January 24, 1973 (aged 77) La Jolla, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Emphysema
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Nationality	American
Other names	Carol Naish Carroll Naish Carrol Naish
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1926–1971
Spouse(s)	Gladys Heaney (m. 1929–73)
Children	1
Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (1944)

Joseph Patrick Carroll Naish (January 21, 1896 – January 24, 1973), known professionally as J. Carrol Naish, was an American character actor. He was nominated twice for an Academy Award for film roles, and he later found fame in the title role of CBS Radio's Life With Luigi (1948–1953).

Early life

Born in New York City, Naish appeared on stage for several years before he began his film career. He began as a member of Gus Edwards's vaudeville troupe of child performers. After World War I, Naish formed his own song and dance act in Paris. He was traveling the globe from Europe to Egypt to Asia, when his China-bound ship developed engine problems, leaving him in California in 1926.

Career

Naish's uncredited bit role in What Price Glory? (1926) launched his career in more than two hundred films. He was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the first for his role as Giuseppe in the movie Sahara (1943) in which he delivers one of the most moving speeches in any wartime film: "Mussolini is not so clever like Hitler, he can dress up his Italians only to look like thieves, cheats, murderers, he cannot like Hitler make them feel like that. He cannot like Hitler scrape from their conscience the knowledge right is right and wrong is wrong, or dig holes in their heads to plant his own Ten Commandments- Steal from thy neighbor, Cheat thy neighbor, Kill thy neighbor! But are my eyes blind that I must fall to my knees to worship a maniac who has made of my country a concentration camp, who has made of my people slaves? Must I kiss the hand that beats me, lick the boot that kicks me? NO!", and for his performance as the title character's Hispanic father in the movie A Medal for Benny (1945).^[1] For the latter film, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

He often played villains from gangsters in numerous Paramount pictures^[2] to mad scientists, such as Dr. Daka in the Batman film serial. In the 1940s Naish was a supporting character in a number of horror films. He played Boris Karloff's assistant in House of Frankenstein (1944).

Of Irish descent, he rarely played an Irishman, explaining, "When the part of an Irishman comes along, nobody ever thinks of me."^{[lower-alpha 1]} He portrayed numerous other ethnicities including Southern European, Eastern European, Latin American, Native American, Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander—even African American, which earned him the moniker "Hollywood's one-man U.N.".^[3]

On radio, Naish starred as Luigi Basco on the popular CBS program Life with Luigi (1948–1953).^[4] Luigi's popularity resulted in a CBS television series of the same name, with Naish reprising his role.^[5]

Three generations of Naishes in 1952. Seated is Patrick Naish; standing are his son, J. Carrol, and granddaughter, Elaine. Elaine Naish was an actress who often played supporting roles on Life With Luigi.

In 1971, he appeared in his final film role, Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), as a mad scientist; a role descended from the original Dr. Frankenstein takes to murdering young women for experimentation in hopes of reviving his ancestor's creation, with help from his mute assistant, played by Lon Chaney Jr., whose film appearance was also his last.

Personal life

Naish was married (from 1929 until his death) to actress Gladys Heaney (1907–1987); they had one daughter, Elaine.^[3]

Death

Naish died of emphysema on January 24, 1973 at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, three days after his 77th birthday.^[6] He is interred at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.^[7] For his contributions to television, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6145 Hollywood Boulevard.^[6]

Partial filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1926	What Price Glory	French Soldier	Uncredited
1930	Cheer Up and Smile	Bit Part	Uncredited
1931	The Royal Bed	Laker	Credited as Carrol Naish
1931	Surrender	Uncredited
1931	Tonight or Never	Radio Announcer	Uncredited
1931	The Finger Points	Phone Voice ("The Finger is on You")	Uncredited
1932	The Hatchet Man	Sun Yat Ming	Credited as J. Carroll Naish Alternative title: The Honorable Mr. Wong
1932	The Beast of the City	Cholo
1932	The Mouthpiece	Tony Rocco	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1932	Two Seconds	Tony	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1932	Big City Blues	Bootlegger	Uncredited
1932	Tiger Shark	Tony	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1932	The Kid from Spain	Pedro
1932	Frisco Jenny	Ed Harris	Uncredited
1933	No Other Woman	Bonelli
1933	The Past of Mary Holmes	Gary Kent
1933	Infernal Machine	Bryan	Uncredited
1933	Central Airport	Drunk in wreck	Uncredited
1933	The World Gone Mad	Ramon Salvadore
1933	Elmer, the Great	Jerry	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1933	Arizona to Broadway	Tommy Monk
1933	Captured!	Cpl. Guarand	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1933	Ann Vickers	Dr. Sorelle	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1933	The Mad Game	Chopper Allen
1933	Havana Widows	First Taxi Driver	Uncredited
1933	The Mystery Squadron	Collins	Film serial
1934	Murder in Trinidad	Duval
1934	British Agent	Commissioner of War Trotsky	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1934	Maria Galante	French Sailor Painting Ship	Uncredited
1935	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer	Grand Vizier
1935	Black Fury	Steve Croner
1935	Front Page Woman	Robert Cardoza	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1935	The Crusades	Arab Slave Dealer	Uncredited
1935	Little Big Shot	Bert	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1935	Special Agent	Joe Durell	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1935	Captain Blood	Cahusac	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1936	Two in the Dark	Burt Mansfield
1936	Charlie Chan at the Circus	Tom Holt
1936	Anthony Adverse	Maj. Doumet	Credited as J. Carroll Naish
1936	Ramona	Juan Can
1936	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Subahdar-Major Puran Singh	1936 ((Exclusive Story)) Comos
1936	Crack-Up	Operative #77
1937	Border Cafe	Rocky Alton
1937	Think Fast, Mr. Moto	Adram
1937	Sea Racketeers	Harry Durant
1937	Bulldog Drummond Comes Back	Mikhail Valdin
1937	Daughter of Shanghai	Frank Barden
1938	Her Jungle Love	Kuasa
1938	Bulldog Drummond in Africa	Richard Lane
1938	King of Alcatraz	Steve Murkil
1939	Hotel Imperial	Kuprin
1939	Beau Geste	Rasinoff
1939	Island of Lost Men	Gregory Prin
1940	Queen of the Mob	George Frost
1940	Golden Gloves	Joe Taggerty
1940	Down Argentine Way	Casiano
1941	That Night in Rio	Machado
1941	Blood and Sand	Garabato
1941	Forced Landing	Andros Banshek
1941	Birth of the Blues	Blackie
1941	The Corsican Brothers	Lorenzo
1942	A Gentleman at Heart	Gigi
1942	Sunday Punch	Matt Bassler
1942	Jackass Mail	Signor Michel O'Sullivan
1942	The Pied Piper	Aristide Rougeron
1942	Tales of Manhattan	Burglar
1942	Dr. Renault's Secret	Noel
1943	Batman	Dr. Tito Daka/Prince Daka	Film serial
1943	Behind the Rising Sun	Reo Seki
1943	Sahara	Giuseppe	Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1943	Calling Dr. Death	Inspector Gregg
1943	Gung Ho!	Lt. C.J. Cristoforos
1944	Voice in the Wind	Luigi
1944	The Whistler	The Killer
1944	The Monster Maker	Dr. Igor Markoff
1944	Jungle Woman	Dr. Carl Fletcher
1944	Waterfront	Dr. Karl Decker
1944	Dragon Seed	Japanese Kitchen Overseer
1944	Enter Arsène Lupin	Ganimard
1944	House of Frankenstein	Daniel
1945	A Medal for Benny	Charley Martin	Won: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1945	The Southerner	Devers
1945	Strange Confession	Roger Graham	Alternative title: The Missing Head
1945	Star in the Night	Nick Catapoli	Short film
1946	Bad Bascomb	Bart Yancy
1946	The Beast with Five Fingers	Police Commissario Ovidio Castanio
1946	Humoresque	Rudy Boray
1947	Carnival in Costa Rica	Papa Rico Molina
1947	The Fugitive	A Police Informer
1948	Joan of Arc	John, Count of Luxembourg (Joan's captor)
1948	The Kissing Bandit	Chico
1949	Canadian Pacific	Dynamite Dawson
1949	That Midnight Kiss	Papa Donnetti
1950	Black Hand	Louis Lorelli
1950	Please Believe Me	"Lucky" Reilly
1950	Annie Get Your Gun	Chief Sitting Bull
1950	The Toast of New Orleans	Nicky Duvalle
1950	Rio Grande	Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan
1951	Across the Wide Missouri	Looking Glass
1951	Bannerline	Frankie Scarbine
1952	Denver and Rio Grande	Gil Harkness
1952	Clash by Night	Uncle Vince
1952	The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima	Narrator	Uncredited
1953	Fighter Attack	Bruno
1953	Beneath the 12-Mile Reef	Socrates "Soc" Houlis
1954	Saskatchewan	Batouche
1954	Sitting Bull	Sitting Bull
1955	New York Confidential	Ben Dagajanian
1955	Hit the Deck	Mr. Peroni
1955	Rage at Dawn	Simeon "Sim" Reno
1955	Violent Saturday	Chapman, Bank Robber
1955	The Last Command	General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana
1956	Rebel in Town	Bedloe Mason
1957	This Could Be the Night	Leon
1971	Dracula vs. Frankenstein	Dr. Frankenstein, aka Dr. Duryea

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952–1953	Life with Luigi	Luigi Basco	Unknown episodes
1956	Climax!	Mr. Combie	Episode: "An Episode of Sparrows"
1956	The Alcoa Hour	Murillo	Episode: "Key Largo"
1956	Crossroads	Rabbi Arnold Fischel	2 episodes, including "The White Carnation"
1957-1958	The New Adventures of Charlie Chan	Charlie Chan	39 episodes
1957	The Texan	Walt Pierce	Episode: "The First Notch"
1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse	Papa	Episode: "My Father, the Fool"
1958	Wanted: Dead or Alive	Miguel Ramierez	Episode: "Ricochet"
1958	Cimarron City	Rare Crowder	Episode: "The Blood Line"
1959	The Restless Gun	Maj. Quint Langley	Episode: "Blood of Courage"
1959	Whirlybirds	Taylor	Episode: "Two of a Kind"
1959-1960	Wagon Train	Various roles	2 episodes
1960	The Untouchables	Joe Bucco	Episode: "The Noise of Death"
1960–1961	Guestward, Ho!	Hawkeye	38 episodes
1963	Route 66	Mike Donato	Episode: "And Make Thunder His Tribute"
1964	The Hanged Man	Uncle Picaud	Television film
1964	Burke's Law	Mr. Toto	Episode: "Who Killed Supersleuth?"
1965	I Dream of Jeannie	Bilejik	Episode: "Djinn and Water"
1966	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Uncle Giuliano	Episode: "The Super-Colossal Affair"
1967	Green Acres	Chief Yellow Horse	Episode: "It's So Peaceful in the Country"
1969	Bonanza	Anselmo	Episode: "A Severe Case of Matrimony"
1968	Get Smart	Sam Vittorio	Episode: "The Secret of Sam Vittorio"

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1946	The Fifth Horseman	Aftermath
1952	Suspense	Treasure Hunt[8]
1953	Family Theater	Two Tickets for Stockholm[9]

References

1. He did, however, play the Irish-American General Sheridan in Rio Grande.

1. Thise, Mark (2008). Hollywood Winners & Losers A to Z. Limelight Editions/Hal Leonard. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-87910-351-4.
2. Erickson, Hal. "J. Carrol Naish – Biography". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
3. "Character Actor J. Carrol Naish Dies". The Washington Post. January 27, 1973. p. B10. Among the hundreds of roles he played over the years...were members of enough nationalities to win him the title of 'Hollywood's one-man U.N.'
4. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. pp. 397–398. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
5. Candeloro, Dominic L. (2011). "What Luigi Basco Taught America About Italian Americans". In Connell, William J.; Gardaphé, Fred. Anti-Italianism: Essays on a Prejudice. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-31636-2.
6. Rawitch, Robert (January 27, 1973). "J. Carrol Naish". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
7. J. Carrol Naish at Find a Grave
8. Kirby, Walter (February 3, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved June 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Kirby, Walter (March 1, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 46. Retrieved June 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• J. Carrol Naish at the Internet Movie Database
• J. Carrol Naish at the Internet Broadway Database