Movies List
TV Show List
Hit the Saddle

as Rance McGowan

1937
Heart of the Rockies

as Ed Dawson

1937
The Three Mesquiteers

as Brack Canfield

1936
Stampede

as Matt Stevens

1936
Bar 20 Rides Again

as Buck Peters

1935
The Outlaw Tamer

as Sheriff Jim Porter

1935
The Red Rider

as Scotty McKee

1934
Somewhere in Sonora

as Monte Black

1933
The Lawless Legion

as Matson

1929
Señor Americano

as Maddox

1929
Arizona Days

as Ed Hicks

1928
The Red Raiders

as Captain Ortwell

1927
Gun Gospel

as Bill Brogan

1927
Senor Daredevil

as Jesse Wilks

1926
J.P. McGowan J.P. McGowan

Birthday

1880-02-24

Place of Birth

Biography

From Wikipedia John Paterson McGowan (February 24, 1880 – March 26, 1952) was a pioneering Hollywood actor and director and occasionally a screenwriter and producer. J. P. McGowan, as he was usually known, remains the only Australian to have been made a life member of the Screen Directors Guild (now Directors Guild of America). Born in the then-bustling railway centre of Terowie in South Australia, McGowan grew up in Adelaide (Islington) and Sydney. He was a capable horseman and served in the Second Boer War with Montmorency's Scouts as a special dispatch rider. McGowan directed and often acted in the first 33 episodes of Kalem's 1914 adventure film series, The Hazards of Helen, which eventually ran to 54 episodes, some still with McGowan's participation. While filming he began a relationship with Helen Holmes, the film's star, and the two married. They left Kalem to set up their own production company, Signal Films, which successfully made a series of railroad melodramas but lost out when their distributor (Mutual) failed. The collaboration ended when they divorced in 1925. There was an adopted daughter, Kaye. McGowan successfully made the transition from silent film to talkies. While never a major star, in a busy career that spanned four decades he is credited with acting in 232 films—mostly strong roles like sheriff or villain—writing 26 screenplays and directing 242 productions. In 1932 he directed a young John Wayne in the 12-episode rail vs airplane serial The Hurricane Express for the independent Mascot Pictures. From 1938 to 1951, as Executive Secretary of the Screen Directors Guild, he fought to secure recognition for the director within the studio systems of the film and emerging television industry. J.P. McGowan died in 1952 in Hollywood and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
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