Oscar O'Shea

Oscar O'Shea

Birth : 1881-10-08, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Death : 1960-04-06

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Oscar O'Shea (8 October 1881 – 6 April 1960), born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, was a Canadian-American character actor with over 100 film appearances from 1937 to 1953. O'Shea was a comic actor who earned a million dollars but lost it all in the Great Depression. His first straight role came in a Federal Theatre Project production of It Can't Happen Here, a play based on the novel of the same name. His first film was Captains Courageous (1937). Beginning in 1929, O'Shea operated the Oscar O'Shea Players repertory theater company in the Embassy Theatre in Ottawa, Canada. He eventually ended the enterprise "to seek a field where his art would be more widely appreciated." He then set up an operation in Chicago, "where he managed his own theatre and stock company during good and bad years." O'Shea died in Hollywood, California in 1960 at age 78.

Profile

Oscar O'Shea

Movies

One Sunday Afternoon
Toby
The third film version of James Hagan's play, this time with songs added, starring Dennis Morgan as a dentist who marries patient and loyal Dorothy Malone despite his constant infatuation with sexy flirt Janis Paige. Filmed previously in 1933 ("One Sunday Afternoon") and 1941 ("The Strawberry Blonde").
My Wild Irish Rose
Pat Daly
Musical biography of Irish 19th century tenor Chauncey Olcott.
Sport of Kings
Judge Sellers
Two brothers from the North try to gain favor in the South after they inherit a horse farm in Kentucky.
The Brute Man
Mr. Haskins - Grocer (uncredited)
A facially disfigured and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those he blames for his condition.
Without Reservations
Conductor (uncredited)
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.
Senorita from the West
Dusty
Determined to become a radio singer, a young girl runs away from her family. She hooks up with a man who is actually the real voice of a famous radio crooner, who actually can't sing at all.
Bewitched
Capt. O'Malley
A girl enlists a psychic to get rid of her murderous alternate personality.
Here Come the Waves
Commodore (uncredited)
Show business twin sisters Rosemary and Susie, one serious and the other a scatterbrain, join the WAVES and both fall in love with crooner Johnny Cabot.
Mystery of the Riverboat
Capt. Ethan Perrin
A movie serial in 13 chapters: Some swampland becomes valuable, and various factions squabble over ownership of it.
Haunted Harbor
John Galbraith [Chs. 1, 7, 15]
A sea captain about to be hanged for a murder he didn't commit is rescued from the gallows by two of his crewmen. They head for the island of Pulinan, where they believe the real murderer--the captain's former partner--is hiding so the captain can clear his name. As it turns out, their troubles are only beginning
The Mummy's Ghost
Museum Watchman
An Egyptian high priest travels to America to reclaim the bodies of ancient Egyptian princess Ananka and her living guardian mummy Kharis. Learning that Ananka's spirit has been reincarnated into another body, he kidnaps a young woman of Egyptian descent with a mysterious resemblance to the princess. However, the high priest's greedy desires cause him to lose control of the mummy...
South of Dixie
Colonel Hatcher
To save their music publishing firm from bankruptcy, Bill "Brains' Watson creates a colorful life-story about his partner, Danny Lee, representing him as a descendant of Louisiana's famous Josh Lee family and rightful poet laureate of Dixieland.
Her Primitive Man
Jonathan
An anthropologist unwittingly takes a man disguised as a "primitive man" back to New York as a specimen.
Corvette K-225
Capt. Smith
The story of a Canadian WWII naval vessel, with a dramatic subplot concerning her first captain.
Two Tickets to London
Mr. Tinkle
Accused of helping an enemy submarine, a man escapes and joins a beautiful girl in trying to find the real traitors.
City Without Men
Joseph Barton
A young woman's husband has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. In order to be near him to try to help him get his sentence overturned, she moves into a boardinghouse near the prison whose residents are the wives of inmates.
Half Way to Shanghai
Doctor McIntyre
A murder occurs on a train bound for Shanghai during World War II.
Henry Aldrich, Editor
Judge Sanders
Appointed editor of his high school newspaper, hapless Henry becomes intrigued by a series of mysterious fires. A mild, timid little fellow named Nero Smith shows up to tip off Henry as to the time and place of the next conflagration. Henry prints the story-and is immediately accused of being the firebug himself!
I Was Framed
Cal Beamish
A reporter runs from charges by a corrupt politician only to face them years later.
The Bashful Bachelor
Squire Skimp
Lum Edwards is annoyed with his partner in Pine Ridge's Jot-'em-Down general store, Abner Peabody, because Abner has swapped their delivery car for a racehorse. Lum is also too timid to propose to Geraldine, so he involves Abner in a "rescue" effort which nearly gets both of them killed. They try again, and this time Geraldine is impressed. Lum writes a proposal note, but Abner, by mistake, delivers it to the Widder Abernathy, who has been ready to remarry for years. This puts Lum in a peck of trouble until the sheriff appears with the Widder's long-gone and hiding husband.
Dudes Are Pretty People
Cardigan, working ranch owner
Western comedy about a cowhand falling in love with the pretty guest at a local dude ranch.
Torpedo Boat
Captain Mike
Richard Arlen and Phil Terry star as Skimmer and Tommy, two lifelong buddies who've invented a lightweight, high-speed torpedo boat (hence the title). Their copacetic business relationship is strained when nightclub singer Grace Holman (Jean Parker), having been jilted by Skimmer, marries Tommy on the rebound.
Fly-By-Night
Pa Prescott
Young intern Jeff Burton, impulsively offers a lift to an odd-looking gentlemen. It soon turns out that Jeff's passenger is an inventor has just escaped from a shady sanitarium, where he has been held prisoner by Nazi spies.
The Tell-Tale Heart
First Deputy Sheriff (uncredited)
In this classic Edgar Allan Poe story, a man commits a murder, but afterward the victim's beating heart torments the murderer's mind.
The Officer and the Lady
Dan Regan
A woman who refuses to become involved with a dedicated police officer unknowingly dates a man who is in cahoots with a criminal mastermind.
Riders of the Purple Sage
Noah Judkins
Lassiter discovers the judge who cheated his neice of her inheritance leads a gang of bad guys posing as vigilantes. This 1941 Fox production stars a young George Kennedy as Lassiter.
Lydia
Doctor Richards
Lydia MacMillan, a wealthy woman who has never married, invites several men her own age to her home to reminisce about the times when they were young and courted her. In memory, each romance seemed splendid and destined for happiness, but in each case, Lydia realizes, the truth was less romantic, and ill-starred.
Harmon of Michigan
'Pop' Branch
A former University of Michigan football star (Tom Harmon) rejects an opportunity to play professional football. Instead, he marries his college sweetheart (Anita Louise) and begins a career as a college football coach.
Blossoms in the Dust
Dr. West
Edna marries Texan Sam Gladney, operator of a wheat mill. They have a son, who is killed when very young. Edna discovers by chance how the law treats children who are without parents and decides to do something about it. She opens a home for foundlings and orphans and begins to place children in good homes, despite the opposition of "conservative" citizens, who would condemn illegitimate children for being born out of wedlock. Eventually Edna leads a fight in the Texas legislature to remove the stigma of illegitimacy from birth records in that state, while continuing to be an advocate for homeless children.
Ringside Maisie
Conductor
Young undefeated boxer Terry Dolan, who's been lying to his invalid mother about his career, confides to Maisie that he hates and is terrified by boxing and wants out. Not wanting to let down his best friend and manager Skeets Maguire, who has hopes of him becoming the next champion, he is reluctant to bring up the subject with him. Maisie convinces Terry to tell Skeets, whose unexpected reaction induces him to step into the ring again.
Mutiny in the Arctic
Capt. Bob Morrissey
A pair head to the frozen wastes with an expedition in search of radium deposits. Certain members of the group succumb to greed, plotting to bump off the others and claim the radium for themselves.
Sleepers West
Private eye Mike Shayne encounters a large amount of trouble while attempting to guard a murder witness.
Four Mothers
George Edwards (uncredited)
Four married sisters face motherhood, financial, marital and family issues together.
The Phantom Submarine
Captain Velsar
On the night before he sails in search of the steamship Arcadia's sunken gold, Paul Sinclair (Bruce Bennett)meets Madeliene Nielson (Anita Louise) in a San Francisco nightclub. On the second day at sea, Madeliene turns up as a stowaway. While diving and searching for the sunken gold, off the Phillipines, Paul discovers that a foreign-country submarine has been laying mines in order to completely cut off the Phillipines from American protection.
Always a Bride
Uncle Dan Jarvis
A young man wants to marry his sweetheart, but her parents will agree to their wedding only on one condition: he must run for mayor--and win. Comedy.
Wildcat Bus
Charles Dawson
A broke playboy signs on to help a young beauty save her ailing bus line.
Stranger on the Third Floor
The Judge
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Pier 13
Skipper Kelly
A policeman makes the startling discovery that his girlfriend is involved in a waterfront smuggling racket.
Susan and God
Samr (uncredited)
A flighty socialite neglects her family to promote a new religious group.
You Can't Fool Your Wife
Dr. Emery
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.
20 Mule Team
Train Conductor
It is 1892 in Death Valley and the yields from the Borax ore are getting so small that refining it is a losing proposition. The only thing that will save the company is a new deposit of high grade Borax, and Skinner Bill Bragg has a pouch of it that he got from a dead prospector he buried on the road. Stag Roper knows the value of the strike could be worth millions, but he needs Bragg to find the prospector's claim so they can record it and become rich partners. While Roper has no intention of cutting Bragg in on the millions, he also has his eye on young Jean Johnson. Josie Johnson, Jean's mother, sees Roper as the scalawag he is, and that means trouble in Furnace Flat.
Forty Little Mothers
Janitor at Train Station
An out-of-work professor gets a break from an old college buddy to teach at an exclusive girl's school. But events conspire against him: he finds an abandoned child which he takes under his wing, despite the school's rules against teachers having a family; and the girls in the school resent his replacing a handsome and popular teacher, and do everything in their power to get him fired.
Zanzibar
Captain Craig
A beautiful young woman organizes an expedition to Africa to search for a sacred skull that is worshiped by the locals.
Of Mice and Men
Jackson
An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
Missing Evidence
John C. 'Pop' Andrews
G-Man Bill Collins swings into action when a crooked sweepstakes racket begins insinuating itself upon the honest citizenry of the US. The crooks have flooded the market with counterfeit lottery tickets, reducing many an unwary speculator to poverty.
The Roaring Twenties
Customer (uncredited)
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
Those High Grey Walls
Warden
Dr. MacAuley, a kindly, beloved country doctor, is sent to Fillmore Prison. His crime was for removing a bullet from a young man who was escaping from the police.
The Star Maker
Mr. Flannigan
This is a film about the life of Gus Edwards, a well known vaudeville composer, entertainer, and producer.
She Married a Cop
Pa Duffy
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Policeman's Ball. For a long time, they have been looking for a voice for their new cartoon feature, "Paddy the Pig," and the cop is just perfect. The policeman is tickled pink at the prospect of being a star and begins telling all his friends about his good fortune (he has no idea what they plan to do with his voice). Eventually he ends up marrying one of the producers, who still hasn't told him the truth. Suddenly the night of the big premiere finally arrives and all of the policeman's old friends and colleagues are there. As it begins, the policeman is appalled and humiliated to see that he has been mocked and has become a laughing stock. He immediately spurns his new wife and goes back to the police force. Time passes, and fortunately, the two reunite and settle their differences.
Tell No Tales
Sam O'Neil
A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could save his publication.
Invitation to Happiness
Divorce Judge
An egotistical boxer romances a rich backer's daughter.
S.O.S Tidal Wave
Mike Halloran
A news reporter-commentator at a combined radio-television broadcasting station gives up his stand against the election of a corrupt mayoral candidate after a gangster threatens his family. Features tidal wave stock footage from RKO's "Deluge" (1933), q.v.
Lucky Night
Police Lieutenant
Cora, an heiress who gives it all up for the excitement of looking for a job and living on her own, meets up with unemployed and flat broke Dick. The two of them embark on a wild night of gambling and winning, where everything they touch turns to gold. Pretty soon they're in love and, to the horror of Cora's father, married.
Big Town Czar
Pa Daley
When gangster Phil Daley gets rid of his chief Paul Burgess he has everything that money can buy, except the respect of his parents and his sweetheart Susan Warren. His younger brother Danny quits college and forces Phil to make him part of the gang. The overly-ambitious Danny fixes a prize-fight on which rival gang-leader Mike Luger loses heavily and, thinking that Phil has double-crossed him, sends gunmen out to kill Phil. They kill Danny instead and the frightened Phil flees to a country hideout. His chief lieutenant, Sid Travis, sets a trap for Phil when he returns.
Undercover Agent
Pat Murphy
A railway postal clerk goes after a sweepstakes counterfeiting ring.
Love Affair
Priest (uncredited)
A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship. They arrange to reunite six months later, if neither has changed their mind.
King of the Turf
Bartender
Mason is a former race-horse owner who gave up everything and started to drink after the death of one of his jockeys. One day he meets Goldie who has run away from home, hoping to find a job around horses; his biggest hobby. When he finds out the real identity of Mason, Goldie takes care of him. The two find an occasion to buy a horse for only two dollars, and start entering competitions. Goldie is an instant celebrity, but his mom reads the newspapers and tracks him down. Mason is very surprised to see her, his ex-wife, and even more astonished to hear that Goldie is his own son. However, Goldie must go back to school and so they decide to keep the secret. Since Goldie does not want to leave Mason behind, he goes to the bookies and fixes the next race, hoping to disappoint Goldie by asking him to lose on purpose.
The Shining Hour
Charlie Collins
A nightclub dancer shakes the foundations of a wealthy farming family after she marries into it.
Stablemates
Pete Whalen
A boozy former veterinarian and a teenage orphan team together with dreams of entering a broken-down horse in the big race.
Youth Takes a Fling
Captain Walters
McCrea plays Joe Meadows, whose only ambition as a Kansas farm boy was a life at sea. He moves to New York to try to get a job as a sailor, finds it more difficult than he thought, and meets Helen Brown, who falls for him and uses her feminine wiles to try to prevent him leaving.
Campus Cinderella
Horace Howard
This musical comedy has a popular basketball star playing for a different college than what his father wanted after he falls in love with a co-ed.
Racket Busters
Pop Wilson
A trucker with a pregnant wife fights a New York mobster's protection racket.
Rebellious Daughters
Dad Elliott
Girl moves out of her parents house against their wishes. Gets a job in a dress shop, gets mixed up with dirty pictures and blackmail.
The Main Event
Captain Rorty
FBI agent Mac Richards takes his girlfriend, Helen Phillips, to a world championship boxing match only to learn that the event has been canceled because the titleholder has been kidnapped. Mac is entrusted with the ransom money, but the kidnappers discover that his fellow agents have surrounded the train station locker where the money was to be dropped and order the champ's manager to have the money delivered by an usher to a different location. With Helen disguised as the usher and Mac driving a cab, the pair set off to deliver the money. The gang isn't taking any chances, though - they waylay the cab and take both the ransom money and Helen to their hideout. Now Mac and his fellow agents must rescue both the champ and his sweetheart before they come to harm.
Numbered Woman
Oscar
After her brother is wrongfully arrested for the theft of some bonds, a nurse sets out to clear his name by setting a trap for the real thieves.
Snow Gets in Your Eyes
Gibson (uncredited)
A department store has an indoor ski slide for the annual contest for store employees. Salesgirl June has two admirers - a sausage salesman in the store and the store's snooty ski instructor. The Dandridge Sisters (Dorothy, Vivian and non-sister Etta Jones) perform two numbers.
Hold That Kiss
Pop - Man Bringing Usher's Clothes
Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.
International Crime
Heath
The second and final Grand National Pictures film to feature The Shadow, played again by Rod La Rocque. In this version, Lamont Cranston is an amateur detective and host of a radio show with his assistant Phoebe (not Margo) Lane. Cabbie Moe Shrevnitz and Commissioner Weston also appear.
King of the Newsboys
Mr. Stephens
A poor young man's girlfriend leaves him for a gangster, who has the money and power she wants and the young man doesn't have. Determined to show her that he can be a success--and how much of a mistake she made by leaving him--he starts up a newspaper distribution business that is soon the biggest in the city, but things don't turn out exactly the way he wanted them to.
Border Wolves
Judge Coleman
Just after Carson's gang murder members of a wagon train, Rusty and Clem come along and are arrested. Knowing they are innocent Judge Coleman breaks them out and sends them after Carson. They join Carson's gang to learn of their next raid but the Marshal arrests them for the wagon train murders.
The Canary Comes Across
Warden Clayton
A prisoner with a good singing voice escapes, only to grow jealous when an opera singer who looks like him is delivered back to the prison and receives attention, especially from Ann, the warden's daughter who leads the prison glee club.
Mannequin
'Pa' Cassidy
Jessie, a young working class woman, seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind.
Love Is a Headache
Pop Sheeman, Stage Doorman (uncredited)
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill, attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans, without her knowledge.
Man-Proof
Gus the Bartender
A newspaper illustrator tries to remain best friends with the man she secretly loves, even though he recently married another woman.
Rosalie
Mr. Callahan
West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an European kingdom.
You're Only Young Once
Sheriff (uncredited)
Andy Hardy and his sister find romance during a family vacation in Catalina.
Double Wedding
Turnkey (uncredited)
A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.
Big City
John C. Andrews
Anna and Joe are newly married, playful and deeply in love. Joe is scraping by as cab driver in New York City during a period of corruption, mob control and violence between cab companies.
Captains Courageous
Captain Walt Cushman
Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. Harvey fails to persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince the crew of his wealth. The captain offers him a low-paid job, until they return to port, as part of the crew that turns him into a mature, considerate young man.
The Good Old Soak
Jake
A small town drunk beats a teetotal banker guilty of a shady transaction.