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Jackie Moran | |
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.jpg) Moran inLet's Go Collegiate (1941) | |
| Born | John E. Moran (1923-01-26)January 26, 1923 Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | September 20, 1990(1990-09-20) (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1936–1946 |
John E. Moran (January 26, 1923 – September 20, 1990) was an American movie actor who, from 1936 to 1946, appeared in over 30 films, primarily in teenage roles.[1]
A native ofMattoon, Illinois, Moran first sang in a church choir. He was discovered byMary Pickford[1] who convinced his mother, a concert singer and father, an attorney, to take him to Hollywood for a screen test in 1935. Billed asJackie Moran, he was subsequently cast in a number of substantial supporting roles. He became known with the 1938 release ofDavid O. Selznick's productionThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer.[1] The 93-minute big-budgetTechnicolor film presented Moran asHuckleberry Finn toTommy Kelly'sTom Sawyer. Jackie Moran received critical praise for his natural acting style.
Jackie Moran went on to star in several youth-oriented films for low-budget and poverty-row studios, such asRepublic andMonogram. His most frequent co-star was the one-year-youngerMarcia Mae Jones, who appeared with him in 11 films, also includingTom Sawyer, where Jones had the relatively minor part of Tom Sawyer's cousin Mary. They also played supporting roles in theDeanna Durbin vehicleMad About Music. They played in four Monogram tributes to life in idealized pre-World War II rural America, 1938'sBarefoot Boy, and in 1940,Tomboy,Haunted House andThe Old Swimmin' Hole. The trio of 1940 films were directed byRobert F. McGowan, the former director ofOur Gang. Most of Jackie and Marcia Mae's remaining five films cast them in major supporting roles. Their final entry, after a two-year break, was the 1943 Republic musicalNobody's Darling, one of the early films helmed byAnthony Mann.
Moran appeared in a cameo inGone with the Wind (1939), where he played the son of Dr. Meade, furious about his brother's death as a soldier, and wanting to join the Confederate Army so he can "kill all those Yankees." Jackie had a co-starring role withBuster Crabbe inUniversal's 12-chapter serialBuck Rogers in which he was third-billed as Buck's young friend, Buddy Wade. Jackie's next 1939 release was theHardy Family-likeEverybody's Hobby, while the last,Spirit of Culver, a remake of 1932's military-school filmTom Brown of Culver, teamed him with two former top child stars Jackie Cooper andFreddie Bartholomew. Jackie Moran did not serve in the military during the war[why?] and continued to act in movies, including one final appearance in Selznick'sSince You Went Away (1944), where he played a grocer's son who exchanges bashful glances withShirley Temple.
Moran ended his screen career in 1945-1946 with a collection of teenage musical comedies atColumbia and Monogram. He was the title character in Monogram's comedy-mysteryThere Goes Kelly, and co-starred with actressJune Preisser in Columbia'sLet's Go Steady and Monogram'sJunior Prom,Freddie Steps Out andHigh School Hero. The latter three were part of a series which also featuredFreddie Stewart,Warren Mills,Frankie Darro andNoel Neill. Jackie Moran's final movie role was in Columbia's college dramaBetty Co-Ed.
In 1948, according to his ex-wife Mary Grace McManmon (1921 to 2017), Jack was in jail for allegedly stealing a car, driving it from Los Angeles to Chicago. While in jail he became ill and was hospitalized at the Merchant Marine Hospital in Chicago, Mary was his attending nurse. They married in 1949. After they married, and as stated in his obituary, he worked in public relations as a writer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicago. In 1953, they moved to Culver City, California for Jack to pursue a career in screenwriting. According to anecdotal information from Mary G. Moran, that in spite of Jack "pitching" numerous screenplays to Hollywood producers during the 1950s, or find employment that was satisfactory to him, he was unsuccessful and remained unemployed. It was also written that he wrote songs. Due to excessive gambling at the race track and alcoholism, Jack and Mary divorced in 1971.
Given the anecdotal information from Mary G. Moran, it seems highly unlikely that the screenwriter in the 1960s, by the name of John E. Moran, who worked extensively withRuss Meyer, notably on the filmsFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,Good Morning and... Goodbye!,Common Law Cabin, andWild Gals of the Naked West, and also playing small roles in the latter two films is Jackie Moran, the child actor.
Moran moved to Greenfield, Massachusetts in 1984 and wrote the novelSix Step House. Six years after his arrival, he died of cancer at Franklin Medical Center at the age of 67.[1] As requested in his will, Jackie Moran's ashes were scattered on the backstretch of theDel Mar Racetrack, a horse-racing facility in Del Mar, California.
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