James Gregory
Actor
Born December 23, 1911 in Bronx, New York, USA
James Gregory (December 23, 1911 – September 16, 2002) was an American actor. His best-known roles include Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), the McCarthy-like Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and Inspector Frank Luger in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982). Gregory grew up in New Rochelle, NY. In high school, he was elected president of the Drama Club. He went to work on Wall Street as a runner shortly after the 1929 crash. Gregory performed in drama groups and achieved pro status as a summer stock player in 1935. He performed in plays throughout New York, New Jersey and Maryland. His troupe of performers toured small towns in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, towing a trailer full of theatre props; they performed in school gyms, churches and YMCAs, earning $25 for a week of one-night stands. In 1939, Gregory made his Broadway debut in a production of "Key Largo". Over the next 16 years, he performed in approximately 25 Broadway productions. His career was interrupted by WWII; he served for 3 years in the Navy and Marine Corps. His tour of duty took him to the Pacific where he spent 83 days on Okinawa. He married Anne Miltner in 1944; they were married for 58 years (until his death). During his Broadway career, Gregory earned consistently favorable reviews by drama critics from the New York Press, Boston Globe, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Gregory did a few TV spots as early as 1951, and in 1955 he made the transition from the Broadway stage to live television. The following year, after a couple of earlier uncredited movie appearances, he would also begin his movie career in earnest. He worked steadily throughout the early years of TV, working for major live television productions from New York to Hollywood. In 1959, Gregory made television history by costarring in the pilot episode of the The Twilight Zone (1959); the episode "Where Is Everybody?" concerning the relevant topic of the USA winning the space race by sending a manned spaceship to the moon sold the series. Gregory would play Dean Martin's exasperated boss MacDonald in the first 3 of the Matt Helm movies: The Silencers (1966), Murderers' Row (1966) and The Ambushers (1967). One of his final roles, perhaps his most acclaimed, was as Inspector Frank Luger for the entire run of Barney Miller (1975 - 1982). As the Inspector, he would be lovable, irritating, ingratiating, exasperating, and humorous, sometimes all at the same time. Gregory retired from acting in 1983, with over 100 TV and movie credits.
Filmography
Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home
Dan Peters
The Flight of Dragons
Bryagh / Smrgol (voice)
Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood
Leo Hackett
Gridlock
Gen. Caribou Caruthers
The Comeback Kid
Scotty
Detective School
The Main Event
Gough
Supertrain
Griswald
Flying High
The Bastard
Will Campbell
The Love Boat
Milton Benson
Off the Wall
Quincy, M.E.
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident
James Donovan
All's Fair
The Strongest Man in the World
Chief Blair
Barney Miller
Inspector Frank Luger
The Abduction of Saint Anne
Pete Haggerty
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Captain Quill
Miracle on 34th Street
District Attorney
Police Story
The Weekend Nun
Sid Richardson
The Streets of San Francisco
M*A*S*H
General Kelly
Search
The Paul Lynde Show
Temperatures Rising
James Jerome
A Very Missing Person
Oscar Piper
Emergency!
Sanford and Son
The Marshal of Madrid
Oil Tycoon
Columbo
David Buckner
Cannon
The Late Liz
Sam Burns
Shoot Out
Sam Foley
The Million Dollar Duck
Rutledge
All in the Family
William R. Kirkwood
Night Gallery
The Partridge Family
Claude Tubbles
The Headmaster
The Hawaiians
Dr. Whipple Sr. (uncredited)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Ursus
McCloud
Medical Center
Col. Whittendale
My World and Welcome to It
The Love God?
Darrell Evans Hughes
The Mod Squad
Lancer
The Outcasts
Cocoon
Jonathan Kaye
Hawaii Five-O
Jonathan Kaye
The Outsider
The Secret War of Harry Frigg
Gen. Homer Prentiss
The Ambushers
MacDonald
Clambake
Duster Heyward
The Hunted
Buckman
The High Chaparral
Jake Stoner
Judd, for the Defense
Cimarron Strip
Ironside
Herb Jarman
Murderers' Row
MacDonald
Mission: Impossible
Star Trek
Dr. Tristan Adams
That Girl
Tarzan
The Silencers
MacDonald
A Rage to Live
Dr. O'Brien
The F.B.I.
Bert Anslem
The Loner
The Wild Wild West
Hogan's Heroes
General Biedenbender
The Big Valley
Simon Carter
F Troop
The Sons of Katie Elder
Morgan Hastings
Quick, Before It Melts
Vice Admiral
Daniel Boone
Captain Asa Webb
A Distant Trumpet
Maj. Gen. Alexander Upton Quaint
Captain Newman, M.D.
Col. Edgar Pyser
Twilight of Honor
Norris Bixby
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Lieutenant Wade
The Fugitive
Pete Crandall
The Lieutenant
PT 109
Commander C.R. Ritchie
The Manchurian Candidate
Sen. John Yerkes Iselin
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Fred Kruger
The Virginian
Slim Jessup
Sam Benedict
Two Weeks in Another Town
Brad Byrd
X-15
Tom Deparma
The New Breed
Father Al
Ben Casey
Target: The Corruptors!
The Defenders
Paul Tasso
My Three Sons
Thriller
Howard Yates
Journey to the Day
Endicott
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Editor
The Twilight Zone
Confederate Sergeant
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
John Kramer
Laramie
Bonanza
Mulvaney
Hey Boy! Hey Girl!
Father Burton
The Lawless Years
Barney Ruditsky
Al Capone
Schaefler (narrator)
Rawhide
Owen Spencer
Onionhead
Lt. Cmdr. Fox aka The Skipper
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Martin Burke
A Town Has Turned to Dust
Hennify
Gun Glory
Grimsell
The Big Caper
Flood
The Young Stranger
Sergeant Shipley
Nightfall
Ben Fraser
The Scarlet Hour
Ralph Nevins
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Mr. Wescott
Gunsmoke
Scanlon, Sr.
Climax!
Joe McCarthy
Inner Sanctum
At This Moment
Bill Ritter
Letter to Loretta
Jim Patton
General Electric Theater
Sandy Green
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Morgan
The Frogmen
Chief Petty Officer Lane
Robert Montgomery Presents
Suspense
Studio One
Gas Man
The Philco Television Playhouse
The Naked City
Patrolman Albert Hicks (uncredited)
The Things People Want
Pete
Kraft Television Theatre
Steve