Actor · Acting

Russell Simpson

Born 1880-06-16

Died 1959-12-12

📍 Danville, California, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Russell McCaskill Simpson (June 17, 1880, Danville, California – December 12, 1959, Woodland Hills, California) was an American character actor who appeared in over 500 movies. He is best known for his "grizzled old man" appearances. Gaunt, lanky, and rustic-sounding, Simpson was a familiar character actor for almost forty-five years, particularly as a member of the John Ford Stock Company.

At age 18 Simpson prospected for gold in Alaska. He began taking acting classes in Seattle, Washington. In 1910 he married Gertrude Alter from New York City.

By 1909, he had gone into the theatre. He appeared in at least two plays on Broadway between 1909 and 1912, and made his motion picture debut in Cecil B. DeMille's 1914 original film version of The Virginian in a bit part. By 1923, when the film was remade, Simpson had progressed to playing the lead villain.

Throughout his career, Simpson worked for 12 years in road shows, stock companies, and on Broadway. He didn't usually perform lead roles, but he did star in many movies throughout the silent movie era. He performed a lead role as the grandfather in Out of the Dust (1920).

Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular, for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). His final film was The Horse Soldiers, his tenth film for Ford. Simpson worked up to 1959, the year of his death.

He was the president of the Overseas Phonograph Accessories Corporation.

Filmography 199

The Horse Soldiers

as Henry Goodbody

The Brass Legend

as Deputy 'Pop' Jackson

Friendly Persuasion

as Brother Griffith - Elder (uncredited)

as The Minister (uncredited)

The 20th Century Fox Hour

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon

as Emigrant (uncredited)

The Last Command

as Judge (uncredited)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Public Defender

The Sun Shines Bright

General Electric Theater

Meet Me at the Fair

as Sheriff Evans

The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon

as Maynard Cole

Cavalcade of America

as Quatermaster

Cavalcade of America

Cavalcade of America

as Grandpa Smith

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair

as Clem Johnson

Comin' Round the Mountain

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

Call of the Klondike

as Adam Perkins

as Farmer (uncredited)

The Lone Ranger

as Jack Brewster

The Gal Who Took the West

as Bartender (as old Timer)

as Capt. Fergus MacLennan

as Old Man with Pipe (uncredited)

Sundown in Santa Fe

as Sheriff Jim Wyatt

The Untamed Breed

as Big Sam Dabney

as Walt Hardison

as Abner Huggins

Bowery Buckaroos

The Fabulous Texan

as Wade Clayton

The Romance of Rosy Ridge

A Boy and His Dog

as Mr. Thornycroft

as Mathew Hodgkins

My Darling Clementine

as John Simpson

as Old Silas Bagley

as Elijah Walker

California Gold Rush

as Colonel Parker

They Were Expendable

as 'Dad' Knowland

Along Came Jones

as Pop de Longpre

Roughly Speaking

as The Colonel - Drill Instructor (uncredited)

The Big Bonanza

Tall in the Saddle

as Pat Foster (uncredited)

as Farmer MacKenzie

Texas Masquerade

as J.K. Trimble

The Woman of the Town

Moonlight in Vermont

as Frenchy McGuire

as Orestes Krebs

Tennessee Johnson

Lone Star Ranger

as 2nd Captain (uncredited)

Shut My Big Mouth

as Mayor Potter

Wild Bill Hickok Rides

as Marty McCord

Last of the Duanes

Wild Geese Calling

as Marshal Len Baker

Bad Men of Missouri

as Hank Younger

Citadel of Crime

as Jess Meekins

as (uncredited)

as Chief of Police

as Shubel Morgan

as U.S. Army Major

Three Faces West

The Grapes of Wrath

Drums Along the Mohawk

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

as Kenneth Allen (uncredited)

Desperate Trails

as Sheriff Big Bill Tanner

The Bill of Rights

as Frontiersman

Western Caravans

as Winchester Thompson

Young Mr. Lincoln

as Woolridge (uncredited)

Heart of the North

as Dave MacMillan

Valley of the Giants

The Girl of the Golden West

as Fred - Outrider in Prologue

Gold Is Where You Find It

That I May Live

as Bish Plivens

Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge

as Bayliss Baynum

as Dead Child's Father

Mountain Justice

as Matthew Turnbull

as Village Marshal (Uncredited)

Girl of the Ozarks

as Bascomb Rogers

as Jeff Parkington

as Squire Amasa Bartlett

Motive for Revenge

The Hoosier Schoolmaster

West of the Pecos

as Pappy Tolliver

The World Moves On

as Notary (1825)

Three on a Honeymoon

as Ezra MacDuff

Frontier Marshal

as Editor Pickett

Sixteen Fathoms Deep

as A.B. Crockett

The Power and the Glory

as Professor (uncredited)

Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles

as Doctor (uncredited)

Face in the Sky

as Pa Nathan Brown

Call Her Savage

as Old Man in Wagon Train

The Cabin in the Cotton

as Jonathan Kenyon

The Honor of the Press

The Riding Tornado

The Famous Ferguson Case

as Banker Craig

as Grandfather Nichols

as Judge R.W. Williams

Ridin' for Justice

as Marshal Joseph Slyde

Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)

Alexander Hamilton

as Harvey Taylor - First Ex-Soldier

The Great Meadow

Abraham Lincoln

as Lincoln's Employer

as Angus McSween

The Lone Star Ranger

as Colonel John Aldridge

as Joshua Barker

Noisy Neighbors

Innocents of Paris

Tropical Nights

as Singapore Joe

Now We're in the Air

as Lord Abercrombie McTavish

as Hank Armstrong

The Frontiersman

as Andrew Jackson

The Social Highwayman

as The Mayor's Partner

Rustlin' for Cupid

as Hank Blatchford

The Earth Woman

The Splendid Road

as Capt. Lightfoot

as The Eagle's Lieutenant / Coach Driver (uncredited)

as Silas Martin

Thunder Mountain

Paint and Powder

as Grandpa Crumb

Beauty and the Bad Man

as Chuckwalla Bill

The Re-Creation of Brian Kent

The Narrow Street

as Patrick Ryan

as Big Jack Skinner

The Girl of the Golden West

Peg o' My Heart

as Jim O'Connell

Across the Dead-Line

as Enoch Kidder

as Simeon Krillet

Bunty Pulls the Strings

as Tammas Biggar

as 'Black' Pawl

The Branding Iron

as 'Brick' Willock

The Deadlier Sex

Fighting Cressy

as Hiram McKinstry

The Blue Bandanna

Bill Apperson's Boy

as Bill Apperson

The Challenge Accepted

as Uncle Zeke Sawyer

as Adele's Father

Riders of the Night

as Sally's Grandfather

The Border Legion

as Overland Bradley

A Weaver of Dreams

as Martin Chandler

as Jacob Tutwiler

The Food Gamblers

as Samuel Sloane

as John Gaylord / John Tale

as Peter Nelson

as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)