Person
Harry James
Albany, Georgia, USA
Harry James was born in a rundown hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia. His mother and father were members of a circus - she as a trapeze artist and he a band leader -…
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Harry James was born in a rundown hotel next to the city jail in Albany, Georgia. His mother and father were members of a circus - she as a trapeze artist and he a band leader - with the Mighty Haag Circus. At seven, they settled in Beaumont, Texas where Harry learned yo play drums. By twelve, he was playing trumpet in the Christy Brothers circus band. In 1936 James joined Ben Pollack's band, soon leaving to lead the brass section of Benny Goodman's band. He even once applied to Lawrence Welk's band but was turned down because they said he played too loud and it was not Welk's style. After three years with Goodman, he wanted to leave, and with Goodman's backing, he formed the Music Makers. In 1943 he married pinup queen Betty Grable, his second of four wives. He had earlier married and divorced Louise Tobin, a singer. Grable kept appearing in movies and Harry kept playing while they raised horses. He made his debut in Philadelphia at the Ben Franklin Hotel and soon was a nationwide favorite of dance lovers and jazz addicts, rocking the rafters at the Hollywood Paladium, Chicago's famous College Inn at the Hotel Sherman, Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook in Cedar Cove, NJ, and then onto New York City. It was the Lincoln Hotel in NYC that the Music Makers called home, but James also starred at the Paramount Theater in the spring of 1943, with thousands of teenagers flocking to see him. His version of You Made Me Love You was a big hit and a favorite of many through the war years. James was a great discoverer of talent, finding Frank Sinatra working as a waiter in a New Jersey restaurant and giving him a job singing in his band. Dick Haymes, Kitty Kallen, Connie Haines and Helen Forrest can all thank James for giving them their first real break. In 1963 his band was featured at Disneyland, still known as the Music Makers. He played his last gig at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on June 26, 1983, just a few days before dying of lymphatic cancer.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2017
This Is Bob Hope...
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1994
That's Entertainment! III
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1983
The Sting II
Movie Band Leader
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1982
Showbiz Goes to War
Movie (archive footage)
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1979
Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
Movie Self
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1976
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1964
The Hollywood Palace
TV show Self
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1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV show Self
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1961
The Mike Douglas Show
TV show Self
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1961
The Ladies Man
Movie Harry James
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1957
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
TV show Harry James
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1957
Outlaw Queen
Movie Rick Mason
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1956
The Opposite Sex
Movie Harry James
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1956
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV show Self
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1956
The Benny Goodman Story
Movie
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1953
How to Marry a Millionaire
Movie Radio Trumpeter (uncredited)
More credits
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1950
I'll Get By
Movie Harry James
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1950
Young Man with a Horn
Movie Music Consultant
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1950
What's My Line?
TV show Self
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1950
Cavalcade of Bands
TV show
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1949
Insect Dance
Movie Music
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1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV show Self
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1948
On Our Merry Way
Movie Harry James
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1947
Carnegie Hall
Movie Harry James
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1946
If I'm Lucky
Movie Earl Gordon
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1946
Do You Love Me
Movie Barry Clayton
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1945
The All-Star Bond Rally
Movie Self
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1944
Bathing Beauty
Movie Harry James
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1944
Two Girls and a Sailor
Movie Harry James
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1944
The Shining Future
Movie Self
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1943
Swing Fever
Movie Harry James
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1943
Best Foot Forward
Movie Himself
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1942
Springtime in the Rockies
Movie Harry James
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1942
Private Buckaroo
Movie Harry James
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1942
Trumpet Serenade
Movie
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1942
Syncopation
Movie Harry James
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1940
Too Many Girls
Movie Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
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1938
Hollywood Hotel
Movie Benny Goodman Trumpeter (uncredited)
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1937
New Faces of 1937
Movie Songs
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1937
L'empreinte rouge
Movie Le maire
