Biography
Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Comic
1969
as Lawrence
An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitte...

The Gnome-Mobile
1967
as Dr. Ramsey
An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While...

Penelope
1966
as Bank Manager
When Penelope gets married to banker James Elcott, she finds him too preoccupied with work to pay much attention to her, so she robs his bank in disgu...

Frankie and Johnny
1966
as Joe Wilbur (uncredited)
Johnny is a riverboat entertainer with a big gambling problem. After a fortune-teller tells Johnny how he can change his luck, the appearance of a new...

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
1965
as Brinkley
During the Cold War, John Goldfarb crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz, soon...

Black Zoo
1963
as Jerry Stengel
Michael Conrad, owner of a group of strange animals, trains his beasts to obey him, unleashing them on anyone who stands in his way. His wife and mute...

Critic's Choice
1963
as Joe Rosenfield
Parker Ballantine is a New York theater critic and his wife writes a play that may or may not be very good. Now Parker must either get out of reviewin...
The Farmer's Daughter
1962
as Finley
Young Swedish-American Katrin "Katie" Holstrom leaves her family farm in Minnesota, headed for nursing school. After her tuition money runs out, she i...

Pocketful of Miracles
1961
as Mayor
A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying ...

All in a Night's Work
1961
as Sam Weaver
After the sudden death of magazine publisher Colonel Ryder, his nephew, Tony inherits the magazine and has big plans to expand it. While negotiating a...

Visit to a Small Planet
1960
as George Abercrombie
The weirdest alien of the galaxy pays a visit to Earth... Jerry Lewis is Kreton, a childish alien who, against his teacher's will leaves his planet t...

Private Property
1960
as Ed Hogate
A hoodlum plots to seduce a lonely housewife and turn her over to his virginal friend.

Have Rocket, Will Travel
1959
as J.P. Morse
The Stooges are janitors working at a space center who accidentally blast off to Venus. They encounter a talking unicorn, a giant fire breathing taran...

Prima Donna
1956
as Lewis
A famous singer discovers a newsboy with vocal talent, but he would rather play baseball than develop his singing skills. She'd like to persuade his p...

The System
1953
as Barry X. Brady
A gambling boss is pressured by the law and press when a crusade is started against him after one of his collectors becomes a killer.

Disc Jockey
1951
as Chris Marley
National DJs help a promoter make an unknown girl a star, to prove the power of radio over TV.

Criminal Lawyer
1951
as Walter Medford
A drunken attorney tries to sober up in order to defend a friend in murder case.

The Fat Man
1951
as L.t. Stark
A innocent dentist is murdered and the only apparent motive seems to be to steal a set of dental x-rays. To the police it looks like an accident, but ...

Dallas
1950
as Matt Coulter
After the Civil War, Confederate soldier Blayde Hollister travels to Dallas to avenge the savage murder of his family. Discovering his enemy is now an...

The West Point Story
1950
as Mr. Jocelyn
A Broadway director helps the West Point cadets put on a show, aided by two lovely ladies and assorted complications.

The Fuller Brush Girl
1950
as Harvey Simpson
A daffy door-to-door saleswoman blunders into a murder investigation.

When You're Smiling
1950
as Herbert Reynolds
When You're Smiling is distinguished by the presence of several top recording artists of 1950. The wafer-thin plotline concerns the misadventures of T...

Peggy
1950
as Fred Collins
Professor Brookfield along with daughters Peggy and Susan move to small town Pasadena, California. Their new neighbor Mrs. Fielding helps them move in...

Young Man with a Horn
1950
as Phil Morrison
Taken in by the musical world as a young orphan, Rick Martin grows up with a desire to play pure jazz instead of the commercial gigs he lands, whilst ...

Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey
1950
as Belden
Newlyweds Joe and Anne Palooka are delayed in their honeymoon plans by the helpful Humphrey Pennyworth and by considerably-less-helpful manager, Knob...

Always Leave Them Laughing
1949
as Elliott Montgomery
A self-absorbed comedian steps all over his friends and colleagues in order to achieve success.

Blondie Hits the Jackpot
1949
as George M. Radcliffe
Fired for messing up an important contract, Dagwood takes a job as a manual laborer for a construction firm while trying to get his old job back.

Scene of the Crime
1949
as Arthur Webson
A cop investigates the shooting of another policeman... that may have been involved in crooked activities.

The Girl from Jones Beach
1949
as Mr. Graves - Ruth's Attorney
Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his...

The Fountainhead
1949
as Alvah Scarret
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to ...

Blondie's Big Deal
1949
as George M. Radcliffe
Dagwood accidentally discovers a non-flammable paint. Bad guys Dillon and Stack steal it before he can give it to his boss Radcliffe. To show off hi...

Blondie's Secret
1948
as George M. Radcliffe
Dagwood prepares for a long-delayed vacation with the family. His boss Mr. Radcliffe has promised the Bumsteads that there'll be no more postponement...

June Bride
1948
as Carleton Towne
A magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which goes slightly wrong.

Night Has a Thousand Eyes
1948
as Whitney Courtland
When heiress Jean Courtland attempts suicide, her fiancée Elliott Carson probes her relationship with John Triton. In flashback, we see how stage ment...

Wallflower
1948
as Bob James
Two stepsisters become rivals for the same handsome bachelor. Comedy.

Blondie's Reward
1948
as George M. Radcliffe
After bungling a real-estate transaction, Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) is demoted to office boy by his flustered boss Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan). Num...

So This Is New York
1948
as Francis Griffin
A small town man inherits a significant fortune and takes his family to New York City whereupon they are continually shocked at the alien culture of t...

Arthur Takes Over
1948
as George Bradford
A young woman must find a way to break the news to her parents and a stuffy suitor that she is now married to a sailor.

Blondie's Anniversary
1947
as George M. Radcliffe
Blondie finds a valuable watch that has been hidden by hubby Dagwood. She assumes that it's a surprise wedding gift, but the truth is that Dagwood ha...

Dangerous Years
1947
as Weston
Jeff Carter has put an end to the town's delinquency with a boys' club. Young hoodlum Danny shows up and influences teenagers Doris, Willy and Leo. Th...

Blondie in the Dough
1947
as George Radcliffe
BBlondie opens a bakery in her home to help fill the family cookie jar. Her tasty cookies become so popular that a cookie magnate makes her an offer ...

Driftwood
1947
as Mayor Snyder
An orphan helps a doctor fight an epidemic in a small western town, in one of Allan Dwan’s closely observed studies in Americana.

Cry Wolf
1947
as Sen. Charles Caldwell
A woman uncovers deadly secrets when she visits her late husband's family.

The Unfaithful
1947
as Prosecuting Attorney
Christine Hunter kills an intruder and tells her husband and lawyer that it was an act of self-defense. It's later revealed that he was actually her l...

Riff-Raff
1947
as Walter Gredson
A private detective foils the plans of villains attempting to take over Panamanian oil fields while he searches for a valuable map hidden in plain sig...

Miracle on 34th Street
1947
as Thomas Mara
Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgivin...

Blondie's Holiday
1947
as George M. Radcliffe
Dagwood gets a raise due to a new contract with a bank manager. Blondie misunderstanding the amount of the raise pledges more than they can afford to...

The Perfect Marriage
1947
as Addison Manning
A couple celebrate their tenth anniversary by quarreling their way to divorce court.

Blondie's Big Moment
1947
as George M. Radcliffe (uncredited)
Blondie decides she wants to be a star and nearly turns her household upside down in this entry in the long-running domestic comedy series. Dagwood ha...

Blow-Ups of 1946
1946
as Self
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1946.

Blondie Knows Best
1946
as Charles Peabody
Dagwood Bumstead poses as his boss Mr. Dithers so that a big business deal can be consummated while Dithers avoids nearsighted process server Jim Gray...

Flight to Nowhere
1946
as Gerald Porter
A couple on board a plane find themselves mixed up in a plot to steal atomic secrets.

Mr. Ace
1946
as Peter Craig
A rich society woman uses a gangster to win a congressional election.

Deadline for Murder
1946
as Lynch
A favor for an old friend leads a Los Angeles gambler (Kent Taylor) into a dangerous search for a missing document.

One Exciting Week
1946
as Al Carter
The citizens of the small town of Midburg are thrilled when one of their native sons, Dan Flannery, becomes a war hero while serving in the Merchant M...

Night in Paradise
1946
as Scribe
Aesop of fable fame poses as an old man and woos away a princess who wants a king for his gold.

Murder in the Music Hall
1946
as George Morgan
An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.

The Kid from Brooklyn
1946
as Fight Announcer
Shy milkman Burleigh Sullivan accidentally knocks out drunken Speed McFarlane, a champion boxer who was flirting with Burleigh's sister. The newspaper...

Deadline at Dawn
1946
as Lester Brady
A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.

Claudia and David
1946
as Brian O'Toole
The follow-up film to "Claudia", with Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young reprising their earlier roles as a young married couple living in a small Conne...

My Reputation
1946
as George Van Orman
Tongues begin to wag when a lonely widow becomes romantically involved with a military man. Problems arise when the gossip is filtered down to her own...

One Way to Love
1946
as A.J. Gunther
A Chicago team of radio scriptwriters must split up when he takes a job with his bride-to-be's father, and the other must write commercial jingles.

Getting Gertie's Garter
1945
as Billy
Dennis O'Keefe, newly married to lovely Sheila Ryan, is in a jam. O'Keefe's former girl friend, exotic dancer Marie McDonald, has in her possession an...

Behind City Lights
1945
as Perry Borden
This Republic programmer stars Lynne Roberts as a country gal who is slickered by a couple of city-fied jewel thieves, played by Peter Cookson and Jer...

Divorce
1945
as Jim
A woman who has been married and divorced five times comes back to her small hometown, where she proceeds to complicate, and potentially destroy, the ...

Hitchhike to Happiness
1945
as Tony Riggs
An aspiring playwright gets a job in a New York City restaurant favored by celebrities in hopes of getting a break. Unfortunately, most of them believ...

The Jungle Captive
1945
as Detective W.L. Harrigan
Once again Paula the ape woman is brought back to life, this time by a mad doctor and his disfigured assistant, who also kidnaps a nurse in order to h...
Blonde Ransom
1945
as Ice Larson
Vicki Morrison is the niece of the irascible old scoundrel Uncle William Morrison. When Vicki's boyfriend and owner of a Broadway nightclub Duke Randa...

G.I. Honeymoon
1945
as Ace Renaldo
In this romantic comedy, set during WW II, an newlywed army couple are unable to consummate their marriage, as on their wedding night the husband is c...

The Crime Doctor's Courage
1945
as Jeffers 'Jeff' Jerome
A criminal psychiatrist investigates the murder of a two-time widower.

Fog Island
1945
as John Kavanaugh
Leo, a former convict, is living in seclusion on an island with his step-daughter, the daughter of his late wife. Leo was framed by a group of former ...

Breakdowns of 1944
1944
as Self
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1944.

Guest in the House
1944
as Ernest Hackett
Evelyn, an emotionally vulnerable and unstable woman, stays at the home of her doctor Dan Proctor. There she meets and falls in love with his brother,...

Crime by Night
1944
as Sam Campbell
A private eye and his secretary probe a murder and find an international spy.

South of Dixie
1944
as Bill 'Brains' Watson
To save their music publishing firm from bankruptcy, Bill "Brains' Watson creates a colorful life-story about his partner, Danny Lee, representing him...

Mr. Skeffington
1944
as Edward Morrison
A beautiful but vain woman who rejects the love of her older husband must face the loss of her youth and beauty.

Sing a Jingle
1944
as Andrews
In Sing a Jingle, Allan Jones plays popular radio crooner Roy King, who goes to work in a war plant after being declared 4F. He falls in love with Mur...

Minstrel Man
1944
as Bill Evans
Unusually elaborate for a PRC film, Minstrel Man is a lively musical drama built around the talents of veteran vaudevillian Benny Fields. The star is ...

The Song of Bernadette
1943
as Emperor Louis Napoleon III
In 1858 Lourdes, France, Bernadette, an adolescent peasant girl, has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the city dump. She never claims it to be anythi...

The Crime Doctor’s Strangest Case
1943
as Mallory Cartwright
The Crime Doctor gets involved in the case of the poisoning of a wealthy industrialist.

Find the Blackmailer
1943
as D.L. Trees
A private eye is hired by a mayoral candidate to prevent any sort of adverse publicity. It seems that, somewhere in town, there's a talking blackbird ...

Hi'ya, Sailor
1943
as Lou Asher
Bob Jackson and his three Merchant Marine shipmates have each invested $50 in a song Bob has written and which he thinks will be published for a fee o...

Silver Spurs
1943
as Jerry Johnson
Jerry Johnson inherits a 50,000 acre ranch. Lucky Miller wants to take over the ranch. Roy is trying to get a railroad spur right of way. Lucky has a ...

Mission to Moscow
1943
as Spendler (uncredited)
Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.

Ladies' Day
1943
as Updyke
A top baseball pitcher "loses" his pitching skills whenever he falls in love. After marrying a movie star extreme measures are taken for the benefit ...

No Place for a Lady
1943
as Eddie Moore
A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge, discover a body in his beachside cottage; only it...

Who Done It?
1942
as Heller
Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder wh...

Street of Chance
1942
as Bill Diedrich
In this Cornell Woolrich thriller, a man's memory is recovered after being injured by falling construction material. Discovering a year-long lapse, he...
Joan of Ozark
1942
as Phillip Munson
An uninhibited Arkansas farmgirl discovers a group of Nazis operating in the United States. Director Joseph Santley's broad WWII comedy stars Judy Can...

Thru Different Eyes
1942
as Jim Gardner
A celebrated district attorney reflects on the way circumstantial evidence impacted a famous murder case.

Moontide
1942
as Dr. Frank Brothers
After a drunken night out, a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.

The Girl from Alaska
1942
as Ravenhill
A would-be prospector becomes involved in a plot to deceive an old prospector of his cache, but falls in love with his daughter instead.
Frisco Lil
1942
Lil becomes a dealer in a gambling casino in order to get the information she needs to clear her father of a murder charge. She also falls in love wit...

The Bugle Sounds
1942
as Mr. Nichols
An old-time cavalry sergeant's resistance to change could cost him his post.

Mr. and Mrs. North
1942
as Ben Wilson
Married sleuths (Gracie Allen, William Post Jr.) find a corpse in their closet and round up suspects.

A Gentleman at Heart
1942
as Finchley
After inheriting a New York City art gallery, bookie Milton Berle and his partner Cesar Romero decide to go into the art forgery business. Director Ra...

One Foot in Heaven
1941
as Dr. Horrigan
Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.

The Maltese Falcon
1941
as Miles Archer
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Kiss the Boys Goodbye
1941
as Bert Fisher
New York chorus girl Cindy Lou Bethany becomes frustrated when she prepares for an audition for a Broadway musical, but the auditions close and her ro...
Too Many Blondes
1941
as Ted Bronson
The plot centers on a husband-wife radio team, Dick (Rudy Vallee) and Virginia (Helen Parrish). When Dick is caught in an innocent but compromising si...

Rags to Riches
1941
as Marshall Abbott
A framed cabby rounds up fur thieves and saves his opera-singer girlfriend.

Kisses for Breakfast
1941
as Lucius Lorimer
A newlywed develops amnesia and can't remember his wife.

Out of the Fog
1941
as Assistant D.A.
A Brooklyn pier racketeer bullies boat-owners into paying protection money but two fed-up fishermen decide to eliminate the gangster themselves rather...

Singapore Woman
1941
as Jim North
A fallen woman seeks redemption at a Singapore rubber plantation. Melodrama.

Affectionately Yours
1941
as Cullen
A married reporter's assignments carry him all over the world, which gives him ample opportunity to put the moves on the local females.

The Great Lie
1941
as Jock Thompson
After a newlywed's husband apparently dies in a plane crash, she discovers that her rival for his affections is pregnant with his child.

The Roundup
1941
as Wade McGee
Originally written as a stage vehicle for corpulent character actor Macklyn Arbuckle, Ernest Day's The Roundup was first filmed in 1920 with Fatty Arb...

High Sierra
1941
as Healy
Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

Victory
1940
as Martin Ricardo
A hermit's idyllic life on an island is disturbed by the arrival of a bunch of cutthroats.
Street of Memories
1940
as Mr. Gower
Joe Mason suffers from amnesia and is often in trouble. Catherine Foster befriends him and they marry. After a jolt jogs his memory, he remembers that...

Meet the Wildcat
1940
as Digby Vanderhood III
Magazine photographer Ann Larkin is snapping photos at Mexico's National Museum when she sees Brod Williams steal a painting from its frame. Convinced...

The Quarterback
1940
as Townley
A comedy featuring Morris in a dual role as a dumb twin and a star football player, and a smart twin studying to become a college professor. They both...

City for Conquest
1940
as 'Dutch'
The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York C...

Melody Ranch
1940
as Tommy Summerville
His Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration.

Torrid Zone
1940
as Bob Anderson
A Central American plantation manager and his boss battle over a traveling showgirl.

Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me!
1940
as Ted Carter
In this musical, a sharp witted press agent teams up with an unemployed chorine and dubs her "Miss Manhattan" to promote a cheap line of clothing. To ...

Framed
1940
as Monty de Granville
A young newspaper reporter finds himself framed for murder.

Castle on the Hudson
1940
as Ed Crowley
A hardened crook behind bars comes up against a reform-minded warden.
Wolf of New York
1940
as Cosgrove
A New York attorney defends a young man with a criminal past who has been accused of murdering a police inspector.

The Great Victor Herbert
1939
as Barney Harris
In his last film assignment, portly Walter Connolly fills the title role (in more ways than one) in The Great Victor Herbert. Very little of Herbert's...

The Old Maid
1939
as Joe Ralston
The lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.

She Married a Cop
1939
as Bob Adams
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 Polic...

The Gracie Allen Murder Case
1939
as Daniel Mirche
The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder.

Exile Express
1939
as Paul Brandt
A San Francisco reporter and a lab assistant foil spies on an East-bound deportation train.

East Side of Heaven
1939
as Claudius De Wolfe
A man finds himself the father, by proxy, of a ten-month-old baby and becomes involved in the turbulent lives of the child's family.

The Saint Strikes Back
1939
as Cullis
Suave private detective Simon "The Saint" Templar arrives in San Francisco and meets Val, a woman whose police inspector father killed himself after b...

St. Louis Blues
1939
as Ivan DeBrett
A Broadway musical comedy star tires of the same old grind and flees the city. She runs into the skipper of a showboat who befriends her, and they mak...

There's Always a Woman
1938
as Nick Shane
An investigator for the District Attorney's office quits to open his own detective agency. However, business is so bad that he finally decides to give...

The Goldwyn Follies
1938
as Director
Movie producer chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evalute his movies from the point of view of the ordinary person.

The Hurricane
1937
as Captain Nagle
A Polynesian sailor is separated from his wife when he's unjustly imprisoned for defending himself against a colonial bully. Members of the community ...

Vogues of 1938
1937
as W. Brockton
An early Technicolor musical that concentrates on the fashions of the late 1930s, this film was reissued under the title All This and Glamour Too. The...

New Faces of 1937
1937
as Robert Hunt
A crooked producer makes money from Broadway flops by selling more than 100% interest to multiple parties. He only fails if it makes a profit.

Shall We Dance
1937
as Arthur Miller
Ballet star Petrov arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer and musical star he's fallen for but barely knows. By the time th...

You Only Live Once
1937
as Dr. Hill
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is fr...

Beloved Enemy
1936
as Tim O'Rourke
In 1921, British Lord Athleigh arrives in Dublin with his daughter, Helen, to engage in peace talks. As wanted Irish rebel leader Dennis Riordan is no...