James Craig

Tall, rugged James Craig's career as a contract player at MGM blossomed in the 1940's, due in large part due to his strong physical and vocal resemblance to the studio's top leading man, 'Clark Gable' (who was, by the time Craig was signed to MGM, serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces). The Rice Institute graduate had studied to be a physician until a sojourn in the movie capital persuaded him to try his luck as an actor. He was tutored by thespian Cyril Delevanti in 1934 and began in the industry as an extra. Having lived for some time in Texas, he had the perfect drawl to be made into a western hero. James Henry Meador consequently transformed himself into James Craig when it looked like he might be given a role in the melodrama L'obsession de Madame Craig (1936). Instead, he appeared mainly in low-budget second-feature Westerns for the first two years of his career. Craig's breakthrough arrived courtesy of a loan-out to RKO, where he was co-starred opposite Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle (1940). He had some critical success as farmer Jabez Stone in Tous les biens de la Terre (1941) and had high-profile parts in a couple of other A-grade features: the caliph in Kismet (1944), and as Halverson in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945). However, before long, Mr. Gable returned from the war and it was back to low budget horse operas for Craig. After working in episodic television for several years in the 1960's, he called it a day and turned his talents towards a lucrative career in real estate. Show less «