JIM BANNON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Jim Bannon was born on April 9th, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. After high school he went on to study at Rockhurst College where he was a star athlete.  After he earned his degree he found employment in Kansas City as a sportscaster.  Then in 1938 he used his experience from working as a sportscaster to work as a radio actor for such programs as "The Joe Penner Show" (1939-1940), "Stars Over Hollywood" (1940), "The Great GilderSleeve" (1941-1942), "The Adventures of Nero Wolfe" (1943-1944) and "The Eddie Bracken Show' (1945-1946) amongst many others.
 
After his experience in radio he decided to relocate to California and see if he could pursue a career as a television and film actor. 
 
By 1940's he was mostly being cast as a stuntman after being screen tested with Columbia Pictures and being signed to a contract.  This experience followed with being cast in a detective movie series, "I Love a Mystery" which was actually based on a radio show with the same title.  He continued to work with Columbia a bit longer and then chose to end his contract and just work as a freelance actor.    
 
By 1949, Bannon was given the lead role in the western series "Ride Rider Ride!" portraying the character, Red Ryder, a role he is well known for.  Some of his other more well known roles were on the series "The Adventures of Champion" (1955) and "Casey Jones" (1957) playing Sheriff Tynes.
 
During the 1960's, his career began to slow down but he did still take on small bit parts in films and television such as in 1964 in the comedy, "Man's Favorite Sport" with Universal Pictures.  He also published a trade paperback book about himself titled "The Son That Rose In The West".  This was not your typical biography.  It included letters that Bannon had written to his parents and children throughout his career working as an actor. 
 
Bannon was married twice throughout his lifetime.  His first wife was Bea Benaderet whom he wed in 1938 and they had two children together, Jack and Margaret, before ending the marriage in 1950.  His son Jack went on later to follow in his fathers footsteps and also became a working actor.  He then married for a second time to Barbara Cork in 1961 and they also divorced 20 years later.  He then passed away on July 28th, 1984 in Ventura, California and his remains were cremated.

 
Jim Bannon

1965 Death Valley Days 
1965 Luke and the Tenderfoot
1964 Good Neighbor Sam
1964 Man's Favorite Sport?
1963 A Gathering of Eagles
1957-1963 Lassie
1963 The Wide Country
1958-1963 Wagon Train
1962 40 Pounds of Trouble
1962 Alcoa Premiere
1961-1962 Thriller
1960 Dante 
1959 Inside the Mafia 
1959 Sea Hunt
1959 They Came to Cordura 
1959 For Better or Worse 
1959 The Rough Riders 
1957-1959 Tales of Wells Fargo 
1959 The Shaggy Dog 
1959 M Squad
1958 Bat Masterson
1957-1958 The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1958 Cimarron City
1958 Behind Closed Doors
1958 Buckskin
1958 Jefferson Drum
1958 Girls on the Loose 
1957-1958 Casey Jones 
1958 Fury
1958 Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
1958 Playhouse 90
1958 Zorro 
1958 Mackenzie's Raiders 
1958 Flight 
1957 Maverick 
1957 Chicago Confidential
1957 The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1950-1957 The Lone Ranger
1956 Annie Oakley
1955-1956 The Adventures of Champion 
1953-1955 Hawkins Falls: A Television Novel
1950-1954 The Gene Autry Show 
1954 The Command 
1954 They Stand Accused
1953 War Arrow
1953 Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok 
1953 Jack Slade
1953 Phantom from Space 
1951-1953 The Range Rider 
1952 The Adventures of Kit Carson
1952 Rodeo 
1951 Lawless Cowboys 
1951 Unknown World
1951 Stagecoach Driver
1951 The Texas Rangers 
1951 Nevada Badmen 
1951 Canyon Raiders 
1951 Wanted: Dead or Alive 
1951 The Great Missouri Raid 
1951 Ridin' the Outlaw Trail
1951 Red Ryder 
1950 Sierra Passage 
1950 Kill the Umpire 
1950 Jiggs and Maggie Out West
1949 Cowboy and the Prizefighter
1949 The Fighting Redhead 
1949 Roll, Thunder, Roll! 
1949 Daughter of the Jungle
1949 Ride, Ryder, Ride! 
1948 Frontier Revenge 
1948 Miraculous Journey 
1948 Trail to Laredo 
1948 The Man from Colorado 
1948 Dangers of the Canadian Mounted 
1947 T-Men 
1947 The Corpse Came C.O.D. 
1947 Framed
1947 The Thirteenth Hour
1947 Johnny O'Clock
1946 So's Your Antenna
1946 The Unknown
1946 Renegades 
1946 The Devil's Mask
1945 Out of the Depths 
1945 The Gay Senorita 
1945 I Love a Mystery 
1945 Tonight and Every Night 
1944 The Missing Juror 
1944 Sergeant Mike 
1944 The Soul of a Monster