James Flavin

James William Flavin, Jr. (May 14, 1906 – April 23, 1976) was an American character actor whose career lasted for nearly half a century.

Life and career

Flavin was the son of a hotel waiter of Canadian-English extraction and a mother, Katherine, whose father was an Anglo-Irish immigrant. Thus, Flavin, well known in Hollywood as an "Irish" type, was—ironically—only one-quarter Irish. He was born and reared in Portland, Maine, a fact that may have enriched his later working relationship with director John Ford, also a Portland native.

He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but, contrary to some sources, did not graduate. Instead he dropped out and returned to Portland and drove a taxi. Then as now, summer stock companies flocked to Maine each year, and in 1929 Flavin was asked to fill in for an actor. He did well with the part and the company manager offered him $150 per week to accompany the troupe back to New York. Flavin accepted and by the spring of 1930 was living in a rooming house at 108 W. 87th Street in Manhattan. Flavin didn't manage to crack Broadway at this time; his Broadway debut would not occur for another 39 years, in the 1971 revival of The Front Page, in which he played Murphy and briefly took over the lead role of Walter Burns from Robert Ryan.

The Naked Street

The Naked Street is a 1955 American crime film noir directed by Maxwell Shane. The drama features Farley Granger, Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft.

Plot

Phil Regal, a tough racketeer, pulls strings to get his sister Rosalie's punk boyfriend, Nicky, out of a death penalty for a murder he did in fact commit, so that they can get married. Later, when he learns that Nicky is cheating on Rosalie, he arranges for Nicky to be framed for a murder he didn't commit.

Farley Granger later said that he thought the movie was "preachy, trite and pedestrian," although he welcomed the opportunity to work with Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft.

Cast