Jim Backus

American radio, television, film, and voice actor (1913–1989)

Born

25 February 1913, Cleveland

Died

3 July 1989

Citizenship

United States

Occupation

actor, screenwriter, voice actor, writer, television actor

Films here

2

James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, the father of James Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, the voice of the near-sighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, and Joan Davis' character's husband (a domestic court judge) on TV's I Married Joan. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire.

An avid golfer, Backus made the 36-hole cut at the 1964 Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournament. He was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Filmography (martial arts films)

Frequent collaborators

• Ernest Borgnine
• Joe Louis
• John Marley
• Tony Curtis
• Chuck Norris
• Anne Archer
• Soon-Tek Oh
• Lloyd Haynes

External links

• Wikipedia
• IMDb
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q1236412 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.