James McCallion; Character Actor for 5 Decades in Films, TV and Radio

James McCallion, the slight, Irish-born character actor who appeared in films, TV, radio and the legitimate theater for five decades, has died at 72.

Tracey McCallion Campbell, his daughter, said her father had died Thursday of a heart attack at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. He had been undergoing treatment there for a kidney problem.

A resident of Studio City, McCallion began acting as a boy of 7 and newly arrived from Londonderry, where he was born. It was a role on Broadway in “Yours Truly” with Leon Errol.

The radio show “Billy and Betty” and two other roles on Broadway, “Roosty” and “But for the Grace of God,” brought him to Hollywood’s attention, and in the late 1930s, he was seen in such films as “Code of the Streets,” “Boy Slaves” and “Pride of the Blue Grass.”

After World War II Army service he came back to films in “Illegal” with Edward G. Robinson, “Vera Cruz” with Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper, “Tribute to a Bad Man” with James Cagney and “North by Northwest” with Cary Grant.

In “PT 109” he portrayed Pappy McMahan, the severely burned sailor whom Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy pulled to safety after the boat commanded by the future President was rammed by the Japanese during World War II.

His television credits included “Playhouse 90,” “Philco TV Playhouse,” “General Electric Theatre,” “Gunsmoke,” “Streets of San Francisco,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Cannon,” “The Fugitive” and “Hawaiian Eye.”

From 1960-62, he starred in the TV series “National Velvet,” recreating the role of ex-jockey Mi Taylor, played in the 1944 film by Mickey Rooney.

Besides his daughter, McCallion, a widower, is survived by a son, Denis, two grandchildren and a sister.