James Cardwell

Eager young James (aka Jimmy) Cardwell had an auspicious beginning and showed great promise in 1940s films. Dark-haired and thick-browed with an earnest, boyish look and set-jawed handsomeness that could remind someone of a John Garfield type, he couldn't have started off much better than by playing a young, heroic war casualty as one of The Fighting Sullivans (1944) (aka "The Fighting Sullivans"). By the end of the decade, however, James' film career did not advance and he ended things negligibly on TV. Despondency overwhelmed him and on January 31, 1954, he became another tragic Hollywood statistic, The victim of suicide at age 32, he has become completely forgotten save for film trivia enthusiasts. The son of Raymond and Bessie (McCarroll) Cardwell, he was christened Albert Paine Cardwell after his grandfather, a Philadelphia publishing editor. Born in Camden, New Jersey, on November 21, 1921 (several sources give 1920) and raised there, young Cardwell attended Alfred Cramer Junior High School before transferring to Woodrow Wilson High School. While there he found himself drawn to acting and, after appearing in a sophomore play, served as president of the school's drama club. He also showed athletic prowess on the football field, as well as in track and field. Following his graduation in 1940, he toiled about in a few odd jobs (clerk, laborer, etc.) but continued to prod his interest in acting by joining the Camden Drama Guild. Committed by this time, he later joined the Hedgerow Theater Group in Pennsylvania. While there he may ends meet by working in the shipping department for RCA Victor, meeting and marrying Esther Borton in June of 1942. In the summer of 1943, while in New York looking for representation/work, James was seen by agents scouting out fresh faces for an upcoming WWII picture about five patriotic soldier-brothers. He won one of the brothers' roles. His wife, however, had no shared interest in his fledgling career or move to Los Angeles, and the marriage quickly ended. Signed up for seven years with Twentieth Century-Fox, he was renamed James Cardwell for the movies and the young hopeful made a heart-tugging debut in the war drama The Fighting Sullivans (1944), a somewhat fictionalized and sentimental, but nevertheless inspiring true-life story of five brothers from Iowa (Cardwell played George Sullivan) who served together (by request) and died on the same torpedoed ship during WWII. After this film, James appeared in second leads as various reporters, rookies and private eye types in Charlie Chan mysteries and other various "B" level dramas, working throughout the post-war era of the 1940s. Despite his capabilities, he did not move to the top lead status and many of the films he did appear in were dismissed by the critics. For every engaging appearance in a strong quality film such as A Walk in the Sun (1945) or He Walked by Night (1948), one could count twice as many forgettable ones in lesser pictures (The Devil on Wheels (1947), Robin Hood of Texas (1947), King of the Gamblers (1948), Down Dakota Way (1949)). His single male lead in a movie may have dimmed any chances of further growth after co-starring with Lois Hall in the absurd Monogram adventure Daughter of the Jungle (1949), a distaff Tarzan movie complete with swinging vine scenes and female animal calls. Unable to grasp the necessary momentum to advance, he fell further down the credits list while working on primarily "Poverty Row" studio movie projects. In the light comedy And Baby Makes Three (1949) and the Bogart war drama Tokyo Joe (1949), James received no billing at all, and he was completely overlooked in his last billed film appearance, a supporting role in the assembly-line Rex Allen western, The Arizona Cowboy (1950). Forced to look at TV as a possible medium, few opportunities came his way with the exception of a couple of guest parts on a Rod Cameron crime series. An uncredited role in the horror film Them! (1954) occurred shortly before his death. In anticipation of his fading career, James started attending UCLA at night and taking up pre-med courses. At one point he toured Australia with Joe E. Brown in the top comedian's vaudeville act and joined a circus comedy acrobatic act called the Coleano Troupe that toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. Returning to the States in 1953, depression set in when he couldn't find TV work. On January 31, 1954, at age 32, with no prospects in sight and debts mounting, James shot himself in the head in an automobile he borrowed from a friend in a parking lot near his two-room West Los Angeles bungalow. He was survived by his parents and buried in his native Camden.