James Morris Newill (August 12, 1911 – July 31, 1975), sometimes credited as Jim Newill, was an American actor and singer.

Early life

Newill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Mayme Newill and her first husband. His parents divorced, and his mother married John W. Newill, who adopted him. Newill had three siblings, Evelyn, Clyde, and Calvin. In 1930, his family moved to Los Angeles Country, California. He studied music at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Career

Newill began to sing in the early 1930s with the Mann Brothers, a west coast band whose home base was Spokane, Washington. In 1932, he was vocalizing with the

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, musician and songwriter. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with ''The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil Harr ...

band at the Cocoanut Grove night club at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. In the beginning of 1933, he toured and sang with the

Gus Arnheim Gus Arnheim (September 4, 1897 – January 19, 1955) was an American pianist and an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being "I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He ...

orchestra, and that included more performances at the Cocoanut Grove. He was still performing with the Arnheim band in the late 1934. He recorded with the Eddy Duchin Orchestra in 1936, recording "Night in Manhattan" (Victor 25390-B); "I'll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs" (Victor 25393-B); and "You're Still Mine In My Dreams" (Victor 25395-B)). During the latter half of 1936, he was the singer on the

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

and

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

radio show on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. By late 1936, Newill had moved on and the new singer for George and Gracie was Tony Marvin. His film career began in 1937 with an uncredited singing role in ''

The Affair of Susan ''The Affair of Susan'' is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Zasu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell and Walter Catlett.Lowe p.1968 It is a remake of the 1928 silent film '' Lonesome''. Two lonely people meet at an amusemen ...

''. From 1937 to 1940, Jim played Sergeant

Renfrew of the Royal Mounted ''Renfrew of the Royal Mounted'' was a popular series of boy's adventure books written by Laurie York Erskine that were later filmed and became a series on both radio and television. Canon 'Inspector Douglas Renfrew' was a former Royal Flying C ...

in five Royal Mountie films. His last film was 1944's ''Gunsmoke Mesa''. Newill was known mostly for his western roles, having been one-third of the Texas Rangers in the Texas Rangers series of B-movies. Of the 22-film series, Newill co-starred in the first 14, along with co-stars Dave O'Brien and

Guy Wilkerson Guy Owen Wilkerson (December 21, 1899 – July 15, 1971) was an American actor, known primarily for his roles in Western B movies, who with his tall, lanky frame, he often played sidekick or comedy relief parts. Biography Wilkseron was ...

. He played Texas Ranger Jim Steele. In some of his westerns, he's also credited with co-writing some of the film songs. With his somewhat operatic voice, he sang with the

Los Angeles Civic Light Opera The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (LACLO) was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty season ...

. In 1944 he made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut as Sergeant Tim O'Hara in

Vernon Duke Vernon Duke ( 16 January 1969) was a Russian-born American composer/songwriter who also wrote under his birth name, Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love," with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche (1940), "I Can't ...

's '' Sadie Thompson'' with

June Havoc June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...

in the title role. He also portrayed Yellow Foot, Pawnee's Messenger (replacing original cast member Walter John) in the original Broadway run of

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

's '' Annie Get Your Gun'' in 1947-1948.

Death

Newill died on July 31, 1975, from cancer.

Discography

* The Lord Is My Shepherd (1953)

Filmography

* ''

'' (1935) - Singer (uncredited) * ''

Sing While You're Able ''Sing While You're Able'' is a 1937 American musical film directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Charles R. Condon and Sherman L. Lowe. The film stars Pinky Tomlin, Toby Wing, Bert Roach, Sam Wren, Monte Collins and Suzanne Kaaren. The fi ...

'' (1937) - Radio Singer * ''

'' (1937) - Sergeant Renfrew * '' Something to Sing About'' (1937) - Jimmy - Band Member * ''

On the Great White Trail ''On the Great White Trail'' also known as ''Renfrew on the Great White Trail'' is a 1938 American Northern starring James Newill as Sgt. Renfrew of the Royal Mounted in the second of the film series. It was produced and directed by Albert Her ...

'' (1938) - Sergeant Renfrew * '' Fighting Mad'' (1939) - Sergeant Renfrew * '' Crashing Thru'' (1939) - Sgt. Renfrew * ''

Yukon Flight ''Yukon Flight '' (also known as ''Renfrew of the Royal Mounted in Yukon Flight'') is a 1940 American Western film directed by Ralph Staub and starring James Newill, Louise Stanley, Dave O'Brien and William Pawley. Released by Monogram Pictur ...

'' (1940) - Sgt. Renfrew * '' Danger Ahead'' (1940) - Sgt. Renfrew * ''

Murder on the Yukon ''Murder on the Yukon'' is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and written by Milton Raison. It is based on the 1931 novel '' Renfrew Rides North'' by Laurie York Erskine. The film stars James Newill, Polly Ann Young, D ...

'' (1940) - Sgt. Renfrew * '' Sky Bandits'' (1940) - Sgt. Renfrew * ''

The Great American Broadcast ''The Great American Broadcast'' is a 1941 comedy film directed by Archie Mayo. It stars Jack Oakie, Alice Faye and John Payne. Plot Impoverished roommates Rix Martin and Chuck Hadley have dreams of being the first to operate a coast-to-coast ra ...

'' (1941) - Singer * ''

The Falcon's Brother ''The Falcon's Brother'' is a 1942 American crime drama film in which George Sanders, who had been portraying " The Falcon" in a series of films, appears with his real-life brother Tom Conway; with Sanders handing off the series to Conway, who w ...

'' (1942) - Paul Harrington * ''

The Rangers Take Over ''The Rangers Take Over'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Albert Herman and written by Elmer Clifton. The film stars Dave O'Brien, James Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Iris Meredith, Forrest Taylor and I. Stanford Jolley. The film was re ...

'' (1942) - Texas Ranger Jim Steele * ''

Bad Men of Thunder Gap ''Bad Men of Thunder Gap'' is a 1943 American Western film directed by Albert Herman and written by Elmer Clifton. The film stars Dave O'Brien, James Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Janet Shaw, Jack Ingram and Charles King. The film was released on M ...