On the Arresting Horace McMahon

May 17, was the day character Horace McMahon (1906-1971) came into the world. Not to be confused with Horace Mann, where you’ll get an entirely different sort of schooling!

The tough looking McMahon primarily played crooks and thugs until his role as Lt Monaghan in the stage and screen productions of Sidney Kingsley’s Detective Story(1949. 1951) brought about a pivot and lots of hard-nosed cop roles, the best known of which was his Emmy-winning turn as Lt. Mike Parker on the tv show Naked City (1958-63).

McMahon was originally from South Norwalk, Connecticut, had been a reporter for the local paper there, and studied law at Fordham. His first Broadway role (out of a dozen) was Jed Harris’s original 1931 production of Wonder Boy with Bernard Gorcey, Gregory Ratoff, Sam Levene, and Hazel Dawn.

McMahon had nearly 150 film and tv credits. Show biz and comedy fans have seen him in such things as Rose of Washington Square (1939), The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), the Jones Family comedy Quick Millions (1939), My Favorite Wife (1940), Birth of the Blues (1942), Jail House Blues (1942, with Nat Pendleton),Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad(1948), Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953), My Sister Eileen (1955), Jerry Lewis’s The Delicate Delinquent(1957) and Bob Hope’sBeau James(1957). He had a recurring role as “Fog Horn” in the Dr. Kildare series, and also appeared in Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Swinger (1966, with Ann-Margret), and The Detective (1968) with Frank Sinatra, one of his last.

McMahon met his wife, actress Louise Campbell (1911-1997) while the pair were appearing in the original 1935 production of Three Men on a Horse. She was best known for playing Phyllis in the Bulldog Drummond series.

For more on the history of show business,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, for more on classic comedy please check out my book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.