Resting place Cremation Role Film actor | Name Jeff York Years active 1937-1967 Siblings John Scofield | |
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Spouse Moselle Kimbler (m. 1936–1941) Movies and TV shows Old Yeller, Johnny Tremain, Davy Crockett, Westward Ho the Wagons!, The Great Locomotive Chase Similar People Robert Stevenson, Francis D Lyon, Norman Foster, William Beaudine, Chuck Connors | ||
Jeff York (March 23, 1912 – October 11, 1995) was an American film and television actor who began his career in the late 1930s using his given name Granville Owen Scofield. He was also sometimes credited as Jeff Yorke.
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Career
York served in the United States Army during World War II. During his early career, the tall, dark-haired actor was a natural to play characters such as Pat Ryan in the 1940 serial Terry and the Pirates and was given the lead in the 1940 film Li'l Abner. However, he is perhaps most remembered for his role as Bud Searcy in Disney's classic Old Yeller and its 1963 sequel Savage Sam. Beverly Washburn played Lisbeth Searcy, Bud's daughter. York also appeared in The Great Locomotive Chase, Westward Ho, the Wagons!, and Johnny Tremain which were all Walt Disney's productions.
York attracted considerable attention in the mid 1950s with his television portrayal of Mike Fink, the flamboyant keelboat operator in two episodes of Disney's hugely popular Davy Crockett miniseries in the episodes "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" and "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." York was cast opposite Fess Parker in the role. The first episode featured a memorable boasting contest and a keelboat race, with Fink's boat named The Gullywumper; in the second, Crockett and Fink join forces to fight a band of river pirates who blame their depredations on local Native Americans.
He also starred as mountain man/fur trapper Joe Crane in two different Disney series, The Saga of Andy Burnett, adapted from the Stewart Edward White novel The Long Rifle and Zorro.
In addition, York was a guest star of The Lone Ranger (2 episodes), Waterfront, Studio 57, Medic, Fireside Theater, You Are There (2 episodes), The Californians, Peter Gunn, Bronco, Lawman (2 episodes), Cheyenne, The Rifleman, Outlaws, Perry Mason (3 episodes), Daniel Boone, Zorro (3 episodes), and The Iron Horse.
He co-starred as "Reno McKee" with Roger Moore, Dorothy Provine, and Ray Danton in the 1959 ABC/Warner Brothers western television series, The Alaskans.
Among his three appearances on Perry Mason, York played roles as the defendant in two 1961 episodes: Pete Mallory in "The Case of the Difficult Detour," and Scott Cahill in "The Case of the Traveling Treasure." In 1964 he played murderer and title character Ross Walker in "The Case of the Arrogant Arsonist."