Actor. He entered vaudeville as a teenager, and by 1915 had begun appearing in Keystone comedies. Jamison was Charlie Chaplin's foil in short subjects such as 'In the Park,' 'The Bank,' 'Shanghaied,' 'By the Sea,' and 'A Jitney Elopement,' working as Chaplin's foil before Eric Campbell had. Chaplin considered Jamison to be one of his three favorite heavies to work with, the other two being Campbell and Mack Swain. In 1916 he began working at Hal Roach Studios, where he began appearing in Harold Lloyd's very early one-reelers, when his screen character was still Lonesome Luke. All throughout the Teens, Twenties, Thirties, and early Forties he kept working, appearing in between 253 to 284 films, most of them short subjects, barely taking a break. The vast majority of his work was in comedies, though he did appear in a few serious films, among them 'Moby Dick' and 'The Grand Parade' (both in 1930). In addition to his early prolific work with Chaplin and Lloyd, Jamison also co-starred with Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson. Today he is best-remembered for how he frequently appeared as a supporting player to the Three Stooges, with whom he made over fifty two-reelers, most famously 'Disorder in the Court' (1936). He is also remembered for being one of their most frequent supporting players because he was the first one to administer the eye-poke, in their very first two-reeler at Columbia Studios, 'Woman Haters.' Jamison would usually play a police officer or a butler, and would often showcase his professional barber shop tenor voice by singing in his comedies. Shortly after wrapping up work on the musical comedy 'Nob Hill,' in September of 1944, Jamison collapsed in his home and died the next day. Many people have speculated that this heart attack was brought on because he had caught an infection (which turned into gangrene) earlier in the year and refused to treat it because he was a Christian Scientist. He had already appeared in so many pictures during 1944 that his films were still being released well into 1945.
Actor. He entered vaudeville as a teenager, and by 1915 had begun appearing in Keystone comedies. Jamison was Charlie Chaplin's foil in short subjects such as 'In the Park,' 'The Bank,' 'Shanghaied,' 'By the Sea,' and 'A Jitney Elopement,' working as Chaplin's foil before Eric Campbell had. Chaplin considered Jamison to be one of his three favorite heavies to work with, the other two being Campbell and Mack Swain. In 1916 he began working at Hal Roach Studios, where he began appearing in Harold Lloyd's very early one-reelers, when his screen character was still Lonesome Luke. All throughout the Teens, Twenties, Thirties, and early Forties he kept working, appearing in between 253 to 284 films, most of them short subjects, barely taking a break. The vast majority of his work was in comedies, though he did appear in a few serious films, among them 'Moby Dick' and 'The Grand Parade' (both in 1930). In addition to his early prolific work with Chaplin and Lloyd, Jamison also co-starred with Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson. Today he is best-remembered for how he frequently appeared as a supporting player to the Three Stooges, with whom he made over fifty two-reelers, most famously 'Disorder in the Court' (1936). He is also remembered for being one of their most frequent supporting players because he was the first one to administer the eye-poke, in their very first two-reeler at Columbia Studios, 'Woman Haters.' Jamison would usually play a police officer or a butler, and would often showcase his professional barber shop tenor voice by singing in his comedies. Shortly after wrapping up work on the musical comedy 'Nob Hill,' in September of 1944, Jamison collapsed in his home and died the next day. Many people have speculated that this heart attack was brought on because he had caught an infection (which turned into gangrene) earlier in the year and refused to treat it because he was a Christian Scientist. He had already appeared in so many pictures during 1944 that his films were still being released well into 1945.
Bio by: Carrie-Anne
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