Iowa History Daily: On April 5, 1911, actor Gordon Jones was born in Alden. Best known for playing Lou Costello's TV nemesis "Mike the Cop" and appearing as “The Green Hornet,” Jones built a deep resume of Hollywood credits over a long career.
Jones started out playing small roles in Wesley Ruggles' and Ernest B. Schoedsack's “The Monkey's Paw” (1933), and his first credited role came in Sam Wood's “Let 'Em Have It” (1935), and Sidney Lanfield's “Red Salute” (1935). By 1937, Jones moved to a contract at RKO Radio Pictures. In 1940, Jones acted as the title role in “The Green Hornet,” but did not reprise the role in the sequel.
Jones held a reserve commission in the Army and entered into active service for World War II after filming his roles as in “My Sister Eileen” (1942) and Alabama Smith in “Flying Tigers” (1942). “Flying Tigers” starred another Iowan, Winterset’s John Wayne, and kicked off a long on screen relationship between the two Hawkeye state actors. Jones appeared in prominent roles in the John Wayne features “Big Jim McLain” (1952) and “Island in the Sky” (1953) among many others over two decades.
At the end of the 1940s, Jones also started working with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Jones' association with the duo began in “The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap” (1947) with the role of the film's heavy, Jake Frame, and continued through their television series “The Abbott and Costello Show.” #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryDaily
