# James MacArthur

James Gordon MacArthur (December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010) was an American actor and recording artist.
He had a long career in both movies and television, and his early work was predominantly in supporting roles in films. Later, he had a starring role as Danny "Danno" Williams in the long-running television series Hawaii Five-O.
In 1963, his spoken-word recording "The Ten Commandments of Love" charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 94.

## Early life

MacArthur was born in Los Angeles, and was adopted by playwright Charles MacArthur and his wife, actress Helen Hayes. He was raised in Nyack, New York along with his elder sister, the MacArthurs' biological daughter Mary, who died of polio in 1949. He was educated at Allen-Stevenson School in New York and later at the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he starred in basketball, football and baseball.
In his final year at Solebury, MacArthur played guard on the football team, captained the basketball team, rewrote the school's constitution, edited the school paper, played Scrooge in a local presentation of A Christmas Carol and was president of his class, the student government and the drama club. He also dated fellow student and future actress Joyce Bulifant, whom he married in November 1958 and divorced nine years later.
MacArthur was raised among people of literary and theatrical talent. Lillian Gish was his godmother, and his family's guests included John Steinbeck, John Barrymore, Harpo Marx, Ben Hecht, Beatrice Lillie and the humorist Robert Benchley.

## Acting career
### Early career

MacArthur's first radio role was on the Theatre Guild on the Air in 1948, accompanying his mother Helen Hayes.
MacArthur made his stage debut in Olney, Maryland in 1949 with a two-week stint in The Corn Is Green. His sister Mary, who was also in the play, had requested that he join the company. The following summer, he repeated the role in Dennis, Massachusetts and his theatrical career was under way.
In 1954, he played John Day in Life with Father with Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney. He became involved in important Broadway productions only after receiving his training in summer-stock theater. He worked as a set painter, lighting director and chief of the parking lot. During a Helen Hayes festival at the Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod, he had a few walk-on parts. He also helped the theater's electrician and became so interested that he was allowed to remain after his mother's plays had ended. As a result, he lit the show for Barbara Bel Geddes in The Little Hut and for Gloria Vanderbilt in The Swan.

### Television

In 1955, at the age of 18, MacArthur played Hal Ditmar in the television play '"Deal a Blow", an episode of the series Climax! directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Macdonald Carey, Phyllis Thaxter and Edward Arnold. The critical response was excellent, with the New York Times saying that he "performed splendidly."
The following year, Frankenheimer directed the film version of the play, which was renamed The Young Stranger (1957), with MacArthur again in the starring role. His performance was again critically acclaimed, earning him a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1958 BAFTA awards.
In late 1956, it was announced that MacArthur would make Underdog, based on a novel by W. R. Burnett, along with his mother and Susan Strasberg, but the project never materialized.
MacArthur returned to television to appear in World in White (1957) and episodes of General Electric Theater, Studio One in Hollywood and Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.

### Disney

MacArthur was selected by Walt Disney to star in The Light in the Forest (1958), playing a white man raised by Indians. In April 1957, he signed a three-picture deal with Disney. For Light in the Forest he was paid $2,500 per week, which increased to $3,000 per week for the second film and $3,500 for the third. However, MacArthur was only available to work during his summer vacation from Harvard, where he was studying history.
Disney executives liked his performance and cast him in Third Man on the Mountain (1959), playing a young man who climbs the Matterhorn. His mother had a cameo role.
Deciding to make acting his full-time career, he left Harvard in his second year to appear in two more Disney movies, Kidnapped (1960) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960). He was named a possibility for Bon Voyage (1962) but did not appear in the film.
MacArthur made his Broadway debut in 1960 playing opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March, for which he received a Theatre World Award. Although he never returned to Broadway, he remained active in theater throughout his career, appearing in such productions as Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Moon Is Blue, John Loves Mary (with his wife Joyce Bulifant), Barefoot in the Park and Murder at the Howard Johnson's.
He also released several records in the early 1960s, scoring two minor hits with "(The Story of) The In-Between Years" and "The Ten Commandments of Love", which peaked at number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.
MacArthur delivered a chilling performance as baby-faced opium dealer Johnny Lubin in The Untouchables episode "Death For Sale". He also appeared in episodes of the television shows Bus Stop and Wagon Train. He returned to feature films as one of several young actors in The Interns (1962), Columbia's popular medical drama.
He appeared in episodes of The Dick Powell Theatre, Sam Benedict and Arrest and Trial, then made Spencer's Mountain (1963) at Warner Bros. with Henry Fonda and Cry of Battle (1963) in the Philippines.
In 1963, MacArthur was nominated for the Top New Male Personality category of the Golden Laurel Awards. That year, he starred in and produced a pilot for a television series about a writer, Postmark: Jim Fletcher, but it was not sold.
He guest-starred on the television shows Burke's Law, The Eleventh Hour and The Great Adventure, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour before appearing in the feature films The Truth About Spring and The Bedford Incident, both in 1965.
In Battle of the Bulge (1965), MacArthur again played the role of a young and inexperienced officer. He appeared in Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966) and guest-starred on Branded, Combat!, Gunsmoke, Hondo, Insight, Death Valley Days, Bonanza, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High and Tarzan.
MacArthur returned to Disney to appear in Willie and the Yank (1967) for television, released theatrically as Mosby's Marauders. He also had a role in The Love-Ins (1967) for Sam Katzman and a brief but memorable appearance in the Clint Eastwood film Hang 'Em High (1968) as a preacher.

### Hawaii Five-O

Hang 'Em High was written by Leonard Freeman, who was producing a new police procedural, Hawaii Five-O. Tim O'Kelly was originally cast as Jack Lord's assistant, but test audiences felt that he was too young, so MacArthur was offered the role. MacArthur said that Lord "said 'book him' to others in the cast, but I guess he said it to me the most. It wasn't anything we really thought about at first. But the phrase just took off and caught the public's imagination."
Appearing in the show made MacArthur wealthy, and he invested much of his earnings in Hawaiian real estate.
MacArthur left the show in 1979, feeling that it had become bland and predictable. It was canceled one year later. He later reflected: "It was just time. I called the producer from South America and told him I was heading down the Amazon River."
William Smith, who replaced him on the show, claimed that MacArthur quit "because Jack Lord wouldn't let him have a dressing room. He had to change in the prop truck for eleven years."

### After Hawaii Five-O

After leaving Hawaii Five-O, McArthur guest-starred on television shows such as Time Express, Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Walking Tall, The Littlest Hobo,Vega$ and Superboy. He also appeared in the miniseries Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980) and The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983). He returned to the stage, appearing in A Bedfull of Foreigners in Chicago in 1984 and in Michigan in 1985. He followed this with The Hasty Heart before taking a year out of showbusiness.
In 1987, he again took to the stage in The Foreigner, and then played Mortimer in the national tour of Arsenic and Old Lace. In 1989, he followed another stint in The Foreigner with Love Letters and in 1990–1991, A Bedfull of Foreigners in Las Vegas.

### Semi-retirement

From 1959 to 1960, MacArthur partnered with actors James Franciscus and Alan Ladd, Jr. in the ownership of a Beverly Hills telephone-answering service. In June 1972, he directed the Honolulu Community Theatre in a production of his father's play The Front Page.
He appeared at conventions, collectors' shows and celebrity sporting events. A keen golfer, he won the 2002 Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament.
MacArthur also appeared in television and radio specials and on interview programs such as Entertainment Tonight, Christopher's Closeup and the BBC Radio 5 Live obituary program Brief Lives, in which he paid tribute to his Hawaii Five-O castmate Kam Fong. In 1997, MacArthur returned without Jack Lord (who was in declining health) to reprise his character, who had become Hawaii's governor, in the 1997 unaired reboot pilot of Hawaii Five-O.
In April 2003, he traveled to Honolulu's historic Hawaii Theatre for a cameo role in Joe Moore's play Dirty Laundry. Negotiations were under way in Summer 2010 for MacArthur to make a cameo appearance in the new CBS primetime remake of Hawaii Five-0 at the time of his death, a role that eventually was offered to Al Harrington. Before the start of the November 1, 2010, episode, MacArthur's death was mentioned in a short tribute.
In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to MacArthur.

## Personal life and death

From 1958 to 1968 he was married to Joyce Bulifant. At the time of his death, MacArthur was married to former LPGA golfer Helen Beth Duntz. MacArthur had two daughters and two sons.
MacArthur died on October 28, 2010, at the age of 72 of unspecified causes in Florida.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1953 | Take the High Ground! | | |
| 1955 | Climax! | Hal Ditmar | Deal a Blow |
| 1957 | The Arthur Murray Party | Self | April 30, 1957 |
| 1957 | The Young Stranger | Harold James "Hal" Ditmar | |
| 1958 | General Electric Theater | Johnny Dundeen | The Young and the Scared |
| 1958 | Studio One | Jim Gibson | Ticket to Tahiti |
| 1958 | Studio One | Ben Adams | Tongues of Angels |
| 1958 | The Light in the Forest | Johnny Butler / True Son | |
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Jamsie Corcoran | The Innocent Assassin |
| 1959 | Third Man on the Mountain | Rudi Matt | |
| 1959 | Wagon Train | Waiter | The Jenny Tannen Story, Uncredited |
| 1960 | Kidnapped | David Balfour | |
| 1960 | Night of the Auk | Lt. Mac Hartman | |
| 1960 | Swiss Family Robinson | Fritz Robinson | |
| 1960 | The Play of the Week | Lieutenant Max | Night of the Auk |
| 1961 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Johnny Butler / True Son | Archive footage Light in the Forest: True Son's Revenge |
| 1961 | The Play of the Week | Lt. Max Hartman | Night of the Auk |
| 1961 | The Untouchables | Johnny Lubin | Death for Sale |
| 1961 | Bus Stop | Thomas Quincy Hagan | And the Pursuit of Evil |
| 1962 | Insight | Jim Brown | The Sophomore |
| 1962 | Wagon Train | Dick Pederson | The Dick Pederson Story |
| 1962 | The Interns | Dr. Lew Worship | |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Show | Jack Doffer | The Court Martial of Captain Wycliff |
| 1963 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Rudi Matt | Archive footage Banner in the Sky: To Conquer the Mountain |
| 1963 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Rudi Matt | Archive footage Banner in the Sky: The Killer Mountain |
| 1963 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | David Balfour | Archive footage Kidnapped: Part 1 |
| 1963 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | David Balfour | Archive footage Kidnapped: Part 2 |
| 1963 | Sam Benedict | Bert Stover | Some Fires Die Slowly |
| 1963 | Spencer's Mountain | Clayboy Spencer | |
| 1963 | Arrest and Trial | Deke Palmer | A Shield is for Hiding Behind |
| 1963 | Cry of Battle | David McVey | |
| 1963 | Burke's Law (1963 TV series) | Larry Forsythe | Who Killed the Kind Doctor? |
| 1963 | The Eleventh Hour | Mason Walker | La Belle Indifference |
| 1963 | The Great Adventure | Lieutenant Alexander | The Hunley |
| 1964 | The Great Adventure | Rodger Young | Rodger Young |
| 1964 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Dave Snowden | Behind the Locked Door |
| 1965 | The Truth About Spring | William Ashton | |
| 1965 | The Bedford Incident | Ensign Ralston | |
| 1965 | The Virginian | Johnny Bradford | Jennifer |
| 1965 | Battle of the Bulge | Lieutenant Weaver | |
| 1966 | Ride Beyond Vengeance | The Census Taker | |
| 1966 | Branded | Lt. Laurence | A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers |
| 1966 | 12 O'Clock High | Lt. Wilson | The Outsider |
| 1966 | Gunsmoke | David McGovern | Harvest |
| 1967 | Dateline: Hollywood | Self | June 19, 1967 |
| 1967 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Cpl. Henry Jenkins | Willie and the Yank: The Deserter Willie and the Yank: The Mosby Raiders |
| 1967 | Combat! | Jack Cole | Encounter |
| 1967 | The Love-Ins | Larry Osborne | |
| 1967 | Mosby's Marauders | Cpl. Henry Jenkins | |
| 1967 | Insight | Billy Thorp | Some Talk About Pool Rooms and Gin Mills |
| 1967 | Hondo | Judd Barton | Hondo and the Mad Dog |
| 1967 | Tarzan | Dr. Richard Wilson | The Pride of the Lioness |
| 1967 | Bonanza | Jason 'Jase' Fredericks | Check Rein |
| 1967 | Death Valley Days | Kit Carson | Spring Rendezvous |
| 1968 | Death Valley Days | Kit Carson | The Indian Girl |
| 1968 | Hang 'Em High | The Preacher | |
| 1968 | The Angry Breed | Deek Stacey | |
| 1968 | Premiere | Russ Faine | Lassiter |
| 1968– 1979 | Hawaii Five-O | Det. Danny Williams | 259 episodes |
| 1971 | The Movie Game | Self | June 28, 1971 July 4, 1971 |
| 1971 | Hollywood Squares | Self | April 12, 1971 |
| 1972 | Hollywood Squares | Self | March 6, 1972 |
| 1973 | Hollywood Squares | Self | January 1, 1973 |
| 1977 | Battle of the Network Stars III | Self | |
| 1978 | Battle of the Network Stars IV | Self | |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Fantasy Island | The Funny Girl/Butch and Sundance |
| 1979 | Time Express | Dr. Mark Toland | Garbage Man/Doctor's Wife |
| 1979 | The Love Boat | Chet Hanson | The Spider Serenade/The Wife Next Door/The Harder They Fall |
| 1980 | 34th Annual Tony Awards | Self | |
| 1980 | Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story | Walt Stomer | |
| 1980 | The Love Boat | Scott Burgess | The Caller/The Marriage of Convenience/No Girls for Doc/Witness for the Prosecution |
| 1981 | Fantasy Island | Bob Graham | The Heroine/The Warrior |
| 1981 | Vega$ | Jerry Lang | Heist |
| 1981 | Walking Tall | Father Adair | The Fire Within |
| 1981 | The Littlest Hobo | Jim Haley | Trail of No Return |
| 1983 | The Scheme of Things | Self | |
| 1983 | The Night the Bridge Fell Down | Cal Miller | |
| 1983 | The Love Boat | Paul Krakauer | I Don't Play Anymore/Gopher's Roommate/Crazy for You |
| 1984 | Murder, She Wrote | Alan Gephardt | Hooray for Homicide |
| 1985 | The Love Boat | Marc Silver | Vicki's Gentleman Caller/Partners to the End/The Perfect Arrangement |
| 1989 | The Adventures of Superboy | Hogan | Birdwoman of the Swamps |
| 1991 | JFK | uncredited David McVey | Archive footage Cry of Battle |
| 1991 | American Masters | Self | Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theatre |
| 1994 | The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic | Self | |
| 1997 | Hawaii Five-O (1997 TV pilot) | Governor Danny Williams | Unsold pilot episode |
| 1997 | Light Lunch | Self | 70 Super Cops |
| 1998 | Storm Chasers: Revenge of the Twister | Frank Del Rio | (final film role) |
| 2002 | Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making | Narrator | Special thanks |
| 2002 | Inside TVLand: 40 Greatest Theme Songs | Self | |
| 2002 | Inside TVLand: Cops on Camera | Self | |
| 2005 | The 100 Greatest Family Films | Self | |
| 2006 | The 100 TV Quotes and Greatest Catch Phases | Self | |
| 2007 | Entertainment and TVLand Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons | Self | |
| 2008 | The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics | Self | Grateful thanks |