John Dilson
John Dilson (February 18, 1891 – June 1, 1944) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1934 and 1944.

Citizen Kane
as Ward Heeler (uncredited)Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a...
Movie pageThe Grapes of Wrath
as BooksellerTom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm...
Movie pageMr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Secretary (uncredited)After the death of a United States Senator, idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his...
Movie pageSergeant York
as Reporter (uncredited)Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is...
Movie pageThe Leopard Man
as The CoronerWhen a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders.
Movie pageThe Man They Could Not Hang
as King - City Editor (uncredited)Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is...
Movie pageIn Name Only
as Head Train Steward (uncredited)A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has...
Movie pageFor Me and My Gal
as Lou (uncredited)Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.
Movie pageThe Monster and the Girl
as Employment Agency Clerk (uncredited)After a young woman is coerced into prostitution and her brother framed for murder by an...
Movie pageDark Command
as Town LeaderWhen transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the...
Movie pageThis Land Is Mine
as Mayor's SecretarySomewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn...
Movie pageEach Dawn I Die
as Parole Board Member (uncredited)A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism...
Movie pageEasy Living
as Nervous Hotel Registrant (uncredited)J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's...
Movie pagePhantom of Chinatown
as Charlie FrasierIn the middle of a pictorial lecture on his recent expedition to the Mongolian Desert, Dr. John...
Movie pageGreat Guy
as City Editor (Uncredited)A meat inspector sets out to rid his town of payoff deals affecting the quality of meat being...
Movie pageMission to Moscow
as American Senator (uncredited)Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns...
Movie pageMan-Made Monster
as Medical ExaminerMad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.
Movie pageIt's a Wonderful World
as Doctor (uncredited)Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he...
Movie pageCity for Conquest
as Mr. Cahn - Man Buying Newspaper (uncredited)The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and...
Movie pageManpower
as Jail Clerk (uncredited)Hank McHenry and Johnny Marshall work as power company linesmen. Hank is injured in an accident...
Movie pageJohnny Eager
as Pawnbroker (uncredited)A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love.
Movie pageThe Face Behind the Mask
as Man at Dock Asking for a Light (uncredited)A sweet, enthusiastic, newly-arrived American immigrant from Hungary is forced to turn to a life...
Movie pageNancy Drew... Reporter
as Deputy Coroner (uncredited)While participating in a contest at a local newspaper in which school children are asked to...
Movie pageI Love You Again
as Worker 'Trying It in Tile and Clay'Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and...
Movie pageStand Up and Fight
as AuctioneerA southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.
Movie pageKing of the Cowboys
as BrysonRoy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and the Sons of the Pioneers go undercover to help Texas Governor...
Movie pageThe Public Pays
as Milk Company Executive Moore (uncredited)In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a protection racket preying on milk distribution is...
Movie pageThey Made Me a Criminal
as Doctor (uncredited)A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.
Movie pageThe Man with Nine Lives
as John HawthorneDr. Leon Kravaal develops a potential cure for cancer, which involves freezing the patient. But...
Movie pageWoman Wanted
as Juror Talking to Mike (uncredited)Just after a jury finds Ann Grey guilty of murder, the car carrying her to prison crashes into...
Movie pageThe Wagons Roll at Night
as Minister (uncredited)An escaped circus lion provides the impetus for the meeting of carnival owner Nick Coster and...
Movie pageMarked Men
as Dr. James Prentiss HarknessA man accused of planning a prison break turns the tables on escaped cons by leading the group...
Movie pageKentucky
as Man at Race TrackYoung lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky...
Movie pageKing of the Royal Mounted
as WallThe Canadians have discovered a valuable substance called Compound X, which can cure infantile...
Movie pageEdison, the Man
as BrokerIn flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story...
Movie pageDick Tracy
as Ellery Brewster [Chs. 1, 12]Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and Masked Mystery Villain The Spider/The...
Movie pageWildcat
as Gus SloaneWildcatter Johnny Maverick and his pal go to a town in oil country offering $25,000 to the...
Movie pageReno
as Mr. Jones - Casino ManagerA divorce lawyer prospers as a gambling tycoon.
Movie pageDoctors Don't Tell
as uncreditedDr. Ralph Snyder and Dr. Frank Blake open an office together but soon split over a rivalry for...
Movie pageDrums of Fu Manchu
as Prof. Ezra HowardThe nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu searches for the keys to the tomb of Genghis Khan, in order to...
Movie pageMillionaires in Prison
as Observer at Train Station (uncredited)A crop of millionaire inmates struggle to get accustomed to prison life, while inmate Nick...
Movie pageThe Girl Who Came Back
as Henchman WaddyA counterfeiter gives up her life of crime and goes straight. She gets a job in a bank, but the...
Movie pageThe Shadow Strikes
as Bill GordanLamont Cranston assumes his secret identity as "The Shadow", to break up an attempted robbery at...
Movie pageSlightly Dangerous
as 'Telegram' reporter (uncredited)Small-town soda-jerk Peggy Evans quits her dead-end job and moves to New York where she invents...
Movie pageMusic in My Heart
as City Editor (uncredited)A young woman engaged to a millionaire falls for the understudy in a Broadway musical.
Movie pageCharlie Chan's Murder Cruise
as Police Doctor at HotelOn a cruise ship from Honolulu to San Francisco, the famous Chinese detective encounters four...
Movie pageNo, No, Nanette
as Desk ClerkPerky young Nanette attempts to save the marriage of her uncle and aunt by untangling Uncle...
Movie pageThe President's Mystery
as Banker (uncredited)The screenplay for this mystery is based upon a story suggested to Liberty Magazine by President...
Movie pageLegion of the Lawless
as Surveyor Dave Martin (uncredited)Residents of a small frontier town take up arms when vigilantes try to block a railroad...
Movie pageAndy Hardy Gets Spring Fever
as Mr. Davis (uncredited)Young Andy develops a crush on his drama teacher. When his play is chosen as the school's annual...
Movie pageAndy Hardy's Private Secretary
as Mr. DavisAll set to graduate from high school , Andy Hardy flunks his English exam -- in spite of the...
Movie pageDr. Gillespie's Criminal Case
as Green, Parole Board Member (uncredited)In this 13th entry to the Dr. Kildare series, the medical staff of Blair General hospital are...
Movie pageAround the World
as ColonelBandleader Kay Kyser takes his troupe of nutty musicians, goofball comics and pretty girl...
Movie pageBrother Rat and a Baby
as PawnbrokerThree comrades graduate from Viriginia Military Institute. Bing has a chance to return to VMI as...
Movie pageRacket Busters
as Mr. Robbins (uncredited)A trucker with a pregnant wife fights a New York mobster's protection racket.
Movie pageDick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
as Henry WeldonDick Tracy goes up against a villain known as The Ghost, who can turn himself invisible.
Movie pagePublic Deb No. 1
as ClerkWhen a waiter gives a society girl a public spanking for attending a Communist rally, her...
Movie pageThe Golden Fleecing
as Cashier (uncredited)A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.
Movie pageWhistling in the Dark
as Hugo in Show (uncredited)Radio crime show host 'The Fox' along with his fiancée and ex-girlfriend are kidnapped by a...
Movie pageSabotage
as (uncredited)The night before his grandson, Tommy Grayson, a mechanic at the Midland Aircraft Corporation, is...
Movie pageThe Lady from Cheyenne
as Special Prosecutor FitzpatrickFictionalized story of the 1869 adoption of women's suffrage in Wyoming Territory. In the...
Movie pageThe Chaser
as Process ServerA sleazy lawyer gains clients by showing up at terrible accidents. His boss, determined to stop...
Movie pageThe Ex-Mrs. Bradford
as Analyst Examining Gelatin Capsule (uncredited)A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a horse race track by his...
Movie pageEasy Money
as Lawyer RusickDan Adams resigns his position as prosecutor on the district attorney's staff and sets out to...
Movie pageHighway West
as The Judge (uncredited)A young woman marries a man who turns out to be a bank robber.
Movie pageThe Country Doctor
as City Editor (uncredited)A doctor has a rough time obtaining the money for his services in a lumber town until he...
Movie pageGang Bullets
as Capt. BrownA Capone-like racketeer named Anderson, who after being chased out of one town by the...
Movie pageA Man's Game
as John T. BradleyDuring one blaze, Firefighters Tim and his partner Dave (Ward Bond) rescue pretty stenographer...
Movie pagePrincess O'Rourke
as Elevator Operator (uncredited)A down-to-earth pilot charms a European princess on vacation in the United States.
Movie pageTramp, Tramp, Tramp!
as Judge SmithJackie Gleason and Jack Durant are teamed for the first and only time as Hank and Jed, a pair of...
Movie pageBlackwell's Island
as Finlay (uncredited)A reporter gets himself sent to prison to expose a mobster.
Movie pageThe Great Gildersleeve
as Mayor AppletonA small-town blowhard runs for water commissioner while fighting to win custody of his niece and...
Movie pageHitch Hike To Heaven
as Charlie ReedA theatre actor makes the crossover to movies and becomes a star, but his new-found fame puts...
Movie pageEx-Champ
as LawtonA former prizefighter tries to help his son pay off his gambling debts.
Movie pageGallant Sons
as Druggist (uncredited)When a teenager's father is accused of murder, the boy and his high-school classmates set out to...
Movie pageBeautiful But Broke
as PutnamTheatrical agent Waldo Main is inducted into the army, and turns his now clientless agency over...
Movie pageFly By Night
as Police Dr. TracyYoung intern Jeff Burton, impulsively offers a lift to an odd-looking gentlemen. It soon turns...
Movie pageLove Is on the Air
as Meeting ChairmanA newscaster gets demoted for exposing the town's criminal activities over the airwaves.
Movie pageTarnished Angel
as Mr. GreerA showgirl with a dubious reputation flees the cops and transforms herself into a phony...
Movie pageFixer Dugan
as SteveCharlie Dugan is a quick-thinking boss of a traveling circus playing small towns in Missouri and...
Movie pageWe're Only Human
as Ballistics ExpertA cop, who plays by his own rules, brings down a notorious gangster.
Movie pageSpecial Agent
as Gus (uncredited)Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career...
Movie pageLove Is News
as Clerk (uncredited)When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she...
Movie pageJesse James at Bay
as Collins (uncredited)When Jesse learns that Krager is cheating settlers, he and his gang rob trains to obtain money...
Movie pageNew York Town
as Doctor (uncredited)Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York...
Movie pageMy Love Came Back
as Accountant (uncredited)Amelia is a gifted violinist who is in danger of quitting the Brissac Academy of Music. Julius...
Movie pageThree of a Kind
as Doc AdamsA truck driver and a gold-digger meet at a swank hotel and both think the other is wealthy. A...
Movie pageGirls Under 21
as Albert Carter, School PrincipalFrancis Ryan, living high-and-free-wheeling life as the wife of gangster "Smiley" Ryan, spends...
Movie pageThe Drag-Net
as Arnold CraneA playboy takes a job as an assistant district attorney, finds himself up against a tough crime...
Movie pageFather Steps Out
as Tom OliverStory concerns railroad tycoon J.B. Matthews (Jed Prouty) taking over a rival line, being sent...
Movie pageThe Calling of Dan Matthews
as City Editor Edison (uncredited)Dan Matthews (Richard Arlen), a young parson, is in love with Hope Strong (Charlotte Wynters),...
Movie pageStage to Chino
as Jim Pierce - Postal Inspector (uncredited)To investigate a gold-shipping scam, a postal inspector goes undercover and tries to infiltrate...
Movie pageThe Great Profile
as Doctor PerkinsAn alcoholic film star attempts a comeback. Director Walter Lang's 1940 comedy stars John...
Movie pageObliging Young Lady
as Uncle Joe (uncredited)A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents'...
Movie pageWomen in Prison
as Henry RussellThe superintendent of a women's prison is pressured to pardon a member of a criminal gang. When...
Movie pageEvery Night at Eight
as HuxleyThree young girls working in an agency have build a singing trio. They want to "lease" the...
Movie pageBad Little Angel
as Mr. Brown, Man in Jim's Office (uncredited)A bible-guided Victorian orphan befriends a bootblack in a strange town.
Movie pageFive Little Peppers at Home
as DanielsThe second entry in the four "Five Little Peppers" films finds the family struggling to keep...
Movie pageOver My Dead Body
as EditorBerle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish...
Movie pageHold That Woman!
as Bill LanniganA skip tracer--someone who collects late payments from people who've purchased appliances, etc.,...
Movie pageCheers of the Crowd
as Barney Booth (as John H. Dilson)To draw attention to a popular show, a publicity expert hires a former carnival character, not...
Movie pageTrouble in Sundown
as Edward SimmonsThe bank has been robbed, the night watchman killed and the safe opened. The townspeople want...
Movie pageBeyond the Sacramento
as Jason PerryBill learns that two con artists whom he has dealt with before are at it again. Crowley runs the...
Movie pageAnd Sudden Death
as JudgeAn heiress with a penchant for speeding runs afoul of a traffic cop. Romance develops between...
Movie pageScandal Sheet
as Chris DurkThe crimes of a tabloid publisher are exposed by a reporter, his secret illegitimate son.
Movie pageS.O.S Tidal Wave
as ApplebyA news reporter-commentator at a combined radio-television broadcasting station gives up his...
Movie pageDanger Ahead
as Thomas HatchThe Royal Mounties are called in when one of the armored cars owned by Maxwell, containing a...
Movie pageDrunk Driving
as Doctor (uncredited)In this Crime Does Not Pay series entry, John Jones is an up and coming businessman who drinks...
Movie pageGun to Gun
as uncreditedDon Diego is a large ranch owner, the uncle of Dolores and the guardian of a young American,...
Movie pageIdaho
as Board MemberA deputy sets out to prove that a respected judge, who had once been a criminal, is being framed...
Movie pageHere I Am a Stranger
as ProfessorThe story of a young man's discovery of his father.
Movie pageTen Gentlemen from West Point
as Senator (uncredited)This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military...
Movie page1-2-3-Go!
as MayorWhile playing baseball, Mickey runs into the street to catch a fly ball and is struck by a car....
Movie pageRobinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
as E.G. EllsworthA 14-episode serial in which Mala, a Polynesian in the employ of U.S. Intelligence investigates...
Movie pageThe Great Mr. Nobody
as PawnbrokerA publicity man promotes his newspaper, but finds his boss always steals the credit.
Movie pageHappy Land
as Charles Clayton (uncredited)An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist...
Movie pageAcross the Sierras
as Dan WoodworthElliott is hunted by Curtis who has spent six years behind bars because of his testimony. After...
Movie pageA Night to Remember
as Medical Examiner (uncredited)A woman rents a gloomy basement apartment in Greenwich Village thinking it will provide the...
Movie pageThe Leather Pushers
as uncreditedA shifty boxing promoter places an amateur in fixed fights, then hands his contract over to an...
Movie pageQueen of Broadway
as BickelThere are no queens and very little Broadway (except for an opening establishing shot) in Queen...
Movie pageThundering Frontier
as Carter FilmoreAfter a handful of non-formula westerns, Charles Starrett returned to the mixture as before in...
Movie pageAll by Myself
as Mr. DilsonCareer woman Jean. almost a partner in Mark's advertising firm, has been falling in love with...
Movie pageA Woman is the Judge
as RamseyTwenty years earlier, Mary Cabot had lost contact with her infant daughter Justine. Now a grown...
Movie pageWho Killed Gail Preston?
as Mr. CurranA temperamental singer's murder leaves a nightclub full of suspects.
Movie pageThey Meet Again
as William Merrill Sr.Dr. Christian takes time out from his appointed rounds to help clear a bank teller of...
Movie pagePrivate Affairs
as Stock Buyer (uncredited)A girl decides to consult her natural father, whom she's never seen, for advice on her mixed-up...
Movie pageSabotage Squad
as GuthrieA police lieutenant and a patriotic professional gambler, rivals in life and love, combine...
Movie pageThe Ghost That Walks Alone
as Bascomb (uncredited)Honeymooners find a dead radio producer in their suite.
Movie pageThe Secret Seven
as Walter W. CarterScientists assembled to prove their methods are effective in criminal investigation try to solve...
Movie pageYou Can't Escape Forever
as Pop (uncredited)A demoted reporter (George Brent) and his girlfriend (Brenda Marshall) seek to expose a crime...
Movie pageWives Never Know
as Doctor (uncredited)Homer Bigelow has an ideal marriage, with a wife who loves him very much as does he in return. ...
Movie pageI'll Tell the World
as LegendreLee Tracy once again plays a Winchellesque newspaper reporter in Universal's I'll Tell the...
Movie pageMoney to Loan
as Clarence Z. Dodds, Hanley's AccountantThe MGM crime reporter introduces Norman Kennedy, District Attorney of a large city, he who...
Movie pageBorrowing Trouble
as ClarkThe Jones family drugstore is robbed and it looks like the culprit is a boy the family has taken...
Movie pageMadame Spy
as Proprietor MartinJoan Bannister is the wife of globe-trotting war correspondent David Bannister. Returning to the...
Movie pageWomen Without Names
as SheriffJoyce and Fred MacNeil's honeymoon comes to an abrupt and unsatisfying halt when Fred is accused...
Movie pageSo's Your Uncle
as StevensCircumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds...
Movie pageCyclone on Horseback
as Mr. WilliamsWhopper, Stan Bradford, and Smokey are delivering a herd of pack horses to telegraph lineman...
Movie pageYou, the People
as Mr. SandersThis MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short features a big city crime boss's attempt to use his...
Movie pageMidnight Taxi
as Doc WilsonA federal agent goes to work for a taxi company believing it to be a front for a gang of...
Movie pageAdventures of Red Ryder
as HaleCalvin Drake employs a group of low-lifes to drive away land owners along the path of a new...
Movie pageThe Mayor of 44th Street
as Carter, the General Manager (as John H. Dilson)In this drama, an ex-vaudevillian dancer opens up a dance band agency and help street kids at...
Movie pageGlamour for Sale
as Wilson (uncredited)A blackmail mob is waiting for you to go out with one of these girls.
Movie pageShe Has What It Takes
as Chamberlain Jones (as John H. Dilson)Fay Weston (Jinx Falkenburg), a radio singer of no consequence, pretends to be the daughter of a...
Movie pageThe Big Premiere
as Theater OwnerIt is a premiere night at the Fox Carthay Circle theater, and the Our Gang show up to observe...
Movie pagePioneers of the West
as MorganPioneers of the West is a 1940 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie[1] directed by...
Movie pageWeather Wizards
as California MeteorologistModern meteorology and a hard-working government weather team put their science and organization...
Movie pageRacketeers of the Range
as Wiliam J. BensonA large packing company is trying to obtain a monopoly by taking over the last small independent...
Movie pageTwo Latins from Manhattan
as Jerome KittlemanJoan Daley, a New York booking/press agent, attempts to recruit two local stand-ins, Jinx Terry...
Movie pageNorth of Shanghai
as EditorIn this newspaper drama, a female reporter and a newsreel cameraman are both assigned to cover...
Movie pageSunset in Wyoming
as PhippsBy stripping all the timber from the land, a lumber baron threatens everyone with flooding. Gene...
Movie pageFlying G-Men
as Dr. Alexander CraigFour flying G-Men protect America against enemy spies; one of the four assumes the identity of...
Movie pageThe Deadly Game
as HarknessA pre-World War II saber-rattler that finds a munitions inventor kidnapped, a federal agent...
Movie pageTwin Triplets
as J. Benton, City EditorThelma and Patsy are reporters who investigate a hospital.
Movie pageThink It Over
as uncreditedA gang of 'professional torches' burn down stores for the insurance money.
Movie pageHappiness C.O.D.
as SnyderA young man, hard-pressed to pay off his mortgage and support his family, decides that he'll get...
Movie pageThe Westerner
as Senator LockhartA rancher (Tim McCoy) and his buddy (Joseph Sauers) scare rustlers out of business.
Movie page