--- name: "Marshall Thompson" canonical: "https://film.one/person/marshall-thompson" roles: ["Actor"] born: "27 November 1925" died: "18 May 1992" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 75 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T05:55:24.567126+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Marshall Thompson Actor. Born 27 November 1925 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. Died 18 May 1992. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 27 November 1925, Peoria, Illinois, USA - **Died:** 18 May 1992 - **Active:** 1949–1977 - **Also known as:** James Marshall Thompson, J. Marsh Thomson - **Average Fi1m score:** 75, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 80 (1), 1970s 70 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Thompson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q560770, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0860471/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84233 ## Fi1m on Marshall Thompson > A studio juvenile who grew into a plain, dependable second lead, Marshall Thompson never became the star his early promise suggested. His best-known work is in company: one soldier among several in *Battleground*, one man among the animals in *Daktari*. In *Battleground* (1949) Marshall Thompson is Jim Layton, one of the squad William Wellman keeps in a foxhole outside Bastogne while the snow comes down. He is not the loudest man there and the film does not want him to be. Our own review did not single him out, and we mean that as description rather than complaint: the picture is about a unit, and Thompson does the unglamorous work of being part of one. It is the kind of part he did well, and it is where we would start. The career before it was a studio career. Universal signed him in 1943 for juvenile roles and MGM took him on in 1946, where he played the boy next door in the studio's 1940s pictures; John Ford had already given him Ensign Gardner in *They Were Expendable* (1945). When the contracts ended he went freelance in the 1950s, and freelance in the 1950s meant monsters. There is *Fiend Without a Face*, and there is *It* (1958), the terror from beyond space, in which he is Colonel Carruthers aboard a rocket with something loose in the ducts. Anyone who has seen *Alien* will recognise the shape of that story, and *It* is often named as one of the places it came from. We have not reviewed it and will not judge it here, but the part belongs to the second Thompson, the level-voiced officer who had replaced the boy. Then Africa. A location shoot for *East of Kilimanjaro* (1957) took him there, and he said afterwards that the trip alone had been reason enough to take the job. The 1960s were spent on the animals: *Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion* (1965), which he starred in and helped write, and *Daktari* (1966–1969), four years as the vet Dr Marsh Tracy, both with the producer Ivan Tors, who made three films with him. In between he directed *A Yank in Viet-Nam* (1964). Of the wildlife footage he said, "Everyone should have one elephant charge in his life. It picks up the metabolism," which tells you something about the temperament. He never became a star, and the last two decades are television guest parts and supporting roles in films, among them Carter in *The Turning Point* (1977), a film we liked for Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine and in which, once again, he is not the man we wrote about. His final role was in *McBain* (1991). We were more moved by *Battleground* than we expected to be, and by nothing in particular: by a squad allowed to grumble and shiver and be frightened in studio snow, Thompson's Layton among them, and by a film that never asks any of them to be a hero. If you want to see what he did, start in the foxhole and finish with the lion, and do not expect to remember him from either as sharply as you remember the company he kept. That was the job, and he did it for nearly fifty years. ## Biography Marshall Thompson (1925–1992) was an American actor. Born James Marshall Thompson in Peoria, Illinois, he was signed by Universal Pictures in 1943 and appeared in several of the studio's feature films before moving to MGM in 1946. He played Jim Layton in the war film *Battleground* (1949). Thompson later worked as a freelance actor on a range of pictures, including the science-fiction film *It! The Terror from Beyond Space* (1958), and appeared in television series such as *Angel* (1960–1961) and *Daktari*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, catalog.afi.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Turning Point* (1977), Fi1m 70, as Carter — [page](https://film.one/film/the-turning-point.md) - *Battleground* (1949), Fi1m 80, as Jim Layton — [page](https://film.one/film/battleground.md) ## Complete filmography (98) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *McBain* (1991), as Mr. Rich - *Dallas: The Early Years* (1986), as Dr. Ted Johnson - *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Ward Silloway - *White Dog* (1982), as Director - *The Formula* (1980), as Geologist #1 - *Benson* (1979), series, Actor - *Bog* (1979), as Dr. Brad Wednesday - *The Eddie Capra Mysteries* (1978), series, Actor - *Race for Survival* (1978), Story - *Cruise Into Terror* (1978), as Bennett - *The Turning Point* (1977), as Carter — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/the-turning-point.md) - *Lou Grant* (1977), series, as Paul Newman - *Quincy, M.E.* (1976), series, Actor - *Charlie's Angels* (1976), series, as Meadows - *That's Entertainment, Part II* (1976), as (archive footage) (uncredited) - *George* (1974), series, as Jim Hunter · Creator - *The Streets of San Francisco* (1972), series, as Fr. Carey - *George* (1972), as Jim · Original Story, Producer - *Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law* (1971), series, as Jeff Crane - *The Partridge Family* (1970), series, as Dr. Milstead - *Ride the Tiger* (1970), Actor - *Jambo* (1969), series, Actor - *Ironside* (1967), series, as Tom Ames - *To the Shores of Hell* (1966), as Maj. Greg Donahue - *Daktari* (1966), series, as Dr. Marsh Tracy - *Around the World Under the Sea* (1965), as Dr. Orin Hillyard - *Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion* (1965), as Dr. Marsh Tracy · Story - *Zebra in the Kitchen* (1965), as Shaving Man - *The Mighty Jungle* (1964), Actor - *Flipper* (1964), series, Director - *A Yank in Viet-Nam* (1964), as Maj. Benson · Director - *No Man Is an Island* (1962), as Jonn Sonnenberg - *East of Kilimanjaro* (1962), as Marsh Connors - *Flight of the Lost Balloon* (1961), as Dr.Joseph Farady - *Angel* (1960), series, as Johnny Smith - *Startime* (1959), series, as Lt. Train - *Men Into Space* (1959), series, Actor - *World of Giants* (1959), series, Actor - *First Man into Space* (1959), as Cmdr. Charles Ernest Prescott - *The Secret Man* (1958), as Dr. Cliff Mitchell - *Bronco* (1958), series, Actor - *It! The Terror from Beyond Space* (1958), as Carruthers - *Fiend Without a Face* (1958), as Major Jeff Cummings - *Perry Mason* (1957), series, as Arthur Poe - *Wagon Train* (1957), series, as Bradley Mason, Will Stebbins - *Lure of the Swamp* (1957), as Simon Lewt - *Panic!* (1957), series, Actor - *The Blackwell Story* (1957), as David - *Down Liberty Road* (1957), as Mysterious Stranger - *Born to Fight* (1956), as Man Exiting Airplane (uncredited) - *Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre* (1956), series, as Eli Hendericks - *Good Morning, Miss Dove* (1955), as Wilfred Banning Pendleton III - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, as Matt Clay - *To Hell and Back* (1955), as Johnson - *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as Leach Fields - *Cult of the Cobra* (1955), as Tom Markel - *Crashout* (1955), as Billy Lang - *The Millionaire* (1955), series, as Tom Hunt, Bill Andreson - *Battle Taxi* (1955), as 2nd Lt. Tim Vernon - *Port of Hell* (1954), as Marsh Walker - *Climax!* (1954), series, as (segment "Child of the Wind") - *The Whistler* (1954), series, Actor - *Public Defender* (1954), series, as Jeff Norton - *Letter to Loretta* (1953), series, as Jim Turner, Dan Jenkins - *The Caddy* (1953), as Bruce Reeber - *The Ford Television Theatre* (1952), series, Actor - *The Rose Bowl Story* (1952), as Steve Davis - *My Six Convicts* (1952), as Blivens Scott - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as George Washington, Pythias - *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, as James Wilson - *The Tall Target* (1951), as Lance Beaufort - *The Basketball Fix* (1951), as Johnny Long - *Dial 1119* (1950), as Gunther Wyckoff - *Devil's Doorway* (1950), as Rod MacDougall - *Mystery Street* (1950), as Henry Shanway - *Stars in My Crown* (1950), as Narrator (adult John Kenyon) (voice) - *Robert Montgomery Presents* (1950), series, Actor - *Battleground* (1949), as Jim Layton — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/battleground.md) - *Roseanna McCoy* (1949), as Tolbert McCoy - *Words and Music* (1948), as Herbert Fields - *Command Decision* (1948), as Capt. George Washington Bellpepper Lee - *Studio One* (1948), series, Actor - *Homecoming* (1948), as Staff Sgt. 'Mac' McKeen - *B.F.'s Daughter* (1948), as The Sailor - *The Romance of Rosy Ridge* (1947), as Ben Mac Bean - *The Secret Heart* (1946), as Brandon Reynolds - *Gallant Bess* (1946), as Tex Barton - *The Show-Off* (1946), as Joe Fisher - *The Cockeyed Miracle* (1946), as Jim Griggs - *Bad Bascomb* (1946), as Jimmy Holden - *They Were Expendable* (1945), as Ens. 'Snake' Gardner - *Twice Blessed* (1945), as Jimmy - *The Clock* (1945), as Bill - *The Valley of Decision* (1945), as Ted Scott - *Blonde Fever* (1944), as Freddie Bilson - *Reckless Age* (1944), as Roy Connors - *The Purple Heart* (1944), as Morrison (uncredited) ## Gallery - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-6d2293c79965.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Trailer screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Marshall_Thompson_in_Twice_Blessed_trailer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photo of Marshall Thompson as Dr. Tracy and Judy from the television program Daktari. (1966)](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-78e4c5a9ec01.jpg) Photo of Marshall Thompson as Dr. Tracy and Judy from the television program Daktari. (1966) — CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Marshall_Thompson_and_Judy_Daktari_1966.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-13923f5a3604.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Image via TMDB - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-d74c8172b3a9.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Image via TMDB - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-ce17a2b7a5e0.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Image via TMDB - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-406e7eaab700.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Image via TMDB - ![Marshall Thompson](https://film.one/media/person/1236062/gallery-f962fe404df4.jpg) Marshall Thompson — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/marshall-thompson