James Melven Dannaldson (born July 17, 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, died
August 12, 1984, Tarzana, California (age 69)) starred in the Frank
Buck film Jacaré.Dannaldson was the son of James Jerrmiel Dannaldson
and Lulu Belgium Rola Hiatt. Young James was a shot put star at
Hollywood High School in 1934, when he suffered his first animal
mishap. A pet rattlesnake nipped Dannaldson's finger when he playfully
stuck his thumb into the reptile's mouth. Dannaldson was not deterred,
and kept a barn filled with three rattlesnakes, five king snakes, ten
turtles and one hoot owl when he was a University of Southern
California student. The neighbors were not pleased.In Jacaré (1942)
Dannaldson traveled up the Amazon to catch specimens. In the film,
Dannaldson worked with jaguars and caymans, whose jaws had been wired
shut. He said his only close call came when an anaconda he wrestled
got a loop around his neck and almost strangled him before the natives
could unwrap it. Dannaldson's most primitive adventure occurred on
Marajó Island, at the mouth of the Amazon, where the movie company
spent four weeks, ran out of imported food and had to subsist for five
days on moldy doughnuts filled with small worms and on chickens which,
Dannaldson said, seemed to be 90 per cent vulture. Producer Jules
Levey incorporated a narration by Frank Buck and music by Miklos Rozsa
into the finished film. Dannaldson came home from the Amazon with a
rare eagle from Manaus, obtained as a fledgling from a native hunter.
Dannaldson presented the eagle to the San Diego Zoo in 1943.In his
later years, "Jungle Jim" Dannaldson provided animals for Hollywood
films, especially reptiles, spiders, scorpions and insects for horror
films. In 1977 he was to appear on The Tonight Show with a six-foot
angleworm from Australia. Dannaldson was author of two books, Serpent
Trails (1937) and A Trek in the Amazon Jungles (1949).
August 12, 1984, Tarzana, California (age 69)) starred in the Frank
Buck film Jacaré.Dannaldson was the son of James Jerrmiel Dannaldson
and Lulu Belgium Rola Hiatt. Young James was a shot put star at
Hollywood High School in 1934, when he suffered his first animal
mishap. A pet rattlesnake nipped Dannaldson's finger when he playfully
stuck his thumb into the reptile's mouth. Dannaldson was not deterred,
and kept a barn filled with three rattlesnakes, five king snakes, ten
turtles and one hoot owl when he was a University of Southern
California student. The neighbors were not pleased.In Jacaré (1942)
Dannaldson traveled up the Amazon to catch specimens. In the film,
Dannaldson worked with jaguars and caymans, whose jaws had been wired
shut. He said his only close call came when an anaconda he wrestled
got a loop around his neck and almost strangled him before the natives
could unwrap it. Dannaldson's most primitive adventure occurred on
Marajó Island, at the mouth of the Amazon, where the movie company
spent four weeks, ran out of imported food and had to subsist for five
days on moldy doughnuts filled with small worms and on chickens which,
Dannaldson said, seemed to be 90 per cent vulture. Producer Jules
Levey incorporated a narration by Frank Buck and music by Miklos Rozsa
into the finished film. Dannaldson came home from the Amazon with a
rare eagle from Manaus, obtained as a fledgling from a native hunter.
Dannaldson presented the eagle to the San Diego Zoo in 1943.In his
later years, "Jungle Jim" Dannaldson provided animals for Hollywood
films, especially reptiles, spiders, scorpions and insects for horror
films. In 1977 he was to appear on The Tonight Show with a six-foot
angleworm from Australia. Dannaldson was author of two books, Serpent
Trails (1937) and A Trek in the Amazon Jungles (1949).
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