John Constantine Flippen Jr. (J.C. or Jay C.) was an American character actor who often played crusty sergeants, police officers or weary criminals in many 1940s and 1950s pictures, particularly in film noir. Before his motion picture career he was a leading vaudeville comedian and master of ceremonies.
Some of Flippen's most noteworthy film work came in support of James Stewart in five of the films the two made under the direction of Anthony Mann during the 1950s, particularly as a cavalry man in 1950's Winchester '73. He gave notable supporting performances in three John Wayne films: as a humorous, larcenous Marine air-crew line chief in Flying Leathernecks (1951), as Wayne's commanding general in Jet Pilot (1957) and as a wheelchair-using senior partner of Wayne's in Hellfighters (1968). He also made a fourth film that co-starred John Wayne (How the West Was Won, 1962), but played his only scene with Debbie Reynolds and Gregory Peck.
