Backus, James Gilmore (Jim)

1913 - Jim Backus born 25th of February in Cleveland, Ohio.

1930-1940 - Continued acting in New York, vaudeville, and radio. He was a regular on radio's The Alan Young Show, portraying Eastern Seaboard snob Hubert Updike III, the prototype for his "Thurston Howell III.

1949 - Provided the voice of the nearsighted Mr. Magoo for the first time in the UPA cartoon Ragtime Bear; the actor later claimed that he based this character on his own businessman father, also this year Backus made his first film appearance in Easy Living, which starred his childhood friend Victor Mature.

1964-1967 - Show in TV sitcom Gilligan's Island as Mr. Howell. 

1961-1978 - Backus continued to provide the voice of Mr. Magoo in several TV projects.

Jim and Henny Backus' last two books, Backus Strikes Back and Forgive Us Our Digressions, commented humorously on a deadly serious subject: Parkinson's Disease.

1989 - On 3rd of July Backus died in Los Angeles, California from complications of pneumonia, after suffering from Parkinson's disease.

• "Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success."