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Jack Grimes (actor)

American actor (1926–2009)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ2610744 ↗
Source-derived summary

Jack Grimes (April 1, 1926 – March 10, 2009) was an American voice and radio actor who played Jimmy Olsen in the last three years of The Adventures of Superman radio program, and the 1966 Filmation TV series The New Adventures of Superman. He is also known for his performance as the mechanic Sparky, and the pet chimp Chim-Chim in the 1967 anime Speed Racer.

Early years

Grimes was born April 1, 1926, in New York City. His acting career began at age seven during the Great Depression, when he helped earn money for his family. He completed grammar school at the Professional Children's School and went on to complete four years at Columbia University.

Career

Stage

Grimes appeared as Jackie Grimes in the Broadway play The Old Maid, which won a Pulitzer Prize and ran for 10 months in New York. It then went on tour for another 11 months. His other Broadway credits include Stork Mad (1936), Excursion (1937), and Western Waters (1937–1938).

Radio

Grimes worked on radio, beginning with the CBS program Let's Pretend. By age 12, he was appearing on 35 to 40 radio shows a week.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Jack Grimes (actor)” as american actor (1926–2009). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jack, Grimes and actor.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1926, 2009, 1966, 1967—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Jack, Grimes and actor providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jack Grimes (actor)”, the useful work is to connect “american actor (1926–2009)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2610744. The first chronological checks are 1926, 2009, 1966 and 1967.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Jack Grimes (actor) primary sources, Jack Grimes (actor) archive and Jack research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Jack Grimes (actor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.