High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! James Gilmore "Jim" Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike, III on the Alan Young radio show, Joan Davis`s character`s husband (a domestic court judge) on TV`s I Married Joan, James Dean`s character`s father in Rebel Without a Cause and Thurston Howell, III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan`s Island. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot off the Wire.