James Mitchum had his first role, which was small and unbilled, at the age of eight in the Western Colorado Territory (1949) with Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, and Dorothy Malone.
His credited debut was in Thunder Road (1958), in which he played his father's much younger brother, a role written for Elvis Presley, who was eager to do it until his manager demanded too much money.
He has appeared in more than 30 films including The Beat Generation in 1959; The Victors in 1963; as a surfer named Eskimo in Ride the Wild Surf in 1964; In Harm's Way (1965) with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Henry Fonda.
[1] In 1964 Mitchum had the lead in a Spaghetti Western Grand Canyon Massacre, the following year was Ambush Bay (1966) with Hugh O'Brien and Mickey Rooney, in which he received third billing of three names above the title.
In 1975, he returned to lead roles when he starred as Grady Hagg in the movie Moonrunners, the premise of which was later redeveloped into the television series The Dukes of Hazzard.