John F. Hamilton (7 November 1893 – 11 July 1967) was a New York City-born actor who worked for many years in the theatre but only occasionally on film. He is probably best-remembered as Pops, father of Eva Marie Saint’s character, in Elia Kazan’s film classic On the Waterfront (1954). He was known as John F. Hamilton to distinguish him from the much more prolific American film actor John Hamilton and from a British actor of youthful roles who worked in England and Europe in the 1930s.
Hamilton was elected to The Lambs in 1935. In addition to acting, he was a prolific sketch artist. Many of his drawings were done in the Lamb’s Grill Room at the 44th Street clubhouse. They are labeled “from life” and capture Lambs of the 1930s-1950s such as Roy Fant, Joseph J. Holton, Ed Latimer, and Karl Stall.
Hamilton was born in New York on 7 November 1893. He was a graduate of Fordham University. In 1916 he got his start in Vaudeville, working at Proctor’s 58th Street Theatre.
His first Broadway credit is Shore Leave (1922) at the Lyceum Theatre. In 1937 he appeared in his biggest show, the original cast, Of Mice and Men, directed by fellow Lamb, George S. Kaufman, at the Music Box Theatre. Hamilton spent time on Broadway and in films until the 1950s.
In 1962, Hamilton retired to the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. He died 11 July 1967, in Paramus, at Bergen Pines Hospital. He was 73.
Hamilton’s art still hangs in The Lambs.