Jay C. Flippen (born March 6, 1899 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA; died February 3, 1971 in Los Angeles) is best remembered as a gruff-faced actor usually playing a police officer or weary criminal in many movies of the 1940s and 1950s.

Flippen was already an established vaudeville singer and stage actor, after being discovered by famed African-American comedian Bert Williams in the 1920s, before shifting his focus to films. At one time he was a radio announcer for New York Yankees games and was one of the first game show announcers. (Between 1924 and 1929, Flippen recorded over 30 songs for Columbia, Perfect and Brunswick). He called himself "The Ham What Am," and performed occasionally in blackface.

He worked quite a few times with director Anthony Mann, also with Nicholas Ray and Stanley Kubrick.

His films include They Live by Night (1948), Winchester '73 with Jimmy Stewart (1950), Flying Leathernecks with John Wayne (1951), Bend of the River again with Jimmy Stewart (1952), The Wild One with Marlon Brando (1953), Thunder Bay again with Jimmy Stewart (1953), Oklahoma! (1955) (his only singing role), The Far Country again with Jimmy Stewart and with Walter Brennan (1955), Strategic Air Command again with Jimmy Stewart (1955), The Killing (1956), Jet Pilot again with John Wayne (1957), Firecreek again with Jimmy Stewart and with Henry Fonda (1968), and Hellfighters (1968) again with John Wayne. Flippen also appeared on television, most notably as C.P.O. Nelson on the 1962 sitcom Ensign O'Toole. Later in life he continued acting even though he used a wheelchair following a leg amputation.

Jay Flippen died at the age of seventy-two of an aneurysm caused by a swollen artery while in surgery. He is buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Jay C. Flippen could probably be characterized these days as one of those distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing old 50s and 60s movies and TV. His distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for crimers and rugged adventure, while his background in vaudeville and minstrel shows helped him obtain roles in occasional fluffy slapstick and light musical comedy. Flippen was already a veteran performer on radio and the Broadway stage by the time he focused on film. He could be counted on to provide his patented gruff and bluster in many an actioneer whether playing a sheriff, prison warden, military high-ranker, bartender, or farmer. Moreover, his characters supported James Stewart (I) in several of his standard vehicles, including Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), Thunder Bay (1953), Far Country, The (1954), Strategic Air Command (1955), Restless Breed, The (1957), Night Passage (1957), and Firecreek (1968). Dogged by illness but determined in later years, he continued his career in a wheelchair following a leg amputation. He was married for 25 years to screenwriter Ruth Brooks Flippen, whose work included a couple of Gidget movies. He died at age 72 of an aneurysm caused by a swollen artery.