James Patrick O'Malley was born March 15, 1904 at Barrow-in-furness, Cumbria but grew up at Burnley in nearby Lancashire. Of Irish name and Anglo-Irish ancestry, he nevertheless always spoke with the accents of his native country. He started his career in the mid-1920's as a singer in the music halls. By 1930 he had become lead singer for the Jack Hylton Orchestra, billed as Pat O'Malley. Hylton took Pat with him to the United States in 1935. Hylton soon returned to the United Kingdom, but Pat stayed. He found work in radio, but as a character actor, not a singer, and within a few years had migrated to Hollywood to try his luck in pictures.