| William Demarest | |
|---|---|
 Demarest with Cheryl Walker in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943) |
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| Born | February 27 1892 St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | December 28 1983 (aged 91) Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American character actor. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was a very prolific film and TV actor, having worked on over 140 films. He worked frequently with director Preston Sturges, becoming part of a "stock" troupe of actors that Sturges repeatedly cast in his films. He started in show business working in vaudeville, then moved on to Broadway. His film career began in 1926 and spanned the decades up to the 1970s. His most famous TV role was in My Three Sons from 1965 to 1972, playing Uncle Charley and replacing William Frawley, whose failing health had made procuring insurance impossible. Demarest received a single Academy Award nomination, for his supporting role in The Jolson Story, playing Al Jolson's fictional mentor. He had previously shared the screen with the real Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. Demarest died in Palm Springs, California and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Filmography
Features:
- When the Wife's Away (1926)
- Finger Prints (1927)
- Don't Tell the Wife (1927)
- The Gay Old Bird (1927)
- Matinee Ladies (1927)
- A Million Bid (1927)
- Simple Sis (1927)
- The Black Diamond Express (1927)
- What Happened to Father? (1927)
- The First Auto (1927)
- The Bush Leaguer (1927)
- A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927)
- The Jazz Singer (1927)
- A Reno Divorce (1927)
- Sharp Shooters (1928)
- A Girl in Every Port (1928)
- The Escape (1928)
- Pay as You Enter (1928)
- Five and Ten Cent Annie (1928)
- The Butter and Egg Man (1928)
- The Crash (1928)
- Fog Over Frisco (1934)
- Many Happy Returns (1934)
- The Circus Clown (1934) (scenes deleted)
- Fugitive Lady (1934)
- After Office Hours (1935)
- The Casino Murder Case (1935)
- The Murder Man (1935)
- Bright Lights (1935)
- Diamond Jim (1935)
- Hands Across the Table (1935)
- White Lies (1935)
- The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
- Wedding Present (1936)
- Love on the Run (1936)
- Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)
- Mind Your Own Business (1936)
- Time Out for Romance (1937)
- Don't Tell the Wife (1937)
- Oh Doctor (1937)
- Hit Parade of 1937 (1937)
- The Great Hospital Mystery (1937)
- The Great Gambini (1937)
- Easy Living (1937)
- Blonde Trouble (1937)
- Wake Up and Live (1937)
- Big City (1937)
- Rosalie (1937)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
- Romance on the Run (1938)
- One Wild Night (1938)
- Josette (1938)
- Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938)
- While New York Sleeps (1938)
- The Great Man Votes (1939)
- King of the Turf (1939)
- The Lady Eve (1941)
- Sullivan's Travels (1942)
- The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Short Subjects:
- A Night at Coffee Dan's (1927)
- Amateur Night (1927)
- The Night Court (1927)
- Seeing Things (1930)
- The Run Around (1932)
