William Demarest

Acting · 1.3 popularity

Age

134

Movies

145

Born: February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983
From: Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known for playing Uncle Charley in My Three Sons. A veteran of World War I, Demarest became a prolific film and television actor, appearing in over 140 films, beginning in 1926 and ending in the 1970s. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles. Demarest started in show business working in vaudeville, appearing with his wife Estelle Collette (real name Esther Zychlin) as "Demarest and Colette", then moved on to Broadway. Demarest worked regularly with director Preston Sturges, becoming part of a "stock" troupe of actors that Sturges repeatedly cast in his films. He appeared in ten films written by Sturges, eight of which were under his direction, including The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Demarest was such a familiar figure at the Paramount studio that just his name was used in the movie Sunset Boulevard as a potential star for William Holden's unsold baseball screenplay. Demarest appeared with veteran western film star Roscoe Ates in the 1958 episode "And the Desert Shall Blossom" of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In the story line, Ates and Demarest appear as old timers living in the Nevada desert. The local sheriff, played by Ben Johnson, appears with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let the pair stay on their property if they can make a dead rosebush bloom within the next month. In 1959 Demarest was named the lead actor of the 18-week sitcom Love and Marriage on NBC in the 1959–1960 season. Demarest played William Harris, the owner of a failing music company who refuses to handle popular rock and roll music, which presumably might save the firm from bankruptcy. Joining Demarest on the series were Jeanne Bal, Murray Hamilton and Stubby Kaye. Demarest appeared as Police Chief Aloysius of the Santa Rosita Police Department in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), as well as on a memorable episode ("What's in the Box") of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone as a hen-pecked husband driven to the murder of his wife. His most famous television role was in the ABC and then CBS sitcom My Three Sons from 1965 to 1972, playing Uncle Charley O'Casey. He replaced William Frawley, whose failing health had made procuring insurance impossible. Demarest had worked with Fred MacMurray previously in the films Hands Across the Table (1935), Pardon My Past (1945), On Our Merry Way (1948), and The Far Horizons (1955) and was a personal friend of MacMurray. Also, he worked with Irene Dunne in Never a Dull Moment (1950).

Works

145 films

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

19637.0

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

19397.8

Hollywood Victory Caravan

19455.6

That Darn Cat!

19656.6

The Jazz Singer

19276.1

Television: The First Fifty Years

1999

Viva Las Vegas

19646.1

Sharp Shooters

19287.0

Sullivan's Travels

19417.4

The Lady Eve

19417.3

Pardon My Past

19456.7

The Great Ziegfeld

19366.3

Escape from Fort Bravo

19536.3

Son of Flubber

19636.1

The Mountain

19566.9

Hail the Conquering Hero

19447.1

Along Came Jones

19455.8

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

19386.9

All Through the Night

19426.7

Dressed to Kill

19416.3

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

19736.0

The Far Horizons

19556.3

Easy Living

19377.2

Simple Sis

19279.0

Variety Girl

19476.5

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

19486.8

When Willie Comes Marching Home

19506.9

Red, Hot and Blue

19496.2

What Price Glory

19525.7

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

19764.3

Pepe

19606.3

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

19446.8

Wake Up and Live

19376.2

The Palm Beach Story

19427.0

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

19977.7

The Devil and Miss Jones

19417.7

Salty O'Rourke

19456.0

Lucy Gallant

19557.0

Nine Girls

19445.8

Rosalie

19376.0

On Our Merry Way

19485.7

The Perils of Pauline

19476.7

Jamboree

1954

Pardon My Sarong

19426.5

The Rawhide Years

19565.6

The Yellow Mountain

19545.4

Time Out for Romance

19376.0

Christmas in July

19407.0

The Murder Man

19357.1

The Strip

19515.9

Big City

19377.7

Wedding Present

19366.3

Dangerous When Wet

19536.0

Stage Door Canteen

19436.3

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

19615.8

The Private War of Major Benson

19556.7

Whispering Smith

19486.7

Hands Across the Table

19357.0

Hell on Frisco Bay

19555.3

The Great McGinty

19407.0

He's a Cockeyed Wonder

19504.3

Charlie Chan at the Opera

19366.8

Oh, Doctor

19377.0

Riding High

19506.1

Sincerely Yours

19555.9

Jupiter's Darling

19554.9

The Sainted Sisters

19487.3

The Great Moment

19445.8

A Girl in Every Port

19286.0

Fugitive Lady

19348.0

The Lady Wants Mink

19538.0

Never a Dull Moment

19506.1

Laugh It Off

19396.0

Excuse My Dust

19517.8

Little Men

19405.5

Duffy's Tavern

19456.4

The Golden Fleecing

19405.9

Sorrowful Jones

19496.6

The Jolson Story

19466.8

True to Life

19438.0

Blonde Trouble

19377.0

Once Upon a Time

19445.8

The Gay Old Bird

19278.0

The Cowboy Quarterback

19396.7

Diamond Jim

19356.5

King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein

19616.4

Finger Prints

19277.0

King of the Turf

19397.0

The Night Court

19277.0

After Office Hours

19356.5

Behind the Eight Ball

19425.3

A Sailor's Sweetheart

19278.0

Johnny Doughboy

19425.6

The Blazing Forest

19526.5

Glamour Boy

19416.5

Fog Over Frisco

19346.4

The First Legion

19517.4

Rookies on Parade

194110.0

Here Come the Girls

19534.6

The Great Gambini

19377.5

Wolf of New York

19407.5

The Wild McCullochs

19754.5

Life Begins at Eight-Thirty

19426.8

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

19396.3

The Great Man Votes

19396.4

A Reno Divorce

19279.0

Love on the Run

19366.5

The Hit Parade

19376.3

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus

19385.4

The Casino Murder Case

19356.8

White Lies

19357.5

Miracles for Sale

19396.5

Bright Lights

19355.1

The Farmer's Daughter

19405.3

Behave Yourself!

19516.2

Ride on Vaquero

19415.2

Five and Ten Cent Annie

192810.0

The Millionaire

19788.0

A Million Bid

19277.0

Many Happy Returns

19345.3

Don't Tell the Wife

19376.0

Dangerous Blondes

19436.3

Romance on the Run

19387.0

While New York Sleeps

19387.0

Twenty Plus Two

19616.8

My Favorite Spy

19425.7

The Great Hospital Mystery

19375.5

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

19466.5

One Wild Night

19387.8

The Bush Leaguer

192710.0

The First Auto

19275.8

True to the Army

19428.0

Josette

19387.2

Comin' Round the Mountain

19409.0

The Butter and Egg Man

19289.0

Jolson Sings Again

19496.4

Mind Your Own Business

193610.0

Matinee Ladies

19279.0

The Crash

19288.0

Pay as You Enter

19288.0

What Happened To Father

19278.0

Country Fair

19418.0

The Black Diamond Express

19279.0

Don't Tell the Wife

19279.0

Seeing Things

19309.0