William Demarest

William Demarest

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).

Known For: Acting

Born: Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, 1892-02-27

Died: 1983-12-28

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1927	Finger Prints	Cuffs Egan	0
2	1927	Don't Tell the Wife	Ray Valerian	0
3	1927	The Gay Old Bird	Mr. Fixit	0
4	1927	Matinee Ladies	Man About Town	0
5	1927	A Million Bid	George Lamont	0
6	1927	Simple Sis		0
7	1927	The Black Diamond Express	Train Engine Fireman	0
8	1927	What Happened To Father	Detective Dibbin	0
9	1927	The First Auto	The Village Cut-Up	45
10	1927	The Bush Leaguer	John Gilroy	0
11	1927	A Sailor's Sweetheart	Detective	70
12	1927	The Jazz Singer	Buster Billings (uncredited)	61
13	1927	A Reno Divorce	James, the chauffeur	0
14	1927	The Night Court	Defense Counsel	0
15	1928	Sharp Shooters	'Hi Jack' Murdock	0
16	1928	A Girl in Every Port	Man in Bombay (uncredited)	64
17	1928	Pay as You Enter	'Terrible Bill' McGovern	0
18	1928	Five and Ten Cent Annie	Briggs	0
19	1928	The Butter and Egg Man	Jack McLure	0
20	1928	The Crash	Louie	0
21	1930	Seeing Things	The Heir	0
22	1934	Fog Over Frisco	Spike Smith	62
23	1934	Many Happy Returns	Brinker	53
24	1934	Fugitive Lady	Steve Rogers	60
25	1935	After Office Hours	Police Detective (uncredited)	64
26	1935	The Casino Murder Case	Auctioneer (uncredited)	65
27	1935	The Murder Man	'Red' Maguire	69
28	1935	Bright Lights	Detective	45
29	1935	Diamond Jim	Harry Hill	60
30	1935	Hands Across the Table	Regi's Date Natty (uncredited)	69
31	1935	White Lies	Roberts	60
32	1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Gene Buck (uncredited)	63
33	1936	Wedding Present	'Smiles' Benson	65
34	1936	Love on the Run	Editor	64
35	1936	Charlie Chan at the Opera	Sergeant Kelly	68
36	1936	Mind Your Own Business	Droopy	0
37	1937	Time Out for Romance	Willoughby Sproggs	56
38	1937	Don't Tell the Wife	Larry 'Horace' Tucker	0
39	1937	Oh, Doctor	Marty Short	0
40	1937	The Hit Parade	Parole Officer	50
41	1937	The Great Hospital Mystery	Mr. Beatty	40
42	1937	The Great Gambini	Sergeant Kirby	60
43	1937	Easy Living	Wallace Whistling	70
44	1937	Blonde Trouble	Paul Sears	0
45	1937	Wake Up and Live	Radio Center Tour Guide	53
46	1937	Big City	Mr. Beecher	74
47	1937	Rosalie	Army Coach	55
48	1938	Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm	Harry Kipper	67
49	1938	Romance on the Run	Police Lt. Eckhardt	0
50	1938	One Wild Night	Collins	55
51	1938	Josette	Joe, Diner Owner	65
52	1938	Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus	Daro	48
53	1938	While New York Sleeps	Red Miller	0
54	1939	The Great Man Votes	Charles Dole	61
55	1939	King of the Turf	Arnold	70
56	1939	The Gracie Allen Murder Case	Police Sgt. Ernest Heath	55
57	1939	The Cowboy Quarterback	Rusty Walker	55
58	1939	Miracles for Sale	Quinn	64
59	1939	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Bill Griffith	79
60	1939	Laugh It Off	Barney 'Gimpy' Cole	20
61	1940	Wolf of New York	Bill Ennis	70
62	1940	The Farmer's Daughter	Victor Walsh	50
63	1940	The Great McGinty	Skeeters - The Politician	69
64	1940	The Golden Fleecing	Swallow	53
65	1940	Comin' Round the Mountain	Gutsy Mann	0
66	1940	Christmas in July	Mr. Bildocker	69
67	1940	Little Men	Constable Tom Thorpe	56
68	1941	The Lady Eve	Muggsy	72
69	1941	The Devil and Miss Jones	First Detective	77
70	1941	Rookies on Parade	Mike Brady	0
71	1941	Ride on Vaquero	Bartender Barney	42
72	1941	Country Fair	Stogie McPhee	0
73	1941	Dressed to Kill	Inspector Pierson	63
74	1941	Sullivan's Travels	Mr. Jones	74
75	1941	Glamour Boy	Papa Doran	60
76	1942	All Through the Night	Sunshine	70
77	1942	True to the Army	Sgt. Butts	0
78	1942	My Favorite Spy	Flower Pot Policeman	52
79	1942	Pardon My Sarong	Detective Kendall	65
80	1942	The Palm Beach Story	First Member Ale and Quail Club	70
81	1942	Behind the Eight Ball	McKenzie	47
82	1942	Life Begins at Eight-Thirty	Police Officer	65
83	1942	Johnny Doughboy	Harry Fabian	54
84	1943	Stage Door Canteen	William Demarest	58
85	1943	Dangerous Blondes	Detective Gatling	60
86	1943	True to Life	Uncle Jake	60
87	1944	Nine Girls	Walter Cummings	53
88	1944	Once Upon a Time	Brandt	58
89	1944	The Great Moment	Eben Frost	58
90	1944	Hail the Conquering Hero	Sgt. Heppelfinger	70
91	1944	The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek	Constable Edmund Kockenlocker	68
92	1945	Salty O'Rourke	Smitty	52
93	1945	Along Came Jones	George Fury	57
94	1945	Duffy's Tavern	William Demarest	61
95	1945	Hollywood Victory Caravan	Bill, the Security Guard	52
96	1945	Pardon My Past	Chuck Gibson	60
97	1946	Our Hearts Were Growing Up	Peanuts Schultz	62
98	1946	The Jolson Story	Steve Martin	66
99	1947	The Perils of Pauline	George 'Mac' McGuire	62
100	1947	Variety Girl	Barker	61
101	1948	On Our Merry Way	Floyd	55
102	1948	The Sainted Sisters	Vern Tewilliger	70
103	1948	Night Has a Thousand Eyes	Lt. Shawn	67
104	1948	Whispering Smith	Bill Dansing	65
105	1949	Sorrowful Jones	Regret	61
106	1949	Jolson Sings Again	Steve Martin	60
107	1949	Red, Hot and Blue	Charlie Baxter	58
108	1950	When Willie Comes Marching Home	Herman Kluggs	68
109	1950	Riding High	Happy	58
110	1950	Never a Dull Moment	Mears	54
111	1950	He's a Cockeyed Wonder	Bob Sears	33
112	1951	The First Legion	Monsignor Michael Carey	68
113	1951	Excuse My Dust	Harvey Bullitt	72
114	1951	The Strip	Fluff	57
115	1951	Behave Yourself!	O'Ryan	60
116	1952	What Price Glory	Corporal Kiper	55
117	1952	The Blazing Forest	Syd Jessup	60
118	1953	The Lady Wants Mink	Harvey Jones	60
119	1953	Dangerous When Wet	Pa Higgins	60
120	1953	Here Come the Girls	Dennis Logan	44
121	1953	Escape from Fort Bravo	Campbell	62
122	1954	The Yellow Mountain	Jackpot Wray	51
123	1955	Jupiter's Darling	Mago	43
124	1955	The Far Horizons	Sgt. Gass	62
125	1955	The Private War of Major Benson	John	67
126	1955	Lucy Gallant	Charles Madden	70
127	1955	Sincerely Yours	Sam Dunne	58
128	1955	Hell on Frisco Bay	Dan Bianco	52
129	1956	The Mountain	Father Belacchi	69
130	1956	The Rawhide Years	Brand Comfort	55
131	1960	Pepe	Movie Studio Gateman	62
132	1961	King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein	Henry Hecht	60
133	1961	Twenty Plus Two	Desmond Slocum	63
134	1961	Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon	Jeb	56
135	1963	Son of Flubber	Mr. Hummel	59
136	1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Police Chief Aloysius	70
137	1964	Viva Las Vegas	Mr. Martin	62
138	1965	That Darn Cat!	Mr. MacDougall	66
139	1973	Don't Be Afraid of the Dark	Mr. Harris	61
140	1975	The Wild McCullochs	Father Gurkin	40
141	1976	Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood	Studio Gatekeeper	41
142	1978	The Millionaire	Oscar Pugh	0
143	1997	Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line	Self (archive footage)	70
144	1999	Television: The First Fifty Years	Charlie O'Casey (archive footage)	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1951	The Red Skelton Show	Senator Burnside	74
2	1954	Studio 57		0
3	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Mr. Hummel (archive footage)	78
4	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Tom Akins	77
5	1957	Tales of Wells Fargo	Jeb Gaine (credit only)	63
6	1957	Wagon Train	Mr. Hennessey	63
7	1959	Bonanza	Enos Milford	75
8	1959	Bonanza	Angus Tweedy	75
9	1959	Love and Marriage	William Harris	0
10	1959	The Twilight Zone	Joe Britt	85
11	1959	The Rebel	Ulysses Bowman	51
12	1960	My Three Sons	Charley O'Casey	65
13	1961	Dr. Kildare	Mr. Aimes	55
14	1961	Ben Casey		56
15	1961	The Mike Douglas Show	Self	54
16	1962	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Self	75
17	1962	Going My Way		57
18	1963	The Greatest Show on Earth	Paul Keller	50
19	1963	Burke's Law	Charlie Who	60
20	1963	The Jerry Lewis Show	Self	70
21	1971	McMillan & Wife	Cyrus McFee	69
22	1971	McMillan & Wife	Andy Kenesaw	69
23	1975	Ellery Queen	Alexander 'Pop' Denny	74

William Demarest

Film

Television