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

Television: The First Fifty Years

1999

Hollywood Victory Caravan

19455.6

That Darn Cat!

19656.6

Viva Las Vegas

19646.1

The Jazz Singer

19276.1

Sullivan's Travels

19417.4

The Lady Eve

19417.3

Sharp Shooters

19287.0

Along Came Jones

19455.8

Hail the Conquering Hero

19447.1

The Great Ziegfeld

19366.3

Escape from Fort Bravo

19536.3

Son of Flubber

19636.1

The Mountain

19566.9

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

19736.0

All Through the Night

19426.7

The Far Horizons

19556.3

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

19386.9

Pardon My Past

19456.7

Easy Living

19377.2

Dressed to Kill

19416.3

When Willie Comes Marching Home

19506.9

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

19764.3

Simple Sis

19279.0

Pepe

19606.3

The Palm Beach Story

19427.0

Rosalie

19376.0

Jamboree

1954

Nine Girls

19445.8

Salty O'Rourke

19456.0

Stage Door Canteen

19436.3

Variety Girl

19476.5

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

19977.7

On Our Merry Way

19485.7

Time Out for Romance

19376.0

The Strip

19515.9

What Price Glory

19525.7

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

19446.8

Wake Up and Live

19376.2

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

19486.8

The Devil and Miss Jones

19417.7

Jupiter's Darling

19554.9

Lucy Gallant

19557.0

He's a Cockeyed Wonder

19504.3

Dangerous When Wet

19536.0

Pardon My Sarong

19426.5

Riding High

19506.1

The Rawhide Years

19565.6

The Perils of Pauline

19476.7

Hands Across the Table

19357.0

The Private War of Major Benson

19556.7

The Yellow Mountain

19545.4

Laugh It Off

19396.0

Charlie Chan at the Opera

19366.8

The Great McGinty

19407.0

Oh, Doctor

19377.0

Whispering Smith

19486.7

Fugitive Lady

19348.0

The Lady Wants Mink

19538.0

The Murder Man

19357.1

Blonde Trouble

19377.0

Red, Hot and Blue

19496.2

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

19615.8

After Office Hours

19356.5

A Girl in Every Port

19286.0

Big City

19377.7

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

19616.4

Hell on Frisco Bay

19555.3

Excuse My Dust

19517.8

The Sainted Sisters

19487.3

Fog Over Frisco

19346.4

The Jolson Story

19466.8

The Blazing Forest

19526.5

Wedding Present

19366.3

Christmas in July

19407.0

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus

19385.4

A Sailor's Sweetheart

19278.0

The Gay Old Bird

19278.0

The Wild McCullochs

19754.5

Finger Prints

19277.0

The Great Moment

19445.8

Sincerely Yours

19555.9

Sorrowful Jones

19496.6

Once Upon a Time

19445.8

Here Come the Girls

19534.6

The Golden Fleecing

19405.9

Never a Dull Moment

19506.1

The Night Court

19277.0

Diamond Jim

19356.5

Wolf of New York

19407.5

True to Life

19438.0

Johnny Doughboy

19425.6

The Great Gambini

19377.5

Life Begins at Eight-Thirty

19426.8

The Cowboy Quarterback

19396.7

King of the Turf

19397.0

While New York Sleeps

19387.0

The Great Man Votes

19396.4

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

19396.3

My Favorite Spy

19425.7

Twenty Plus Two

19616.8

The Casino Murder Case

19356.8

One Wild Night

19387.8

Bright Lights

19355.1

Behave Yourself!

19516.2

The Farmer's Daughter

19405.3

Little Men

19405.5

Rookies on Parade

194110.0

Glamour Boy

19416.5

Duffy's Tavern

19456.4

Dangerous Blondes

19436.3

Romance on the Run

19387.0

The First Legion

19517.4

The Great Hospital Mystery

19375.5

Miracles for Sale

19396.5

Many Happy Returns

19345.3

Jolson Sings Again

19496.4

Behind the Eight Ball

19425.3

A Reno Divorce

19279.0

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

19466.5

Josette

19387.2

White Lies

19357.5

Love on the Run

19366.5

Don't Tell the Wife

19376.0

The Crash

19288.0

The Millionaire

19788.0

Comin' Round the Mountain

19409.0

Country Fair

19418.0

The Hit Parade

19376.3

Ride on Vaquero

19415.2

The Butter and Egg Man

19289.0

Five and Ten Cent Annie

192810.0

Matinee Ladies

19279.0

True to the Army

19428.0

What Happened To Father

19278.0

Mind Your Own Business

193610.0

The First Auto

19275.8

The Bush Leaguer

192710.0

Don't Tell the Wife

19279.0

Pay as You Enter

19288.0

A Million Bid

19277.0

Seeing Things

19309.0

The Black Diamond Express

19279.0