William Demarest

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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).

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  • wc Gender: Male
  • calendar_month Birth Date: 1892-02-26
  • event Death Date 1983-12-28
  • school Known for: Acting
  • star Popularity: 8.3
  • info Birth Place Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
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smart_display Movies and TV shows by William Demarest

6.2

Viva Las Vegas

1964-02-08

7.9

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939-10-19

7.2

The Lady Eve

1941-02-25

7

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

1963-11-07

6.7

The Jolson Story

1946-10-10

7

The Palm Beach Story

1942-08-28

6.7

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

1948-08-20

0

Sharp Shooters

1928-01-15

6.1

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

1973-10-10

6.9

The Murder Man

1935-07-12

6.7

Charlie Chan at the Opera

1936-12-04

6.9

Christmas in July

1940-10-25

5.8

The Great Moment

1944-07-18

6.9

The Great McGinty

1940-08-01

7.1

Hail the Conquering Hero

1944-08-09

6.4

Dressed to Kill

1941-08-08

6.8

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

1944-09-18

7

All Through the Night

1942-01-10

6

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

1961-06-11

6

Jolson Sings Again

1949-08-17

7.4

Sullivan's Travels

1941-11-30

0

The Butter and Egg Man

1928-09-22

6.7

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

1938-03-18

0

Don't Tell the Wife

1927-01-22

5.8

Once Upon a Time

1944-06-29

0

Seeing Things

1930-11-25

5.5

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

1939-06-02

7.2

Excuse My Dust

1951-06-27

7.4

Big City

1937-09-03

5.8

Along Came Jones

1945-07-19

6.1

Pepe

1960-12-21

5.5

What Price Glory

1952-08-22

5

Hell on Frisco Bay

1955-12-31

6.2

Escape from Fort Bravo

1953-12-04

6.1

Sorrowful Jones

1949-07-04

6.9

The Mountain

1956-05-31

6.2

The Far Horizons

1955-07-04

5.7

The Strip

1951-08-31

6

Twenty Plus Two

1961-08-13

5.2

My Favorite Spy

1942-06-12

6.2

The Great Ziegfeld

1936-04-08

5.5

The Cowboy Quarterback

1939-07-29

0

While New York Sleeps

1938-12-16

5.5

The Rawhide Years

1956-07-01

0

The Black Diamond Express

1927-06-04

6.7

The Private War of Major Benson

1955-08-02

5.2

Salty O'Rourke

1945-03-22

5.8

Riding High

1950-04-12

4.3

Jupiter's Darling

1955-02-18

6.1

Variety Girl

1947-08-29

4.4

Here Come the Girls

1953-10-22

5.3

The Golden Fleecing

1940-08-16

6.2

The Perils of Pauline

1947-07-04

3.3

He's a Cockeyed Wonder

1950-12-02

7

Wolf of New York

1940-01-23

0

The Night Court

1927-11-15

6.1

Behave Yourself!

1951-09-22

5.8

Sincerely Yours

1955-11-05

6

Pardon My Past

1945-12-24

4.3

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus

1938-12-02

5.8

Red, Hot and Blue

1949-09-05

5.1

The Yellow Mountain

1954-11-16

4.2

Ride on Vaquero

1941-04-18

0

Mind Your Own Business

1936-12-18

4

The Hit Parade

1937-04-26

7

The Sainted Sisters

1948-04-30

6.4

Miracles for Sale

1939-08-10

6

True to Life

1943-12-24

5.5

Johnny Doughboy

1942-12-31

6

The Lady Wants Mink

1953-03-29

6

The Blazing Forest

1952-12-01

0

Romance on the Run

1938-05-11

6.8

The First Legion

1951-05-04

6.1

The Great Man Votes

1939-01-13

6.5

Life Begins at Eight-Thirty

1942-12-09

0

Don't Tell the Wife

1937-03-05

6.5

Wedding Present

1936-10-09

6.4

Love on the Run

1936-11-20

4.5

The First Auto

1927-06-27

4

The Wild McCullochs

1975-05-21

6.7

Josette

1938-06-03

7.1

Easy Living

1937-07-16

0

The Millionaire

1978-12-19

6

Dangerous When Wet

1953-06-18

6.5

Whispering Smith

1948-12-09

5.5

One Wild Night

1938-06-02

6.1

Fog Over Frisco

1934-06-02

4

The Great Hospital Mystery

1937-05-14

6

Glamour Boy

1941-12-05

7

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line

1997-05-12

6.2

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

1946-06-14

5.4

Never a Dull Moment

1950-08-19

5

The Farmer's Daughter

1940-03-29

6.8

When Willie Comes Marching Home

1950-02-17

0

Country Fair

1941-05-05

6.4

After Office Hours

1935-02-22

6.1

The Jazz Singer

1927-10-06

6

The Great Gambini

1937-06-24

6.4

A Girl in Every Port

1928-02-26

0

Television: The First Fifty Years

1999-01-01

5.5

Rosalie

1937-12-24

5.6

Time Out for Romance

1937-02-10

6.1

Stage Door Canteen

1943-06-24

0

Rookies on Parade

1941-04-16

0

Oh, Doctor

1937-03-31

6.5

Pardon My Sarong

1942-08-07

4.7

Behind the Eight Ball

1942-12-04

0

A Reno Divorce

1927-10-22

0

Five and Ten Cent Annie

1928-05-26

6.8

Hands Across the Table

1935-10-18

6

Fugitive Lady

1934-12-10

0

A Million Bid

1927-05-27

6.1

Little Men

1940-11-29

2

Laugh It Off

1939-12-01

4.5

Bright Lights

1935-07-27

5.9

Son of Flubber

1963-01-16

6

Diamond Jim

1935-09-01

7

Lucy Gallant

1955-10-20

5.6

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

1961-10-17

5.2

Hollywood Victory Caravan

1945-09-30

6.1

Duffy's Tavern

1945-09-28

6.5

That Darn Cat!

1965-12-02

5.5

On Our Merry Way

1948-02-03

6

White Lies

1935-12-27

6.5

The Casino Murder Case

1935-03-15

0

True to the Army

1942-03-21

5.3

Nine Girls

1944-02-17

6

Dangerous Blondes

1943-09-23

0

The Crash

1928-10-07

0

Comin' Round the Mountain

1940-08-16

7

King of the Turf

1939-02-17

0

What Happened To Father

1927-06-25

0

Blonde Trouble

1937-08-06

0

Finger Prints

1927-01-08

0

A Sailor's Sweetheart

1927-09-24

0

Pay as You Enter

1928-05-12

0

Simple Sis

1927-06-01

7.8

The Devil and Miss Jones

1941-04-11

5.3

Many Happy Returns

1934-06-08

5.3

Wake Up and Live

1937-08-23

4.1

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

1976-07-26

0

The Bush Leaguer

1927-08-20

6

Burke's Law

1963-09-20

6.5

My Three Sons

1960-09-29

6.8

Tales of Wells Fargo

1957-03-18

8.4

The Twilight Zone

1959-10-02

7.7

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955-10-02

5.7

Going My Way

1962-10-03

5.3

The Rebel

1959-10-04

5.7

Ben Casey

1961-10-02

0

Love and Marriage

1959-09-21

5.4

Dr. Kildare

1961-09-27

5.1

The Mike Douglas Show

1961-12-11

7.4

The Red Skelton Show

1951-09-30

6.4

Wagon Train

1957-09-18

7.5

Bonanza

1959-09-12

7.5

Bonanza

1959-09-12

7.4

Ellery Queen

1975-09-11

7.3

McMillan & Wife

1971-09-29

7.3

McMillan & Wife

1971-09-29

5

The Greatest Show on Earth

1963-09-17

7.6

The Wonderful World of Disney

1954-10-27

0

Studio 57

1954-09-21

7

The Jerry Lewis Show

1963-09-21

7.5

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962-10-01