Chill Wills
Acting • Born 1902-07-18 – Died 1978-12-15
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Chill Theodore Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career. One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Mule in a series of popular films. Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, Francis Joins the WACS. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West (1937), in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared. Wills was cast in numerous serious film roles, including as "the city of Chicago" as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant (1956), which also features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Davy Crockett's companion "Beekeeper" in the film The Alamo (1960). However, his aggressive campaign for the award was considered tasteless by many, including the film's star/director/producer John Wayne, who publicly apologized for Wills. Wills' publicity agent, W.S. "Bow-Wow" Wojciechowicz, accepted blame for the ill-advised effort, claiming that Wills had known nothing about it. The Oscar was instead won by Peter Ustinov for his role as Lentulus Batiatus in Spartacus. In Rory Calhoun's CBS western series The Texan, Wills appeared in the lead role in the 1960 episode entitled "The Eyes of Captain Wylie". Wills starred in the short-run series Frontier Circus which aired for only one season (1961–62) on CBS. In 1966, he was cast in the role of a shady Texas rancher, Jim Ed Love, in the short-lived ABC comedy/western series The Rounders (reprising his role in the 1965 film The Rounders, starring Henry Fonda), with co-stars Ron Hayes, Patrick Wayne and Walker Edmiston. in 1963-64, Wills joined William Lundigan, Walter Brennan and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, Wills refused to support Richard Nixon for the presidency and served as master of ceremonies for George C. Wallace, former governor of Alabama, for the California campaign stops in Wallace's presidential campaign.[5] Wills was among the few Hollywood celebrities to endorse Wallace's bid against Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey; another was Walter Brennan. Also in 1968, he starred in the Gunsmoke episode "A Noose for Dobie Price", where he played Elihu Gorman, a former outlaw who joins forces with Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, to track down a member of his former gang who has escaped jail. His last role was in 1978, as a janitor in Stubby Pringle's Christmas. CLR Description above from the Wikipedia article Chill Wills, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
133 credits
Meet Me in St. Louis
Movie • 1944
Mr. Neely
Giant
Movie • 1956
Uncle Bawley
The Alamo
Movie • 1960
Beekeeper
I'll Be Seeing You
Movie • 1944
Swanson
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Movie • 1973
Lemuel
Rio Grande
Movie • 1950
Dr. Wilkins
The Rounders
Movie • 1965
Jim Ed Love
City That Never Sleeps
Movie • 1953
Sgt. Joe, the 'Voice of Chicago'
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Movie • 1942
Manchester Montford
The Westerner
Movie • 1940
Southeast
The Wheeler Dealers
Movie • 1963
Jay Ray Spinelby
Where the Boys Are
Movie • 1960
Police Captain
The Sundowners
Movie • 1950
Sam Beers
McLintock!
Movie • 1963
Drago
Western Union
Movie • 1941
Homer Kettle
Allegheny Uprising
Movie • 1939
M'Cammon
Francis in the Navy
Movie • 1955
Francis (voice) (uncredited)
Mr. Billion
Movie • 1977
Col. Clayton T. Winkle
The Man from the Alamo
Movie • 1953
John Gage
Sky Murder
Movie • 1940
Sheriff Beckwith
Leave Her to Heaven
Movie • 1945
Leick Thome
The Deadly Companions
Movie • 1961
Turk
The Yearling
Movie • 1946
Buck Forrester
Belle Starr
Movie • 1941
Blue Duck
Boom Town
Movie • 1940
Harmony Jones
From Hell to Texas
Movie • 1958
Amos Bradley
Fireball 500
Movie • 1966
Big Jaw
Honky Tonk
Movie • 1941
The Sniper
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
Movie • 1970
Gentleman George Agnew
High Lonesome
Movie • 1950
Boatwhistle
Family Honeymoon
Movie • 1948
Fred
The Bugle Sounds
Movie • 1942
Sgt. Larry Dillon
Her Cardboard Lover
Movie • 1942
Judge
Tulsa
Movie • 1949
Pinky Jimpson (Narrator)
The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
Movie • 1961
Major Buford
Cattle Drive
Movie • 1951
Dallas
Gun Glory
Movie • 1957
Preacher
Red Canyon
Movie • 1949
Marshal G.T. Brackton
A Stranger in Town
Movie • 1943
Charles Craig
Drive-In Movie Memories
Movie • 2001
Santiago
Movie • 1956
Captain 'Sidewheel' Jones
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
Movie • 1945
Sgt. Cramp
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
Movie • 1940
Shiftless
Francis Joins the WACS
Movie • 1954
Francis (voice) (uncredited)
The Sad Horse
Movie • 1959
Capt. Connors
Francis Goes to the Races
Movie • 1951
Francis (voice) (uncredited)
The Grass Is Always Greener
Movie • 1950
Windy
The Sainted Sisters
Movie • 1948
Will Twitchell
Young Guns of Texas
Movie • 1962
Preacher Sam Shelby
Sunday Dinner for a Soldier
Movie • 1944
Mr. York
Bronco Buster
Movie • 1952
Dan Bream
Racketeers of the Range
Movie • 1939
Whopper Hatch
Gun for a Coward
Movie • 1956
Loving
Gallant Bess
Movie • 1946
Chief Petty Officer
Tumbleweed
Movie • 1953
Sheriff Murchoree
The Cardinal
Movie • 1963
Monsignor
Oh! Susanna
Movie • 1951
Sgt. Barhydt
Gold of the Seven Saints
Movie • 1961
Doc Wilson Gates, M.D.
Timberjack
Movie • 1955
Steve Riika
Barbary Coast Gent
Movie • 1944
Sheriff Hightower
Northwest Stampede
Movie • 1948
Mileaway
Kentucky Rifle
Movie • 1956
Tobias Taylor
At Sea Ashore
Movie • 1936
Leader of The Avalon Four (uncredited)
That Wonderful Urge
Movie • 1948
Homer Beggs
Apache Trail
Movie • 1942
'Pike' Skelton
Sorority House
Movie • 1939
Mr. Johnson
Way Out West
Movie • 1937
Lead Singer of the Avalon Boys / Stan's Bass Singing (uncredited)
Billy the Kid
Movie • 1941
Tom Patterson
Rock Island Trail
Movie • 1950
Hogger McCoy
Ride the Man Down
Movie • 1952
Ike Adams
Arizona Legion
Movie • 1939
Whopper Hatch
Bar 20 Rides Again
Movie • 1935
Henchman
Ricochet Romance
Movie • 1954
Tom Williams
Best Foot Forward
Movie • 1943
Chester Short
The Day the Bookies Wept
Movie • 1939
Man on Bus (uncredited)
Call of the Prairie
Movie • 1936
Singing Cowhand
Timber Stampede
Movie • 1939
Whopper Hatch
The Omaha Trail
Movie • 1942
Henry Hawkins
Lawless Valley
Movie • 1938
Deputy Speedy McGow
Trouble in Sundown
Movie • 1939
Whopper
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Movie • 1970
Mr. Ike
Stella
Movie • 1950
Chief Clark
Wyoming
Movie • 1940
Lafe
Hell's Outpost
Movie • 1954
Kevin Russell
Stand by for Action
Movie • 1942
Mate Jenks, Chef-Bootsmann
Heartaches
Movie • 1947
'Breezie' Mann
Francis
Movie • 1950
Francis the Talking Mule (voice)
Poco… Little Dog Lost
Movie • 1977
Big Burt
Francis Covers the Big Town
Movie • 1953
Francis (voice) (uncredited)
Francis Goes to West Point
Movie • 1952
Francis (voice) (uncredited)
Stubby Pringle's Christmas
Movie • 1978
The Janitor
The Sea Hornet
Movie • 1951
Swede
That's Entertainment! III
Movie • 1994
(archive footage)
The Bad Man
Movie • 1941
'Red' Giddings
Loaded Pistols
Movie • 1948
Sheriff Cramer
Guns of a Stranger
Movie • 1973
Tom Duncan
New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant'
Movie • 1956
Host
See Here, Private Hargrove
Movie • 1944
First Sgt. Cramp
Mr. Gardenia Jones
Movie • 1942
Hotel Employee
The Steagle
Movie • 1971
Tall Guy McCoy
Big Daddy
Movie • 1969
It's Showtime
Movie • 1976
Self (archive footage)
The Harvey Girls
Movie • 1946
H.H. Hartsey
Disneyland '59
Movie • 1959
Self
John Wayne's 'The Alamo'
Movie • 1992
Beekeeper
The Saxon Charm
Movie • 1948
Captain Chatham
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
Movie • 2004
Self (archive footage)
Nobody's Baby
Movie • 1937
Amateur Hour Quartet Singer
The Over the Hill Gang
Movie • 1969
Gentleman George Agnew
High Barbaree
Movie • 1947
Lars (uncredited)
Hideaway Girl
Movie • 1936
Lead Singer of Avalon Boys
The Immortal Blacksmith
Movie • 1944
Tom Davenport
The Western: A Lost TV Special
Movie • 1958
Self
Small Town Girl
Movie • 1953
Happy
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Harry Riggs
Trackdown
TV • 1957
Route 66
TV • 1960
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Abe Blocker
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
The Janitor
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Mr. Kilmer
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Sheriff Asa Tanner
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
Tarzan
TV • 1966
Night Gallery
TV • 1970
Heppelwhite (segment "The Little Black Bag")
Frontier Circus
TV • 1961
Colonel Casey Thompson /Col. Casey Thompson
The Texan
TV • 1958
The Rounders
TV • 1966
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Red Conniston
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Elihu Gorman
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Stanton Custer
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
General Hector Harder
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self