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).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

7.9

The Twilight Zone

8.4

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

7.0

Sullivan's Travels

7.4

Bonanza

7.5

The Lady Eve

7.2

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

7.7

The Jazz Singer

6.1

The Palm Beach Story

7.0

That Darn Cat!

6.5

Viva Las Vegas

6.2

The Great Ziegfeld

6.2

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

6.8

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

6.1

Christmas in July

6.9

Escape from Fort Bravo

6.2

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

7.4

The Great McGinty

6.9

Hail the Conquering Hero

7.0

Son of Flubber

5.9

Easy Living

7.0

All Through the Night

7.0

The Devil and Miss Jones

7.7

Pepe

6.1

The Mountain

6.9

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

6.7

Ellery Queen

7.4

Charlie Chan at the Opera

6.8

Along Came Jones

5.8

My Three Sons

6.5

The Wonderful World of Disney

7.6

Wagon Train

6.3

Pardon My Sarong

6.5

Dressed to Kill

6.4

McMillan & Wife

7.1

The Far Horizons

6.2

What Price Glory

5.5

Dangerous When Wet

6.0

A Girl in Every Port

6.4

The Great Moment

5.8

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

6.7

Whispering Smith

6.4

Fog Over Frisco

6.2

Dr. Kildare

5.3

The Jolson Story

6.7

Miracles for Sale

6.4

Hands Across the Table

6.8

Behave Yourself!

6.1

Love on the Run

6.4

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

4.1

The Red Skelton Show

7.3

Stage Door Canteen

6.1

On Our Merry Way

5.5

Ben Casey

5.6

The Murder Man

6.9

The Strip

5.7

The Rawhide Years

5.5

The Private War of Major Benson

6.7

Wedding Present

6.5

When Willie Comes Marching Home

6.8

After Office Hours

6.4

Hell on Frisco Bay

5.0

Once Upon a Time

5.8

Burke's Law

6.0

Tales of Wells Fargo

6.3

Jolson Sings Again

6.0

The Yellow Mountain

5.1

The Casino Murder Case

6.5

Variety Girl

6.1

Never a Dull Moment

5.4

Hollywood Victory Caravan

5.2

Sorrowful Jones

6.1

The Perils of Pauline

6.2

Little Men

6.1

The Rebel

5.1

Salty O'Rourke

5.2

Riding High

5.8

Here Come the Girls

4.4

Duffy's Tavern

6.1

The Mike Douglas Show

5.1

Jupiter's Darling

4.3

The Golden Fleecing

5.3

Sincerely Yours

5.8

Johnny Doughboy

5.5

The Great Man Votes

6.1

Rosalie

5.5

Lucy Gallant

7.0

Big City

7.4

My Favorite Spy

5.2

Pardon My Past

6.0

Time Out for Romance

5.6

Gunfight at Black Horses Canyon

5.6

Dangerous Blondes

6.0

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

6.0

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

5.5

Excuse My Dust

7.2

Red, Hot and Blue

5.8

Ride on Vaquero

4.2

The First Legion

6.8

Life Begins at Eight-Thirty

6.5

The First Auto

4.5

Bright Lights

4.5

Twenty Plus Two

6.0

He's a Cockeyed Wonder

3.3

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus

4.3

Josette

6.7

The Great Hospital Mystery

4.0

The Farmer's Daughter

5.0

Behind the Eight Ball

4.7

Nine Girls

5.3

Many Happy Returns

5.3

Wake Up and Live

5.3

Going My Way

5.7

The Cowboy Quarterback

5.5

The Sainted Sisters

7.0

True to Life

6.0

The Wild McCullochs

4.0

Our Hearts Were Growing Up

6.2

Wolf of New York

7.0

The Hit Parade

4.0

The Lady Wants Mink

6.0

The Blazing Forest

6.0

One Wild Night

5.5

Glamour Boy

6.0

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line

7.0

The Great Gambini

6.0

Fugitive Lady

6.0

Laugh It Off

2.0

Diamond Jim

6.0

White Lies

6.0

King of the Turf

7.0

The Greatest Show on Earth

5.0

The Jerry Lewis Show

7.0

Sharp Shooters

0.0

The Butter and Egg Man

0.0

Don't Tell the Wife

0.0

Seeing Things

0.0

While New York Sleeps

0.0

The Black Diamond Express

0.0

The Night Court

0.0

Mind Your Own Business

0.0

Romance on the Run

0.0

The Millionaire

0.0

Country Fair

0.0

Television: The First Fifty Years

0.0

Rookies on Parade

0.0

Oh, Doctor

0.0

A Reno Divorce

0.0

Five and Ten Cent Annie

0.0

A Million Bid

0.0

True to the Army

0.0

The Crash

0.0

Comin' Round the Mountain

0.0

What Happened To Father

0.0

Blonde Trouble

0.0

Finger Prints

0.0

A Sailor's Sweetheart

0.0

Pay as You Enter

0.0

Simple Sis

0.0

The Bush Leaguer

0.0

Love and Marriage

0.0

Studio 57

0.0