William Demarest

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William Demarest
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1923 photograph of William Demarest
Born
Carl William Demarest

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Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
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Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting place
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from textActor
Years active1926–1978
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Estelle Collette
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(m. 1923; div. 1941)​
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Lucille Thayer
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(m. 1942)​
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Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American actor, known especially for his supporting roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and as Uncle Charley in the sitcom My Three Sons from 1965 until 1972.[1] Demarest, who frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles, was a prolific film and television actor, appearing in over 140 films, beginning in 1926 and ending in the late 1970s. Before his career in movies, he performed in vaudeville for two decades.[2]

Early life

Carl William Demarest was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the youngest of three sons of Wilhelmina (née Lindgren) and Samuel Demarest.[3] During William's infancy, the family moved to New Bridge, a hamlet in Bergen County, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I.[4]

Career

Demarest began his career performing in Vaudeville, in his youth with his two older brothers and later with his wife Estelle Collette (born Esther Zichlin) as "Demarest and Colette".[2] He then moved to Broadway, and by 1926 had moved into films. By the 1940s he was a member of director Preston Sturges' informal troupe of character actors, appearing in 10 films written by Sturges, many of them screwball comedies, and eight films in all under Sturges' direction. Among these he had prominent roles in The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero, 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 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard as a potential star for William Holden's unsold baseball screenplay.

File:Don Grady William Demarest My Three Sons 1969.JPG
Demarest with Don Grady in My Three Sons (1969)

In 1951 Demarest had a featured role in The Strip opposite Mickey Rooney as a philosophic nightclub owner and pianist fronting for a band composed of Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Barney Bigard, Earl "Fatha" Hines, and Rooney himself on drums.

He played folksy Jeb Gaine, an occasional sidekick to the main character, in the 1961–62 season of the Western series Tales of Wells Fargo.

Demarest appeared as Police Chief Aloysius of the Santa Rosita Police Department in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and in 1964 he co-starred in an episode originally aired in the final season of The Twilight Zone ("What's in the Box"), portraying a hen-pecked husband who murders his wife, played by Joan Blondell. Several years later, Blondell and Demarest reunited on an episode of My Three Sons.

His most famous television role was in the sitcom My Three Sons from 1965 to 1972, playing Uncle Charley O'Casey. He replaced William Frawley, who was in failing health. Demarest had worked with series star 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.

Personal life

File:Estelle Collette.png
Demarest's first wife, Estelle Collette[5]

Demarest was married twice. His first wife was his vaudeville partner Estelle Collette, born Esther Zichlin.[6][7] Demarest helped raise her daughter, author Phyllis Gordon Demarest, from her earlier marriage, in 1907, to English poet and novelist Samuel Gordon, who had divorced Zichlin before his death.[8] Demarest's second wife was Lucille Thayer, born Lucille Theurer, whom he married in Prescott, Arizona, on August 31, 1942.[9] Thayer, who later became an activist on health issues in the motion picture industry, was appointed California's lay-chairman of the American Nurses Association in October 1960.[10]

Death

Demarest died at his home in Palm Springs, California on December 28, 1983,[2] and his body is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[11]

Awards and recognition

Demarest received a single Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in The Jolson Story (1946), playing Al Jolson's fictional mentor. He shared the screen with the real Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer.

Demarest also received an Emmy nomination for the 1968–1969 season of My Three Sons as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Role.

Demarest has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to motion pictures, bestowed upon him on August 8, 1979, by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.[12][13] In attendance at the ceremony and then later at Musso & Frank Grill for celebrations were his My Three Sons co-stars Fred MacMurray and his wife June Haver, Tina Cole, Stanley Livingston, Barry Livingston, and Dawn Lyn.

In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[14]

Partial filmography

Features

File:Palm Beach Story-Bill Demarest.JPG
Demarest in The Palm Beach Story (1942)

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Short subjects

  • A Night at Coffee Dan's (1927) as M.C.
  • Amateur Night (1927) as Theatre Manager
  • The Night Court (1927) as Defense Counsel (uncredited)
  • Seeing Things (1930)
  • The Run Around (1932)

Television

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1940 Stars over Hollywood The Town Constable[15]

References

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  1. ^ Obituary Variety, January 4, 1984
  2. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pareles, Jon (December 29, 1983). "William Demarest, 91, Actor, Known for Roles in Comedies (obituary)". The New York Times. p. D19. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "Minnesota, Birth and Death Records, 1866-1916," database, Carl William Demorest [sic], February 28, 1892; FHL microfilm 1,309,044, Public Health Center records, Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota. Retrieved via FamilySearch archives, Salt Lake City, Utah.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kaufman, Dave (1968). TV 69: Who's Who, What's What in the New TV Season (mass market paperback). New York: Signet. p. 129.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New Life Member". Vaudeville News. September 30, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved January 20, 2021 – via University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign University Library Digital Collections.
  6. ^ "New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", subscribed online database, Carl William Demarest and Esther (née Zichlin) Gordon, February 5, 1923; records of Manhattan, New York accessed via FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 29, 2022.
  7. ^ Jewish Chronicle of London, January 14, 1927, issue and June 14, 1907, issue. Obituary of her first husband Samuel Gordon (b. 1871 Buk, Bavaria, German Empire, m. June 12, 1907, Miss Esther Zichlin, "a violinist of great promise. There was one child of the marriage, a daughter.", d. 1927 in Wandsworth, London, England).
  8. ^ Jewish Chronicle of London, April 3, 1908, issue.
  9. ^ "Arizona, County Marriages, 1871-1964," database with images, Carl William Demarest and Lucille Theurer, 31 August 1942 in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona; FHL microfilm record 004251853 in Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives, and Public Records, Phoenix. Original marriage documents accessed via FamilySearch, August 29, 2022.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ancestry® | Family Tree, Genealogy & Family History Records". www.ancestry.com.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Forever L.A." Gibbs Smith. August 27, 2010 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."William Demarest". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."William Demarest". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Palm Springs Walk of Stars listed by date dedicated" (PDF). Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 39 (1): 32–41. Winter 2013.

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