William Demarest
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Not Available
Famed for his ratchety voice and cold-fish stare, William Demarest was an "old pro" even when he was a young pro. He began his stage career at age 13, holding down a variety of colorful jobs (including professional boxer) during the off-season. After years in carnivals and as a vaudeville headliner, Demarest starred in such Broadway long-runners as Earl Carroll's Sketch Book. He was signed with Warner Bros. pictures in 1926, where he was briefly paired with Clyde Cook as a "Mutt and Jeff"-style comedy team. Demarest's late-silent and early-talkie roles varied in size, becoming more consistently substantial in the late 1930s. His specialty during this period was a bone-crushing pratfall, a physical feat he was able to perform into his 60s. While at Paramount in the 1940s, Demarest was a special favorite of writer/director Preston Sturges, who cast Demarest in virtually all his films: The Great McGinty (1940); Christmas in July (1940); The Lady Eve (1941); Sullivan's Travels (1942); The Palm Beach Story (1942); Hail the Conquering Hero (1944); Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), wherein Demarest was at his bombastic best as Officer Kockenlocker; and The Great Moment (1944). For his role as Al Jolson's fictional mentor Steve Martin in The Jolson Story (1946), Demarest was Oscar-nominated (the actor had, incidentally, appeared with Jolie in 1927's The Jazz Singer). Demarest continued appearing in films until 1975, whenever his increasingly heavy TV schedule would allow. Many Demarest fans assumed that his role as Uncle Charlie in My Three Sons (66-72) was his first regular TV work: in truth, Demarest had previously starred in the short-lived 1960 sitcom Love and Marriage.
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | Salty O'Rourke |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | When Willie Comes Marching Home |
|
— | 2002 |
15% | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood |
|
— | 1976 |
No Score Yet | The McCullochs |
|
— | 1975 |
71% | Don't Be Afraid of the Dark |
|
— | 1973 |
94% | That Darn Cat! |
|
— | 1965 |
86% | Viva Las Vegas |
|
— | 1964 |
70% | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World |
|
— | 1963 |
88% | Son of Flubber |
|
— | 1963 |
No Score Yet | Gunfight in Black Horse Canyon |
|
— | 1961 |
No Score Yet | King of the Roaring Twenties |
|
— | 1961 |
No Score Yet | Twenty Plus Two |
|
— | 1961 |
No Score Yet | Pepe |
|
— | 1960 |
No Score Yet | The Rawhide Years |
|
— | 1956 |
No Score Yet | The Mountain |
|
— | 1956 |
No Score Yet | Lucy Gallant |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | The Private War of Major Benson |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | The Far Horizons |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | Jupiter's Darling |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | Sincerely Yours |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | Hell on Frisco Bay |
|
— | 1955 |
No Score Yet | The Yellow Mountain |
|
— | 1954 |
No Score Yet | Escape From Fort Bravo |
|
— | 1953 |
No Score Yet | Here Come the Girls (Champagne for Everybody) |
|
— | 1953 |
No Score Yet | Dangerous When Wet |
|
— | 1953 |
63% | What Price Glory? |
|
— | 1952 |
No Score Yet | Behave Yourself |
|
— | 1951 |
No Score Yet | The Strip |
|
— | 1951 |
No Score Yet | Excuse My Dust (Mr. Belden's Amazing Gasmobile) |
|
— | 1951 |
No Score Yet | The First Legion |
|
— | 1951 |
No Score Yet | Never a Dull Moment |
|
— | 1950 |
No Score Yet | Riding High |
|
— | 1950 |
100% | Jolson Sings Again |
|
— | 1949 |
No Score Yet | Sorrowful Jones |
|
— | 1949 |
83% | Whispering Smith |
|
— | 1948 |
No Score Yet | Night Has a Thousand Eyes |
|
— | 1948 |
No Score Yet | The Sainted Sisters |
|
— | 1948 |
20% | On Our Merry Way |
|
— | 1948 |
No Score Yet | Variety Girl |
|
— | 1947 |
No Score Yet | The Perils of Pauline |
|
— | 1947 |
100% | The Jolson Story |
|
— | 1946 |
No Score Yet | Our Hearts Were Growing Up |
|
— | 1946 |
No Score Yet | Pardon My Past |
|
— | 1945 |
40% | Along Came Jones |
|
— | 1945 |
95% | Hail the Conquering Hero |
|
— | 1944 |
No Score Yet | Once upon a Time |
|
— | 1944 |
86% | The Miracle of Morgan's Creek |
|
— | 1944 |
No Score Yet | Dangerous Blondes |
|
— | 1943 |
No Score Yet | Stage Door Canteen |
|
— | 1943 |
97% | The Palm Beach Story |
|
— | 1942 |
No Score Yet | Pardon My Sarong |
|
— | 1942 |
100% | All Through the Night |
|
— | 1941 |
100% | Sullivan's Travels |
|
— | 1941 |
No Score Yet | Dressed to Kill |
|
— | 1941 |
100% | The Devil and Miss Jones |
|
— | 1941 |
100% | The Lady Eve |
|
— | 1941 |
No Score Yet | Little Men |
|
— | 1940 |
95% | Christmas in July |
|
— | 1940 |
100% | The Great McGinty |
|
— | 1940 |
96% | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
|
— | 1939 |
No Score Yet | The Gracie Allen Murder Case |
|
— | 1939 |
No Score Yet | The Great Man Votes |
|
— | 1939 |
No Score Yet | King of the Turf |
|
— | 1939 |
No Score Yet | Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus |
|
— | 1938 |
No Score Yet | Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm |
|
— | 1938 |
No Score Yet | Romance on the Run |
|
— | 1938 |
100% | Easy Living |
|
— | 1937 |
No Score Yet | Charlie Chan at the Olympics |
|
— | 1937 |
No Score Yet | Oh, Doctor! |
|
— | 1937 |
No Score Yet | Don't Tell the Wife |
|
— | 1937 |
No Score Yet | Rosalie |
|
— | 1937 |
No Score Yet | Wake Up and Live |
|
— | 1937 |
80% | Love on the Run |
|
— | 1936 |
No Score Yet | Wedding Present |
|
— | 1936 |
60% | Charlie Chan at the Opera |
|
— | 1936 |
71% | The Great Ziegfeld |
|
— | 1936 |
80% | Hands Across the Table |
|
— | 1935 |
No Score Yet | Bright Lights |
|
— | 1935 |
No Score Yet | The Murder Man |
|
— | 1935 |
No Score Yet | The Casino Murder Case |
|
— | 1935 |
No Score Yet | After Office Hours |
|
— | 1935 |
No Score Yet | The Circus Clown |
|
— | 1934 |
No Score Yet | Fog Over Frisco |
|
— | 1934 |
No Score Yet | A Girl in Every Port |
|
— | 1928 |
78% | The Jazz Singer |
|
— | 1927 |
No Score Yet | The First Auto |
|
— | 1927 |
71% | The Great Moment |
|
— | 1921 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
82% |
The Twilight Zone
1959-1964
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Bonanza
1959-1973
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955-1962
|
|
|
Quotes from William Demarest's Characters
George Fury: | Well, that sinks the duck. |
George Fury: | How many verses of that song are there? |
Melody Jones: | About a hundreded, but only know ninety some. |
George Fury: | Don't go too far. I only plan to be drink in' here for about five or six hours. |
Gloves Donahue: | [Breaking into building] Personally, I'd feel more comfortable if I had a rod. |
Sunshine: | Here lies Sunshine under the sod. That's not odd. He had no rod. |
Gloves Donahue: | You know, there are times when I wonder about you. |
Sunshine: | Nice cheerful little neighborhood. My friend got his skull crushed down here last week. |
Barney: | For what? |
Sunshine: | For nuthin'! |
Gloves Donahue: | Do you remember anything else from your youth? |
Sunshine: | Yeah, but they gave me three years to forget. |
Gloves Donahue: | [Sunshine knocks out a Nazi with an ax handle] Very good. Joe DiMaggio couldn't have done better. |
Sunshine: | I used to bat .320 at reform school. |
The Politician: | If it weren't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics. |