Chill Wills

Seagoville, Texas, USA

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.

Movies

The Rounders was a 17-episode western-style situation comedy about two cowboys on the fictitious J.L. Ranch in Texas. It starred Ron Hayes as Ben Jones and Patrick Wayne, a son of John Wayne, as Howdy Lewis. The M-G-M television series aired on ABC from September 6, 1966, to January 3, 1967. The program was loosely based on a 1965 film of the same name, The Rounders, starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda, set near Sedona, Arizona, rather than Texas. Chill Wills, a native Texan and formerly of CBS's Frontier Circus, appeared as the shady ranch owner, Jim Ed Love. Janis Hansen co-starred as Ben's girlfriend, Sally, and Bobbi Jordan played Howdy's girlfriend, Ada. Jason Wingreen appeared as Shorty Dawes, and Walker Edmiston as Regan. Character actors Strother Martin and J. Pat O'Malley appeared as "Cousin Fletch" and "Vince", respectively. James Brown, formerly the lieutenant on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, played "Luke". Selected episodes with notable guest stars include: "A Horse on Jim Ed Love", series premiere with Harry Carey, Jr.; "It's a Noble Thing to Do", with John Smith, formerly Slim Sherman on NBC's Laramie; "Don't Buffalo Me", with Jay Silverheels, formerly Tonto of The Lone Ranger, as John Tallgrass; "The Moonshine Still Shines"; "It Takes Only One to Suffer"; "The Scavenger Hunt" with Zsa Zsa Gabor as Ilona Hobson; "Some Things Are Not for Sale"; "Four Alarm Wing Ding", with Dick Haynes as a sheriff; "Horse of a Different Cutter" with Andy Devine as Honest John Denton and Strother Martin as Cousin Fletch; "Polo, Anyone?", with Jay C. Flippen as Kenny Fahrbush; "Efficiency Is for Experts", and "What Elephants?", the series finale, in which Ben and Howdy try to hide an elephant in plain sight.

More info
The Rounders
1966