
Chill Wills
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
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Acting (113 movies)

Meet Me in St. Louis
1944

Giant
1956

The Alamo
1960

I'll Be Seeing You
1944

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973

Rio Grande
1950

The Rounders
1965

City That Never Sleeps
1953

Tarzan's New York Adventure
1942

The Westerner
1940

The Wheeler Dealers
1963

Where the Boys Are
1960

The Sundowners
1950

McLintock!
1963

Western Union
1941

Allegheny Uprising
1939

Francis in the Navy
1955

Mr. Billion
1977

The Man from the Alamo
1953

Sky Murder
1940

The Deadly Companions
1961

Leave Her to Heaven
1945

The Yearling
1946

Belle Starr
1941

Boom Town
1940

From Hell to Texas
1958

Fireball 500
1966

Honky Tonk
1941

The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again
1970

High Lonesome
1950

Family Honeymoon
1948

The Bugle Sounds
1942

Her Cardboard Lover
1942

Tulsa
1949

The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come
1961

Cattle Drive
1951

Gun Glory
1957

Red Canyon
1949

A Stranger in Town
1943

Drive-In Movie Memories
2001

Santiago
1956

What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
1945

Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940

Francis Joins the WACS
1954

The Sad Horse
1959

Francis Goes to the Races
1951

The Grass Is Always Greener
1950

The Sainted Sisters
1948

Young Guns of Texas
1962

Sunday Dinner for a Soldier
1944

Bronco Buster
1952

Racketeers of the Range
1939

Gun for a Coward
1956

Gallant Bess
1946

Tumbleweed
1953

The Cardinal
1963

Oh! Susanna
1951

Gold of the Seven Saints
1961

Timberjack
1955

Barbary Coast Gent
1944

Northwest Stampede
1948

Kentucky Rifle
1956

At Sea Ashore
1936

That Wonderful Urge
1948

Apache Trail
1942

Sorority House
1939

Way Out West
1937

Billy the Kid
1941

Rock Island Trail
1950

Ride the Man Down
1952

Arizona Legion
1939

Bar 20 Rides Again
1935

Ricochet Romance
1954

Best Foot Forward
1943

The Day the Bookies Wept
1939

Call of the Prairie
1936

Timber Stampede
1939

The Omaha Trail
1942

Lawless Valley
1938

Trouble in Sundown
1939

The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1970

Stella
1950

Wyoming
1940

Hell's Outpost
1954

Stand by for Action
1942

Heartaches
1947

Francis
1950

Poco… Little Dog Lost
1977

Francis Goes to West Point
1952

Francis Covers the Big Town
1953

Stubby Pringle's Christmas
1978

The Sea Hornet
1951

That's Entertainment! III
1994

The Bad Man
1941

Loaded Pistols
1948

Guns of a Stranger
1973

New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant'
1956

See Here, Private Hargrove
1944

Mr. Gardenia Jones
1942

The Steagle
1971
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