
William Demarest
Biography
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).
Acting (140 movies)

Viva Las Vegas
1964

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939

The Lady Eve
1941

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963

The Jolson Story
1946

The Palm Beach Story
1942

Night Has a Thousand Eyes
1948

Sharp Shooters
1928

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
1973

The Murder Man
1935

Charlie Chan at the Opera
1936

Christmas in July
1940

The Great McGinty
1940

The Great Moment
1944

Hail the Conquering Hero
1944

Dressed to Kill
1941

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
1944

All Through the Night
1942

King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein
1961

Jolson Sings Again
1949

Sullivan's Travels
1941

The Butter and Egg Man
1928

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938

Don't Tell the Wife
1927

Once Upon a Time
1944

The Gracie Allen Murder Case
1939

Excuse My Dust
1951

Big City
1937

Along Came Jones
1945

Pepe
1960

What Price Glory
1952

Hell on Frisco Bay
1955

Escape from Fort Bravo
1953

Sorrowful Jones
1949

The Mountain
1956

The Far Horizons
1955

The Strip
1951

Twenty Plus Two
1961

My Favorite Spy
1942

The Great Ziegfeld
1936

The Cowboy Quarterback
1939

While New York Sleeps
1938

The Rawhide Years
1956

The Black Diamond Express
1927

The Private War of Major Benson
1955

Salty O'Rourke
1945

Riding High
1950

Jupiter's Darling
1955

Variety Girl
1947

Here Come the Girls
1953

The Golden Fleecing
1940

The Perils of Pauline
1947

He's a Cockeyed Wonder
1950

The Night Court
1927

Behave Yourself!
1951

Sincerely Yours
1955

Pardon My Past
1945

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus
1938

Red, Hot and Blue
1949

The Yellow Mountain
1954

Ride on Vaquero
1941

Mind Your Own Business
1936

The Hit Parade
1937

The Sainted Sisters
1948

Miracles for Sale
1939

True to Life
1943

Johnny Doughboy
1942

The Lady Wants Mink
1953

The Blazing Forest
1952

Romance on the Run
1938

The First Legion
1951

The Great Man Votes
1939

Life Begins at Eight-Thirty
1942

Don't Tell the Wife
1937

Wedding Present
1936

Love on the Run
1936

The First Auto
1927

The Wild McCullochs
1975

Josette
1938

Easy Living
1937

The Millionaire
1978

Dangerous When Wet
1953

Whispering Smith
1948

One Wild Night
1938

Fog Over Frisco
1934

The Great Hospital Mystery
1937

Glamour Boy
1941

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
1997

Our Hearts Were Growing Up
1946

Never a Dull Moment
1950

The Farmer's Daughter
1940

When Willie Comes Marching Home
1950

Country Fair
1941

After Office Hours
1935

The Jazz Singer
1927

The Great Gambini
1937

A Girl in Every Port
1928

Rosalie
1937

Time Out for Romance
1937

Stage Door Canteen
1943
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