William Bendix


William Bendix

1946 Paramount Pictures studio photo
Born January 14, 1906(1906-01-14)
New York City, New York, United States
Died December 14, 1964 (aged 58)
Los Angeles, California, United States
(lobar pneumonia)
Occupation Film, radio, television actor
Years active 1942–1965
Spouse(s) Theresa Stefanotti (1927-1964) (his death)

William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film actor.

Contents

Early life

Bendix, named for his paternal grandfather, was born in Manhattan, New York City, the only son of Cleveland-born Oscar and London-born Hilda (nee Carnell) Bendix. As a youth in the early 1920s, Bendix was a batboy for the New York Yankees and said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than a hundred home runs at Yankee Stadium. In 1927, he married Theresa Stefanotti. Bendix worked as a grocer until the Great Depression.

Career

Bendix made his film debut in 1942. He played in supporting roles in dozens of Hollywood films, usually as a soldier, gangster or detective. He started with appearances in film noir films including a memorable performance in The Glass Key (1942), which also featured Brian Donlevy and Veronica Lake. He soon gained more attention after appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) as Gus, a wounded and dying American sailor. Bendix's other well-known movie roles include his portrayal of baseball player Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and Sir Sagramore opposite Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), in which he took part in the famous trio, "Busy Doing Nothing". He also played Nick the bartender in the 1948 film version of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life starring James Cagney. Bendix had also appeared in the stage version, but in the role of Officer Krupp (a role played on film by Broderick Crawford).

Bendix was also well known in that era for his radio work, starring as "Chester A. Riley" in the radio situation comedy series The Life of Riley from 1944 through 1951. He also played the title role in the second television version of the series, which ran from 1953 to 1958 (Jackie Gleason played Riley in a short-lived 1949 version).

On the 1952 television program This Is Your Life, it was claimed that he was a descendant of the 19th century composer Felix Mendelssohn.

In 1958, Bendix played the lead role in Rod Serling's The Time Element. The Time Element was a time travel adventure about a man named Peter Jenson who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1960, Bendix starred in seventeen episodes of the NBC western series Overland Trail in the role of Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly, the crusty superintendent of the Overland Stage Company. Doug McClure, later Trampass on NBC's The Virginian co-starred as his young understudy, Frank "Flip" Flippen. The program was similar to another offering on ABC the following season, Stagecoach West.

Death

Bendix died in Los Angeles from lobar pneumonia in 1964 and was interred there in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Bendix was survived by his wife Theresa and two children (Lorraine and Stephanie) from their 37 years of marriage.

Selected filmography

References

  • Smithsonian Collection: Old Time Radio All-Time Favourites, liner notes from audio cassette box set. Joe Bevilaqua. Radio Spirits: Schiller Park, 1994.

Notes

External links


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