Dave Willock's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) My Mother the Car Phil Durkin… Temple Houston Speedy Jack… Boots and Saddles Lt. Binning Margie Harvey Clay… The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show Regular Per… Wichita Town Quincy

Main Movie Roles 1975 - Hustle 1973 - Emperor of the North Pole 1972 - Now You See Him, Now You Don't 1966 - Frankie and Johnny 1964 - Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964 - The Patsy 1964 - Send Me No Flowers 1964 - The Disorderly Orderly 1963 - The List of Adrian Messenger 1963 - The Nutty Professor 1963 - 4 for Texas 1962 - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1961 - The Ladies Man 1959 - Ten Seconds to Hell 1958 - Queen of Outer Space 1957 - The Delicate Delinquent 1955 - Revenge of the Creature 1953 - It Came From Outer Space 1952 - Just for You 1952 - Love Is Better Than Ever 1951 - Roadblock 1950 - No Man of Her Own 1949 - Chicago Deadline 1948 - State of the Union 1947 - The Fabulous Dorseys 1945 - Spellbound 1944 - Pin Up Girl 1943 - The Hard Way 1943 - Princess O'Rourke 1943 - Action in the North Atlantic 1942 - Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 - The Mad Doctor of Market Street 1942 - Flying Tigers 1942 - For Me and My Gal 1942 - You Were Never Lovelier 1941 - Never Give a Sucker an Even Break 1940 - Black Friday 1939 - Golden Boy 1939 - Blondie Takes a Vacation 1939 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

BIOGRAPHY:

For over five decades veteran character actor Dave Willock could be spotted as your friendly neighbor, buddy or unassuming blue-collar in hundreds of assorted films--both comedy and drama. Tall and lanky marked with a slightly long, gaunt puss, flat vocal pattern and jug-like ears, he was for the most part an amiable guy who blended in unobtrusively as a benign servile -- cabbie, clerk, usher, soda jerk, photographer, messenger boy, bellhop, etc. Decades later he was handed minor but steady work via Jerry Lewis (I), Robert Aldrich (I) and Walt Disney.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on August 13, 1909 to non-professionals, Dave began his career in theater and drama while a student at the University of Wisconsin. Following college studies, he entered vaudeville as part of the comedy team of "Willock & Carson," an act he put together with future actor Jack Carson (I). From vaudeville he and Carson transitioned into radio, appearing first on Bing Crosby's "Kraft Music Hall" in 1938. Carson became the bigger star of the two and when he received his own show ("The Jack Carson Show") he utilized his old friend and partner's talents in a second-banana position playing Carson's smart-mouthed nephew Tugwell.

On his own, Dave made his film debut in a student bit in Good Girls Go to Paris (1939) and remained in the overlooked, often unbilled category throughout the war years. His small but amiable bits included various army buddies, benign suitors and dependable sidekicks. Some of his more visible featured roles came in war-era musicals and comedies such as Priorities on Parade (1942), Lucky Jordan (1942), Let's Face It (1943), The Gang's All Here (1943)- Pin Up Girl (1944), She's a Sweetheart (1944) and Joe Palooka, Champ (1946), but nothing he was seen in was big enough to maneuver him into the top character ranks. He was seen to better advantage with the coming of TV, where he dotted a number of comedies, dramas and sitcom series.

A perennial support player, he appeared in a number of cult sci-fi classics of the 1950s including It Came from Outer Space (1953), Revenge of the Creature (1955) and Queen of Outer Space (1958). In later years her served as a minor foil for Jerry Lewis (I) when the comedian went solo in such film vehicles as The Delicate Delinquent (1957), The Geisha Boy (1958), The Ladies Man (1961), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Patsy (1964) and The Disorderly Orderly (1964). Dave was a utility player as well for director Robert Aldrich (I) in such films as Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968), The Grissom Gang (1971), and Emperor of the North Pole (1973), with his most famous Aldrich role being that of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (I)'s vaudeville father in the classic grand guignol shocker What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Disney kept him fairly busy in their TV and film features from the late 1950s into the 1970s, and he was also heard but not seen in animated cartoons, notably as the narrator of the "Wacky Races" (1968) kiddie cartoon.

Retired by the late 1970s, Dave passed away on November 12, 1990 of complications from a stroke in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 81.


TRIVIA:

• Has a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.