William Challee
| William Challee | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William John Challe April 6, 1904 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died |
June 10, 1989 (aged 85) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1926 - 1979 |
| Spouse(s) |
Ruth Nelson Ella Franklin Crawford Joan Wheeler Ankrum (1984–1989; his death) |
William Challee (April 6, 1904 – March 11, 1989) was an American actor.
He appeared on Broadway by 1926 and by 1931 in early Group Theatre productions.
In 1937 Challee staged a series of one-act plays One Act Plays of the Sea consisting of: Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home and Moon of the Caribbees all written by Eugene O'Neill. They were produced by the Federal Theatre Project of the WPA running for 68 performances from October 29, 1937 at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem.
By 1940 he was living in Chicago and by the middle 1940s he was working in films in California, mainly in supporting and uncredited roles. He appeared in a 1953 episode (No. 106) of the TV Series, The Lone Ranger. Later, he appeared in a lot of television series as a supporting character actor, including an appearance in at least one episode of Perry Mason: "The Case of the Runaway Corpse", from season 1, 1957.
Family
William John Challe married actress Ruth Nelson in 1931, they later divorced. Ruth and William appeared in the 1947 film The Sea of Grass in supporting roles after they were divorced, and Morris Ankrum also appeared.
He married dancer Ella Franklin Crawford (1913 - ?) on April 19, 1944 in Santa Monica, California.
In 1984 he married Joan Wheeler Ankrum (January 8, 1913 Palo Alto, California – December 20, 2001 Los Angeles, California) who had founded the Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard, she had previously been married to actor Morris Ankrum.
Challee was buried in Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto.
Broadway roles
- Grand Street Follies [1927] (1927) (revue)
- Red Rust (1929) as Lenov
- House of Connelly (1931) as Jody and as a seranader
- Night Over Taos (1932) as second trapper
- Success Story (1932) as Jeffery Haliburton
- Men in White (1933) as Dr. Michaelson
- Gold Eagle Guy (1934) as Pearly and as Ah Kee
- Till the Day I Die (1935) as Edsel Peltz
- Waiting For Lefty (1935) as Actor
- Key Largo (1935) as Osceola Horn
- Paradise Lost (1935) as homeless man
- Case of Clyde Griffiths (1936) as working man
- Johnny Johnson (1936) as Private Fairfax and as Doctor
- Rocket to the Moon (1938) as a salesman
- Awake and Sing! (1939) as Schlosser
Selected filmography
- Destination Tokyo (1943) as Rocky the quartermaster (uncredited)
- God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) as Joe (uncredited)
- Tokyo Rose (1946) as Mike Kovac
- Swamp Fire (1946) as barfly (uncredited)
- Nocturne (1946) as police photographer Olsen (uncredited)
- Boomerang (1947) as Stone, Harvey's assistant
- Desperate (1947) as Reynolds
- The Sea of Grass (1947) deputy sheriff (uncredited)
- Tap Roots (1948) as Sergeant (uncredited)
- Port of New York (1949) as Leo Stasser
- Reign of Terror (1949) as Bourdon (uncredited)
- Outrage (1950) as Lee Wilkins
- On Dangerous Ground (1951) as thug (uncredited)
- The Big Trees (1952) as Brother Williams (uncredited)
- The Glenn Miller Story (1954) as dispatch desk Sergeant (uncredited)
- Man Without a Star (1955) as Brick Gooder (uncredited)
- The Lone Ranger, TV show, episode 175 (1955) as Bad-Eye
- Chicago Syndicate (1955) as Dolan
- Official Detective TV series episode 'The Creeper' as Hatch (1957)
- Calypso Heat Wave (1957) as second thug
- Raintree County (1957) as a spectator (uncredited)
- Twilight for the Gods (1958) as Sweeney
- Saddle the Wind (1958) as barfly
- The Sound and the Fury (1959) as roustabout (uncredited)
- Noose for a Gunman (1960) as Gorse
- The Plunderers (1960) as first citizen
- One Foot in Hell (1960) as Pete's friend (uncredited)
- Cimarron (1960) as barber (uncredited)
- All Fall Down (1962) as third bum (uncredited)
- War Hunt (1962) as Lt. Colonel
- The Hook (1963) as Schmidt
- Seven Days in May (1964) as General Riley (uncredited)
- The Cincinnati Kid (1965) as an old man (uncredited)
- Joy in the Morning (1965) as an old derelict (uncredited)
- Nightmare in the Sun (1965) old coot in a bar
- Five Easy Pieces (1970) as Nicholas Dupea
- Zachariah (1971) as an old man
- Irish Whiskey Rebellion (1972) as Timothy
- The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972) as oldtimer (uncredited)
- Moonchild (1974) as Alchemist
- From Noon till Three (1976) as piano player (uncredited)
References
- William Challee at the Internet Movie Database
- William Challee at the Internet Broadway Database
- Los Angeles Times obituary - William Challee
- New York Times obituary - Ruth Nelson
- Los Angeles Times obituary - Joan Ankrun
- Answers.com -William Challee