Percy Helton

Percy Helton
Born	Percy A. Helton January 31, 1894(1894-01-31) New York City, New York, USA
Died	September 11, 1971(1971-09-11) (aged 77) Hollywood, California, USA
Occupation	actor
Years active	1915-1970
Spouse	Edna Eustace

Percy Helton (January 31, 1894 - September 11, 1971) was an American film and television actor.

One of his most memorable supporting roles was playing a drunken Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. He also appeared in small but memorable roles in Criss Cross (1949), The Set-Up (1949), Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Percy Helton began acting as a young child at the age of two, appearing in his father's vaudeville act. He appeared in many Broadway plays as a child actor before joining the US Army to serve in World War I with the American Expeditionary Forces. The short actor with a hoarse, raspy voice and breathy delivery was a fixture in a wide range of films and TV programs in the 1950s and 1960s.

Partial filmography

• The Offenders (1921)
• Silver Wings (1922)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (uncredited drunken Santa Claus)
• Call Northside 777 (1948) (uncredited)
• Abbott & Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
• Criss Cross (1949)
• Lust for Gold (1949) (uncredited)
• My Friend Irma (1949)
• Red, Hot and Blue (1949)
• The Crooked Way (1949)
• The Set-Up (1949)
• Thieves' Highway (1949)
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
• Three Guys Named Mike (1951)
• A Girl in Every Port (1952)
• Call Me Madam (1953)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) (uncredited)
• Wicked Woman (1953)
• A Star is Born (1954) (uncredited)
• White Christmas (1954) (uncredited)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• Jailhouse Rock (1957) (uncredited)
• Where the Boys Are (1960) (uncredited)
• Ride the High Country (1962) (uncredited)
• The Music Man (1962) (uncredited)
• 4 for Texas (1963)
• Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
• Zebra in the Kitchen (1965)
• The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
• Head (1968)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Notable television appearances

• The Life of Riley
• The Wild Wild West
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• Batman
• Adventures of Superman
• Mission: Impossible
• Love American Style
• The Twilight Zone
• Mister Ed
• The Mothers-In-Law
• The Fugitive
• Gunsmoke
• Green Acres
• Get Smart
• Star Trek

External links

• Percy Helton at the Internet Movie Database
• Percy Helton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Percy Helton at Find a Grave
• young person Helton on left in Silver Wings (1922)- (University of Washington, Sayre collection)