Will Wright (actor)

For other people of the same name, see William Wright.

Will Wright
Born	William Henry Wright (1891-03-26)March 26, 1891 San Francisco, California, USA
Died	June 19, 1962(1962-06-19) (aged 71) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Cancer
Resting place	Suisun-Fairfield Cemetery in Fairfield, California
Nationality	American
Other names	Will J. Wright William Wright
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1940-1962
Spouse(s)	Nell Ida Wright (m. 1920–1962)
Children	1

William Henry Wright, known as Will Wright (March 26, 1891 – June 19, 1962), was an American character actor. He was frequently cast in westerns and as curmudgeonly old men. Over the course of his career, Wright appeared in more than two hundred film and television roles.

Career

Born in San Francisco, Wright worked as a newspaperman before beginning a career in show business. He started his acting career in vaudeville and later moved to the stage. While on the NY stages, he picked up some film roles at Vitaphone Studios in Brooklyn; one confirmed sighting is in the Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy short subject Pure Feud (1934) as 'Lem'. Wright also worked in radio, appearing in more than five thousand radio programs.

Wright made his west coast film debut in 1940 Blondie Plays Cupid. In 1942, he provided the voice of Friend Owl in Walt Disney's animated film Bambi. Wright also had roles in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Major and the Minor (1943), So Proudly We Hail! (1943), Road to Utopia (1946), Mother Wore Tights (1947), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), Little Women (1949), Walk Softly, Stranger (1950), People Will Talk (1951), The Happy Time (1952), River of No Return (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Jeanne Eagels (1957), and Gunman's Walk (1958).

During the 1950s, he guest starred on several television series, including Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Where's Raymond?, The Bob Cummings Show, Our Miss Brooks, Father Knows Best, The Millionaire, Circus Boy, Fury, The Real McCoys, The Donna Reed Show, The Restless Gun, Lawman, Tales of Wells Fargo, and The Rough Riders.

From 1959 to 1961, Wright had recurring roles on NBC's Bat Masterson and CBS's Dennis the Menace. He also made multiple appearances on I Love Lucy, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Lone Ranger, Sugarfoot, December Bride, Perry Mason, and Maverick.

Wright was cast in the 1958 episode "The Cave-In" episode of the syndicated series Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. He played an elderly man who attempts with shovel and bucket to build a backyard swimming pool for his grandchildren with disastrous results because of the lack of proper shoring.

In 1959, he was cast as J.C. Sickel in the episode, "Payment in Full" of the NBC western series, Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin. Also appearing in this episode were Aldo Ray as Hunk Farber, John Larch as Touhy, and Barbara Bel Geddes as Missy. In the story line, Farber betrays his friend and employer to collect reward money, which he uses to court his girlfriend, Missy.

In 1960, Wright appeared as Mr. Johnson on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show in the episode entitled, "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", the spin-off for The Andy Griffith Show. On The Andy Griffith Show, Wright portrayed department store owner and landlord Ben Weaver in three episodes from 1960 to 1962. After his death, he was replaced as Ben Weaver, first by Tol Avery, and then by Jason Johnson. Wright made his last onscreen appearances in a 1962 episode of NBC's Bonanza.

Death

On June 19, 1962, Wright died of cancer at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles. He is interred in Suisun-Fairfield Cemetery in Fairfield, California.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	Pure Feud	Lem	Uncredited
1941	Maisie Was a Lady	Judge Thatcher	Uncredited
1941	Honky Tonk	Townsman at Meeting House	Uncredited
1942	Tales of Manhattan	Old Concertgoer	Uncredited
1942	Tennessee Johnson	Alderman	Uncredited
1943	Submarine Alert	Local Sheriff	Uncredited
1943	Sleepy Lagoon	Cyrus Coates
1944	The Town Went Wild	Judge Harry Schrank	Uncredited
1944	Practically Yours	Senator Cowling	Uncredited
1945	Rhapsody in Blue	Rachmaninoff
1945	State Fair	Hog Judge	Uncredited
1946	The Blue Dahlia	'Dad' Newell
1946	The Inner Circle	Henry Boggs
1947	Blaze of Noon	Mr. Thomas
1947	Keeper of the Bees	Dr. Grayson
1948	Green Grass of Wyoming	Jake Willis
1948	They Live by Night	Mobley
1949	All the King's Men	Dolph Pillsbury
1949	Adam's Rib	Judge Marcasson
1950	A Ticket to Tomahawk	Dodge
1950	Sunset in the West	Sheriff Tad Osborne
1951	Vengeance Valley	Mr. Willoughby
1951	My Forbidden Past	Luther Toplady	Alternative title: Carriage Entrance
1952	The Las Vegas Story	Mike Fogarty
1952	Lure of the Wilderness	Sheriff Brink
1953	Niagara''	Boatman
1953	The Wild One	Art Kleiner
1954	The Raid	Josiah Anderson
1954	Johnny Guitar	Ned - Bank Teller	Uncredited
1955	Lux Video Theatre	Commodore	Episode: "The Amazing Mrs. Halliday"
1955	The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell	Admiral William S. Sims
1955	Fury		Episode" Ghost Town"
1956	Lassie	Caleb Brown	Episode: "The Trial"
1956	These Wilder Years	Old Cab Driver
1957	Johnny Tremain	Ephraim Lapham
1957	Casey Jones	Ed Corley	Episode: "Night Run"
1958	The Missouri Traveler	Sheriff Peavy
1958	Leave It to Beaver	Pete at Firehouse #7	Episode: "Child Care"
1958	Fury		Episode: "The Meanest Man"
1959	Alias Jesse James	Titus Queasley
1959	The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock	Pentagon General
1960	Mr. Lucky	The Leadville Kid	Episode: "The Leadville Kid Gang"
1960	Inherit the Wind	Bible Salesman	Uncredited
1961	The Donna Reed Show	Oliver	Episode: "Aunt Belle's Earrings"
1961	77 Sunset Strip	Luther Hanks	Episode: "Mr. Goldilocks"
1961	The Tall Man	Mayor Hackett	Episode: "Death or Taxes"
1962	Pete and Gladys	Justice of the Peace	Episode: "Garden Wedding"
1962	Cape Fear	Dr. Pearsall

External links

• Will Wright at the Internet Movie Database
• Will Wright at Find a Grave