William Challee

William Challee
Born	William John Challe (1904-04-06)April 6, 1904 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died	March 11, 1989(1989-03-11) (aged 84) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1926–1979
Spouse(s)	Ruth Nelson Ella Franklin Crawford Joan Wheeler Ankrum (1984–1989; his death)

William John Challee (April 6, 1904 – March 11, 1989) was an American actor.

Biography

Challee directed Eugene O'Neill's S.S. Glencairn cycle for the Federal Theatre Project in 1937.

William Challee appeared on Broadway by 1926 and by 1931 in early Group Theatre productions. He married actress Ruth Nelson in 1931; they later divorced. The two appeared in the 1947 film The Sea of Grass, in supporting roles, after they were divorced.

In 1937 Challee staged a suite of one-act plays at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, under the heading Plays of the Sea. The suite consisted of the Eugene O'Neill plays Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home and Moon of the Caribbees. They were produced by the Federal Theatre Project of the WPA, running for 68 performances from October 29, 1937.

Chalee was living in Chicago by 1940. By the middle 1940s, Chalee was working in films in California, mainly in supporting and uncredited roles. Challee married dancer Ella Franklin Crawford on April 19, 1944 in Santa Monica.

Chalee appeared in episodes of numerous television series, including a 1953 episode ("Stage for Mademoiselle") of The Lone Ranger and a 1957 episode ("The Case of the Runaway Corpse") of Perry Mason.

Challee played the incapacitated family patriarch in the 1970 film Five Easy Pieces, whose illness brings "son" Jack Nicholson home to the family estate.

In 1984 he married his long-time partner Joan Wheeler Ankrum. Together, in 1960, they opened the Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles.

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

• ...One Third of a Nation... (1939) as Reporter (uncredited)
• Destination Tokyo (1943) as Rocky the quartermaster (uncredited)
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) as Radio Man (uncredited)
• Days of Glory (1944) as Ducrenko (uncredited)
• The Seventh Cross (1944) as Fischer (uncredited)
• None but the Lonely Heart (1944) as Knocker Jones (uncredited)
• A Song to Remember (1945) as Titus (uncredited)
• God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) as Joe (uncredited)
• Counter-Attack (1945) as Paratrooper (uncredited)
• Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) as Interne (uncredited)
• Tokyo Rose (1946) as Mike Kovac
• Deadline at Dawn (1946) as Ray - Newsstand Proprietor (uncredited)
• From This Day Forward (1946) as Pawnbroker (uncredited)
• Without Reservations (1946) as Corporal (uncredited)
• Swamp Fire (1946) as barfly (uncredited)
• Nocturne (1946) as police photographer Olsen (uncredited)
• Boomerang (1947) as Whitney - Harvey's Assistant (uncredited)
• The Sea of Grass (1947) as deputy sheriff (uncredited)
• The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947) as Ambulance Surgeon (uncredited)
• Desperate (1947) as Reynolds
• Another Part of the Forest (1948) as Passenger on the Train (uncredited)
• Tap Roots (1948) as Sergeant (uncredited)
• Beyond Glory (1948) as Sergeant at Depot (uncredited)
• Force of Evil (1948) as Gunman #1 (uncredited)
• Reign of Terror (1949) as Bourdon (uncredited)
• Port of New York (1949) as Leo Stasser
• Outrage (1950) as Lee Wilkins
• Gambling House (1950) as Parking Attendant (uncredited)
• The Whip Hand (1951) as Guard (uncredited)
• On Dangerous Ground (1951) as thug (uncredited)
• The Big Trees (1952) as Brother Williams (uncredited)
• This Woman Is Dangerous (1952) as Ned Shaw (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
• The Desperados Are in Town (1956) as Tom Kesh
• Calypso Heat Wave (1957) as Second Thug
• Raintree County (1957) as spectator (uncredited)
• Official Detective (1957, TV series) as Hatch
• Saddle the Wind (1958) as barfly (uncredited)
• Twilight for the Gods (1958) as Sweeney
• The Sound and the Fury (1959) as roustabout (uncredited)
• The Story on Page One (1959) as Lemke (uncredited)
• Toby Tyler (1960) as Jailbird (uncredited)
• Noose for a Gunman (1960) as Gorse
• One Foot in Hell (1960) as Pete's Friend (uncredited)
• The Plunderers (1960) as first citizen
• 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)
• Nightmare in the Sun (1965) as old coot in a bar
• Joy in the Morning (1965) as an old derelict (uncredited)
• The Cincinnati Kid (1965) as an old man (uncredited)
• Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966) as Tom - Station Agent
• Five Easy Pieces (1970) as Nicholas Dupea
• Zachariah (1971) as "The Old Man"
• The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972) as oldtimer (uncredited)
• Irish Whiskey Rebellion (1972) as Timothy
• Moonchild (1974) as Alchemist
• From Noon till Three (1976) as piano player (uncredited) (final film role)

References

Sources

• Los Angeles Times obituary - William Challee
• New York Times obituary - Ruth Nelson
• Answers.com -William Challee

External links

• William Challee at IMDb
• William Challee at the Internet Broadway Database