Dave Willock(1909-1990)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
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,
Robert Aldrich 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. 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 he served as a minor foil for
Jerry Lewis 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 in such films as
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964),
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968),
The Grissom Gang (1971), and
Emperor of the North (1973),
with his most famous Aldrich role being that of
Bette Davis and
Joan Crawford'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 a favorite casting choice of
Jack Webb for Dragnet and Adam-12
(where he'd appear as a good-natured barfly or a pharmacist). Willock
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.
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,
Robert Aldrich 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. 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 he served as a minor foil for
Jerry Lewis 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 in such films as
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964),
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968),
The Grissom Gang (1971), and
Emperor of the North (1973),
with his most famous Aldrich role being that of
Bette Davis and
Joan Crawford'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 a favorite casting choice of
Jack Webb for Dragnet and Adam-12
(where he'd appear as a good-natured barfly or a pharmacist). Willock
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.