Colorful character actor of American Westerns. A
musician from his youth, he performed from the age of 12 with tent
shows, in vaudeville, and with stock companies. While performing in
vaudeville in Kansas City, he married ballet dancer Betty Chappelle,
with whom he had two children. He formed a musical group,
Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys.
During an appearance at the Trocadero in Hollywood, they were spotted
by an RKO executive, subsequently appearing as a group in several
low-budget Westerns. After a prominent appearance with
The Avalon Boys as both
himself and the bass-singing voice of
Stan Laurel in
Way Out West (1937), Wills
disbanded the group and began a solo career as a usually jovial (but
occasionally sinister) character actor, primarily in Westerns. His
delightful portrayal of Beekeeper in
The Alamo (1960) won him an Academy Award
nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but his blatant and embarrassing
campaign for the Oscar cost him the award and subjected him to a great
deal of humiliation -- and probably cost the film a number of awards as
well. His wife died in 1971, and he remarried, to Novadeen Googe, in
1973. He continued to work in films and television, usually in
roguishly lovable good-old'-boy parts, up until his death in
1978.
Stubby Pringle's Christmas(1978)as The Janitor
Poco... Little Dog Lost(1977)as Big Burt
Mr. Billion(1977)as Col. Clayton T. Winkle
Hec Ramsey(1972)as Sam McDade
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid(1973)as Lemuel
The Porter Wagoner Show(1961)
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again(1970)
The Over-the-Hill Gang(1969)
Frontier Circus(1961)
The Alamo(1960)
Dinah!(1974)as Self
The Bob Braun Show(1967)as Self - Actor
The Mike Douglas Show(1961)as Self - Actor
How the West Was Lost(2008)as Lemuel
American Masters(1985)as Actor 'Giant'
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade(2004)as Self
Biography(1987)as Uncle Bawley, in 'Giant
