x

Login

Remember me
Forget password ?

Or via social

x

sign up

person_profile-Billy Bevan

Billy Bevan Died at age: 70

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Billy Bevan

Date of Birth:

Sep 29, 1887

Country of birth:

Australia

Died:

Nov 26, 1957

Biography of

Billy Bevan

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Billy Bevan (born William Bevan Harris, 29 September 1887 – 26 November 1957) was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became an American film actor. He appeared in 254 American films between 1916 and 1950.

    Bevan was born in the country town of Orange, New South Wales, Australia. He went on the stage at an early age, traveled to Sydney and spent eight years in Australian light opera, performing as Willie Bevan. He sailed to America with the Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company in 1912 and later toured Canada. Bevan broke into films with the Sigmund Lubin studio in 1916. When the company disbanded, Bevan became a supporting actor in Mack Sennett movie comedies. An expressive pantomimist, Bevan's quiet scene-stealing attracted attention, and by 1922 Bevan was a Sennett star. He supplemented his income, however, by establishing a citrus and avocado farm at Escondido, California.

    Usually filmed wearing a derby hat and a drooping mustache, Bevan may not have possessed an indelible screen character like Charlie Chaplin but he had a friendly, funny presence in the frantic Sennett comedies. Much of the comedy depended on Bevan's skilled timing and reactions; the famous "oyster" routine performed on film by Curly Howard, Lou Costello, and Huntz Hall—in which a bowl of "fresh oyster stew" shows alarming signs of life and battles the guy trying to eat it—was originated on film decades earlier by Bevan in the short film Wandering Willies.

    By the mid-1920s Bevan was often teamed with Andy Clyde; Clyde soon graduated to his own starring series. The late 1920s found Bevan playing in wild marital farces for Sennett.

    The advent of talking pictures took their toll on the careers of many silent stars, including Billy Bevan. Bevan began a second career in "talkies" as a character actor and bit player in roles such as that of a bus driver in the 1929 film High Voltage, a hotel employee in the Mae Murray film Peacock Alley, and the supporting role of Second Lieutenant Trotter in Journey's End in 1930. His starring roles had come to an end, however, and for the next 20 years he often would play rowdy Cockneys (as in Pack Up Your Troubles with The Ritz Brothers), and affable Englishmen (as in Tin Pan Alley and Terror by Night). He played a friendly bus conductor opposite Greer Garson in one of the opening scenes of Mrs. Miniver.

    Bevan died in 1957 in Escondido, California, just before new audiences discovered him in Robert Youngson's silent-comedy compilations. (The Youngson films mispronounce his name as "Be-VAN"; Bevan himself offered the proper pronunciation in a Voice of Hollywood reel in 1930.)

Photos of

Billy Bevan

Photos ( 3 Photos

Filmography of

Billy Bevan

Found 110 Movies in total

Vincent Price's Dracula

Horace - (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1986

... 1963

The Golden Age of Comedy

archive footage ( Actor )

... 1957

Hans Christian Andersen

Town Councilman (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1952

The Slappiest Days of Our Lives

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1951

Three Secrets

Ed Jackson (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1950

Rogues of Sherwood Forest

Will Scarlet ( Actor )

... 1950

Fortunes of Captain Blood

Billy Bragg ( Actor )

... 1950

Tell It to the Judge

Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1949

The Secret Garden

Barney ( Actor )

... 1949

Let's Live a Little

Morton ( Actor )

... 1948

The Black Arrow

Dungeon Keeper ( Actor )

... 1948

The Swordsman

Old Andrew ( Actor )

... 1948

It Had to Be You

Evans ( Actor )

... 1947

Moss Rose

Harry (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1947

Cluny Brown

Uncle Arn Porritt ( Actor )

... 1946

Devotion

Mr. Ames (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1946

Terror by Night

Conductor Taking Tickets ( Actor )

... 1946

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Malvolio Jones ( Actor )

... 1945

National Velvet

Constable (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1945

Tonight and Every Night

Cabbie (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1945

The Pearl of Death

Constable With Food Tray (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

The Invisible Man's Revenge

Police Sergeant (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

... 1944

Jane Eyre

Bookie (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

The Return of the Vampire

Horace (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

Forever and a Day

Wartime Cabby ( Actor )

... 1943

London Blackout Murders

Air Raid Warden ( Actor )

... 1943

I Married a Witch

Puritan Vendor (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Counter-Espionage

George Barrow ( Actor )

... 1942

Mrs. Miniver

Bus Conductor (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

This Above All

Farmer ( Actor )

... 1942

The Man Who Wouldn't Die

Phillips ( Actor )

... 1942

Confirm or Deny

Mr. Bindle ( Actor )

... 1941

Suspicion

Ticket Taker (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1941

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Mr. Weller ( Actor )

... 1941

Shining Victory

Chivers ( Actor )

... 1941

Penny Serenade

McDougal (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1941

Tin Pan Alley

Stage Doorman ( Actor )

... 1940

... 1940

Rebecca

Policeman (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

The Invisible Man Returns

Jim (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

The Earl of Chicago

Castle Guide ( Actor )

... 1940

We Are Not Alone

Mr. Jones ( Actor )

... 1939

Pack Up Your Troubles

British Sergeant ( Actor )

... 1939

Captain Fury

Duffy ( Actor )

... 1939

Let Freedom Ring

Cockney (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

A Christmas Carol

Street Watch Leader ( Actor )

... 1938

Arrest Bulldog Drummond

Aquarium Guard ( Actor )

... 1938

Shadows Over Shanghai

Gallicuddy ( Actor )

... 1938

Mysterious Mr. Moto

Customs Official ( Actor )

... 1938

The Young in Heart

Kennel Man (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

Blond Cheat

Bartender (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

... 1938

Bringing Up Baby

Joe (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

The Wrong Road

McLean ( Actor )

... 1937

Another Dawn

Pvt. Hawkins ( Actor )

... 1937

Slave Ship

Atkins ( Actor )

... 1937

Personal Property

Frank (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

... 1937

Lloyd's of London

Innkeeper ( Actor )

... 1936

Piccadilly Jim

Taxi Driver ( Actor )

... 1936

Private Number

Frederick ( Actor )

... 1936

Dracula's Daughter

Police Constable Albert ( Actor )

... 1936

Champagne Charlie

Mr. Boswick ( Actor )

... 1936

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Cabby (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1936

Song and Dance Man

Curtis ( Actor )

... 1936

A Tale of Two Cities

Jerry Cruncher ( Actor )

... 1935

The Widow from Monte Carlo

Officer Watkins ( Actor )

... 1935

The Last Outpost

Private Foster ( Actor )

... 1935

Black Sheep

Alfred ( Actor )

... 1935

Vanessa: Her Love Story

Horse Auctioneer ( Actor )

... 1935

Caravan

Police Sergeant ( Actor )

... 1934

Limehouse Blues

Herb ( Actor )

... 1934

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

Man in Hotel Room ( Actor )

... 1934

One More River

Cloakroom Attendant ( Actor )

... 1934

Shock

Meadows ( Actor )

... 1934

Stingaree

Mac ( Actor )

... 1934

The Lost Patrol

Hale ( Actor )

... 1934

Alice in Wonderland

Two of Spades (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1933

The Way to Love

M. Prial ( Actor )

... 1933

Too Much Harmony

Stage Director ( Actor )

... 1933

Peg o' My Heart

Detective #2 (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1933

A Study in Scarlet

Will Swallow ( Actor )

... 1933

Looking Forward

Mr. Barker ( Actor )

... 1933

Cavalcade

George Grainger ( Actor )

... 1933

Luxury Liner

Schultz ( Actor )

... 1933

Me and My Gal

Ashley (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1932

Payment Deferred

Charlie Hammond ( Actor )

... 1932

Vanity Fair

Joseph Sedley ( Actor )

... 1932

Sky Devils

Colonel ( Actor )

... 1932

The Silent Witness

Horace Ward ( Actor )

... 1932

Waterloo Bridge

Soldier on the Make (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1931

Transatlantic

Hodgkins ( Actor )

... 1931

Chances

Cuthbert (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1931

Born to Love

Departing British Soldier (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1931

For the Love o' Lil

Edward O. Walker ( Actor )

... 1930

Monte Carlo

Train Conductor (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1930

Temptation

Sam ( Actor )

... 1930

Journey's End

Trotter ( Actor )

... 1930

Peacock Alley

Walter ( Actor )

... 1930

The Trespasser

Reporter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1929

High Voltage

Gus Jones ( Actor )

... 1929

The Sky Hawk

Tom Berry ( Actor )

... 1929

Riley the Cop

Paris Cabman ( Actor )

... 1928

The Girl from Everywhere

Messenger ( Actor )

... 1927

The White Sin

Travers Dale ( Actor )

... 1924

The Extra Girl

Comedian ( Actor )

... 1923

The Crossroads of New York

Press Agent ( Actor )

... 1922

A Small Town Idol

Director ( Actor )

... 1921