Billy Bevan
1887-09-29 ( 137 years old ) in Orange, New South Wales, Australia

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.)

Movies

30 Years of Fun 1963-02-10
The Golden Age of Comedy 1957-12-26
Hans Christian Andersen 1952-12-19
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives 1951-03-23
Three Secrets 1950-10-20
Rogues of Sherwood Forest 1950-06-21
Fortunes of Captain Blood 1950-05-19
Tell It to the Judge 1949-11-18
The Secret Of St. Ives 1949-06-30
The Secret Garden 1949-04-30
Let's Live a Little 1948-12-09
The Black Arrow 1948-03-18
The Swordsman 1948-01-02
It Had to Be You 1947-12-07
Moss Rose 1947-05-30
Cluny Brown 1946-06-02
Devotion 1946-04-05
Terror by Night 1946-02-01
The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945-03-03
National Velvet 1945-01-26
Tonight and Every Night 1945-01-09
The Pearl of Death 1944-08-01
The Invisible Man's Revenge 1944-06-09
The Lodger 1944-01-19
Jane Eyre 1943-12-24
The Return of the Vampire 1943-11-11
Forever and a Day 1943-01-21
London Blackout Murders 1943-01-15
Happy Times and Jolly Moments 1943-01-01
I Married a Witch 1942-10-30
Counter-Espionage 1942-09-03
Mrs. Miniver 1942-07-03
This Above All 1942-05-12
The Man Who Wouldn't Die 1942-04-27
Confirm or Deny 1941-12-12
Suspicion 1941-11-14
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941-08-12
Shining Victory 1941-05-30
Penny Serenade 1941-04-24
Tin Pan Alley 1940-11-29
The Long Voyage Home 1940-11-16
Rebecca 1940-03-23
The Invisible Man Returns 1940-01-12
The Earl of Chicago 1940-01-05
We Are Not Alone 1939-11-25
Pack Up Your Troubles 1939-10-24
Captain Fury 1939-05-26
Let Freedom Ring 1939-02-24
A Christmas Carol 1938-12-16
Arrest Bulldog Drummond 1938-11-25
Shadows Over Shanghai 1938-10-14
Mysterious Mr. Moto 1938-09-17
The Young in Heart 1938-07-06
Blond Cheat 1938-06-17
The Girl of the Golden West 1938-03-18
Bringing Up Baby 1938-02-18
The Wrong Road 1937-10-11
The Sheik Steps Out 1937-09-05
Another Dawn 1937-06-26
Slave Ship 1937-06-16
Personal Property 1937-03-19
God's Country and the Woman 1937-01-16
Lloyd's of London 1936-11-25
Piccadilly Jim 1936-08-14
Private Number 1936-06-05
Dracula's Daughter 1936-05-11
Champagne Charlie 1936-05-06
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936-04-09
Song and Dance Man 1936-03-11
A Tale of Two Cities 1935-12-25
The Widow from Monte Carlo 1935-12-19
The Last Outpost 1935-10-11
Black Sheep 1935-08-01
Vanessa: Her Love Story 1935-03-01
Mystery Woman 1935-01-08
Caravan 1934-12-30
Limehouse Blues 1934-12-11
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back 1934-08-15
One More River 1934-08-06
Shock 1934-07-19
Stingaree 1934-05-24
The Lost Patrol 1934-02-16
Pop's Pal 1933-12-21
Alice in Wonderland 1933-12-18
The Way to Love 1933-10-20
Too Much Harmony 1933-09-23
The Big Squeal 1933-07-09
Thundering Taxis 1933-06-23
Peg o' My Heart 1933-05-26
A Study in Scarlet 1933-05-14
Uncle Jake 1933-05-04
Looking Forward 1933-04-28
Techno-Crazy 1933-03-12
Cavalcade 1933-02-08
Luxury Liner 1933-02-03
She Whoops To Conquer 1933-01-01
Me and My Gal 1932-12-04
Payment Deferred 1932-11-01
Honeymoon Beach 1932-10-22
Vanity Fair 1932-03-15
Sky Devils 1932-03-12
The Silent Witness 1932-02-07
Who's Who in the Zoo 1931-10-11
Waterloo Bridge 1931-09-01
Transatlantic 1931-08-19
Chances 1931-07-18
Born to Love 1931-04-17
For the Love o' Lil 1930-08-29
Monte Carlo 1930-08-27
Temptation 1930-06-05
Journey's End 1930-04-09
Scotch 1930-01-19
Peacock Alley 1930-01-04
Weak But Willing 1929-12-14
The Trespasser 1929-11-11
High Voltage 1929-06-29
Don't Get Jealous 1929-05-19
Pink Pajamas 1929-04-21
Calling Hubby's Bluff 1929-02-03
The Sky Hawk 1929-01-29
His New Stenographer 1928-12-30
Riley the Cop 1928-11-25
Hubby's Weekend Trip 1928-11-01
Motorboat Mamas 1928-09-30
His Unlucky Night 1928-08-12
The Girl from Nowhere 1928-08-05
The Bicycle Flirt 1928-03-18
The Best Man 1928-02-08
The Beach Club 1928-01-21
The Girl from Everywhere 1927-12-11
The Bull Fighter 1927-11-27
Gold Digger of Weepah 1927-10-02
The Golf Nut 1927-09-03
Cured in the Excitement 1927-06-12
A Small Town Princess 1927-03-20
Peaches and Plumbers 1927-02-20
Easy Pickings 1927-02-20
Should Sleepwalkers Marry? 1927-01-23
Flirty Four-Flushers 1926-12-25
Masked Mamas 1926-10-30
Should Husbands Marry? 1926-10-26
Hoboken to Hollywood 1926-09-05
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game 1926-08-08
A Sea Dog's Tale 1926-07-11
Ice Cold Cocos 1926-06-20
Musclebound Music 1926-05-30
Fight Night 1926-05-09
Hayfoot, Strawfoot? 1926-04-18
Wandering Willies 1926-03-28
Circus Today 1926-03-07
Trimmed in Gold 1926-02-14
Whispering Whiskers 1926-01-24
From Rags to Britches 1925-12-13
Over Thereabouts 1925-10-11
Butter Fingers 1925-08-30
The Iron Nag 1925-08-09
Sneezing Beezers 1925-07-19
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies 1925-06-14
The Lion's Whiskers 1925-04-09
Giddap! 1925-03-22
Honeymoon Hardships 1925-01-25
Off His Trolley 1924-12-14
The Cannon Ball Express 1924-11-30
Galloping Bungalows 1924-11-02
Wandering Waistlines 1924-10-05
Little Robinson Corkscrew 1924-09-21
Three Foolish Weeks 1924-09-13
Lizzies of the Field 1924-09-07
East of the Water Plug 1924-08-24
Wall Street Blues 1924-08-09
The Hollywood Kid 1924-04-19
The White Sin 1924-02-24
One Spooky Night 1924-01-27
Inbad the Sailor 1923-12-30
One Cylinder Love 1923-11-04
The Extra Girl 1923-10-28
Pitfalls of a Big City 1923-09-02
Nip and Tuck 1923-08-11
When Summer Comes 1922-09-22
The Crossroads of New York 1922-06-22
Gymnasium Jim 1922-05-09
On Patrol 1922-03-12
The Duck Hunter 1922-02-13
Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios 1921-12-31
Bright Eyes 1921-12-24
Be Reasonable 1921-12-11
Love and Doughnuts 1921-09-14
Astray from the Steerage 1921-04-23
A Small Town Idol 1921-02-13
The Quack Doctor 1920-07-04
Distilled Love 1920-02-01
Cupid In Quarantine 1918-09-10
Her Rustic Romeo 1918-05-28
Somebody's Widow 1918-01-29
Bombs and Bandits 1917-07-03
Pirates of the Air 1916-06-28
Gertie's Gasoline Glide 1916-05-17

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