Billy Bevan
Acting
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.)
30 Years of Fun
(archive footage)
The Golden Age of Comedy
archive footage
Hans Christian Andersen
Town Councilman (uncredited)
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
(archive footage)
Three Secrets
Ed Jackson (uncredited)
Rogues of Sherwood Forest
Will Scarlet
Fortunes of Captain Blood
Billy Bragg
Tell It to the Judge
Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited)
The Secret Of St. Ives
Douglas (uncredited)
The Secret Garden
Barney
Let's Live a Little
Morton
The Black Arrow
Dungeon Keeper
The Swordsman
Old Andrew
It Had to Be You
Evans
Moss Rose
Harry, Cab Driver (uncredited)
Cluny Brown
Uncle Arn Porritt
Devotion
Mr. Ames (uncredited)
Terror by Night
Conductor Taking Tickets
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Malvolio Jones
National Velvet
Constable (uncredited)
Tonight and Every Night
Cabbie (uncredited)
The Pearl of Death
Constable With Food Tray (uncredited)
The Invisible Man's Revenge
Police Sergeant (uncredited)
The Lodger
Jane Eyre
Bookie (uncredited)
The Return of the Vampire
Horace (uncredited)
Forever and a Day
Wartime Cabby
London Blackout Murders
Air Raid Warden
Happy Times and Jolly Moments
(archive footage)
I Married a Witch
Puritan Vendor (uncredited)
Counter-Espionage
George Barrow
Mrs. Miniver
Bus Conductor (uncredited)
This Above All
Farmer
The Man Who Wouldn't Die
Phillips
Confirm or Deny
Mr. Bindle
Suspicion
Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr. Weller
Shining Victory
Chivers
Penny Serenade
McDougal (uncredited)
Tin Pan Alley
Stage Doorman
The Long Voyage Home
Joe
Rebecca
Policeman (uncredited)
The Invisible Man Returns
Jim (uncredited)
The Earl of Chicago
Castle Guide
We Are Not Alone
Mr. Jones
Pack Up Your Troubles
British Sergeant
Captain Fury
Duffy
Let Freedom Ring
Cockney (uncredited)
A Christmas Carol
Street Watch Leader
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Aquarium Guard
Shadows Over Shanghai
Gallicuddy
Mysterious Mr. Moto
Customs Official
The Young in Heart
Kennel Man (uncredited)
Blond Cheat
Bartender (uncredited)
The Girl of the Golden West
Nick
Bringing Up Baby
Joe (uncredited)
The Wrong Road
McLean
The Sheik Steps Out
Munson
Another Dawn
Pvt. Hawkins
Slave Ship
Atkins
Personal Property
Frank (uncredited)
God's Country and the Woman
Plug Hat
Lloyd's of London
Innkeeper
Piccadilly Jim
Taxi Driver
Private Number
Frederick
Dracula's Daughter
Albert
Champagne Charlie
Mr. Boswick
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Cabby (uncredited)
Song and Dance Man
Curtis
A Tale of Two Cities
Jerry Cruncher
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Officer Watkins
The Last Outpost
Private Foster
Black Sheep
Alfred
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Horse Auctioneer
Mystery Woman
Jepson
Caravan
Police Sergeant
Limehouse Blues
Herb
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Man in Hotel Room
One More River
Cloakroom Attendant
Shock
Meadows
Stingaree
Mac
The Lost Patrol
Hale
Pop's Pal
Grandpa
Alice in Wonderland
Two of Spades (uncredited)
The Way to Love
M. Prial
Too Much Harmony
Stage Director
The Big Squeal
Jake Burke
Thundering Taxis
One of the Taxi Boys
Peg o' My Heart
Detective #2 (uncredited)
A Study in Scarlet
Will Swallow
Uncle Jake
Uncle Jake
Looking Forward
Mr. Barker
Techno-Crazy
Mary's Father - the Mayor
Cavalcade
George Grainger
Luxury Liner
Schultz
She Whoops To Conquer
Me and My Gal
Ashley, Arguing Drunk (uncredited)
Payment Deferred
Charlie Hammond
Honeymoon Beach
Billy Bevan
Vanity Fair
Joseph Sedley
Sky Devils
Colonel
The Silent Witness
Horace Ward
Who's Who in the Zoo
Father
Waterloo Bridge
Soldier on the Make (uncredited)
Transatlantic
Hodgkins
Chances
Cuthbert (uncredited)
Born to Love
Departing British Soldier (uncredited)
For the Love o' Lil
Edward O. Walker
Monte Carlo
Train Conductor (uncredited)
Temptation
Sam
Journey's End
Trotter
Scotch
Gilbert - Addie's Brother
Peacock Alley
Walter
Weak But Willing
George Downing
The Trespasser
Reporter (uncredited)
High Voltage
Gus Jones
Don't Get Jealous
Billy Blake
Pink Pajamas
Billy Brooks
Calling Hubby's Bluff
Billy Barton
The Sky Hawk
Tom Berry
His New Stenographer
Billy Brooks
Riley the Cop
Paris Cabman
Hubby's Weekend Trip
Bill Blake
Motorboat Mamas
Billy Bender
His Unlucky Night
Billy Trotter
The Girl from Nowhere
Constable Billy Barnes
The Bicycle Flirt
Doty Bassett - the Bicycle Flirt
The Best Man
Best Man
The Beach Club
The Girl from Everywhere
Messenger
The Bull Fighter
Pete De Tour
Gold Digger of Weepah
The Barber
The Golf Nut
Billy Divott
Cured in the Excitement
Professor Brawn
A Small Town Princess
Joe Whiffet
Easy Pickings
The Detective
Peaches and Plumbers
Bill the Plumber
Should Sleepwalkers Marry?
Charley Carter
Flirty Four-Flushers
Jerry Connors / Archibald De Shyster
Masked Mamas
Casey McCorkle
Should Husbands Marry?
The Cop
Hoboken to Hollywood
Billy Judkins
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game
Billy Foote
A Sea Dog's Tale
Wilbur Watts
Ice Cold Cocos
Gus Gander
Musclebound Music
Billy Hornby
Fight Night
Walter Moore
Hayfoot, Strawfoot?
Pete
Wandering Willies
Percy Nudge
Circus Today
Gus Barnum
Trimmed in Gold
Otto Stropp
Whispering Whiskers
The Drifter
From Rags to Britches
Joe Bush
Over Thereabouts
Joe Dobell
Butter Fingers
Nick
The Iron Nag
Joe Gobb
Sneezing Beezers
Joe Honck - Taxi Driver
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies
Hiram Case
The Lion's Whiskers
Otto Klutch
Giddap!
Gaspard De Brie
Honeymoon Hardships
Farmer
Off His Trolley
The Traffic Cop
The Cannon Ball Express
Adam Fargo - Baggage Master
Galloping Bungalows
John Syrup Soother
Wandering Waistlines
Sandy Hook - Sailor
Little Robinson Corkscrew
The Sheriff
Three Foolish Weeks
King of Anchovia
Lizzies of the Field
Bud Gasket
East of the Water Plug
The Sheriff
Wall Street Blues
The Janitor
The Hollywood Kid
Studio Organist
The White Sin
Travers Dale
One Spooky Night
A.J. Bird Jr.
Inbad the Sailor
Jake aka Inbad the Sailor
One Cylinder Love
The Bachelor's Butler / Chauffeur / Footman
The Extra Girl
Comedian
Pitfalls of a Big City
Barfly (uncredited)
Nip and Tuck
Sailor
When Summer Comes
Lyons - the Tenderfoot
The Crossroads of New York
Press Agent
Gymnasium Jim
Jim
On Patrol
The Amateur Cop
The Duck Hunter
The Sportsman
Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios
Himself
Bright Eyes
The Nosey Butler
Be Reasonable
A Rolling Stone
Love and Doughnuts
The Burglar
Astray from the Steerage
A steerage passenger
A Small Town Idol
Director
Love, Honor and Behave
A Fake Lawyer
The Quack Doctor
The Hired Lady's Sweetheart
Married Life
Hospital Staff / Janitor (uncredited)
Distilled Love
Cupid In Quarantine
The Father
Her Rustic Romeo
Are Married Policemen Safe?
Somebody's Widow
Secretary
Bombs and Bandits
The Chief of Police
Pirates of the Air
The Bartender
Gertie's Gasoline Glide
The Minister