Billy Bevan
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1887-09-29
Deathday 1957-11-26 (70 years old)
Place of Birth Orange, New South Wales, Australia
Also Known As William Bevan, Bill Bevans, Billy Bevin, Bill Bivin
Billy Bevan
Biography
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.)
Known For
Actor
as Horace - (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as archive footage
as Town Councilman (uncredited)
as (archive footage)
as Ed Jackson (uncredited)
as Will Scarlet
as Billy Bragg
as Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited)
as Douglas (uncredited)
as Barney
as Morton
as Dungeon Keeper
as Old Andrew
as Self
as Evans
as Harry, Cab Driver (uncredited)
as Uncle Arn Porritt
as Mr. Ames (uncredited)
as Conductor Taking Tickets
as Malvolio Jones
as Constable (uncredited)
as Cabbie (uncredited)
as Constable With Food Tray (uncredited)
as Police Sergeant (uncredited)
as Bookie (uncredited)
as Horace (uncredited)
as Wartime Cabby
as Air Raid Warden
as (archive footage)
as Puritan Vendor (uncredited)
as George Barrow
as Bus Conductor (uncredited)
as Farmer
as Phillips
as Mr. Bindle
as Ticket Taker (uncredited)
as Mr. Weller
as Chivers
as McDougal (uncredited)
as Stage Doorman
as Joe
as Policeman (uncredited)
as Jim (uncredited)
as Castle Guide
as Mr. Jones
as British Sergeant
as Duffy
as Cockney (uncredited)
as Street Watch Leader
as Aquarium Guard
as Gallicuddy
as Customs Official
as Kennel Man (uncredited)
as Bartender (uncredited)
as Nick
as Joe (uncredited)
as McLean
as Munson
as Pvt. Hawkins
as Atkins
as Frank (uncredited)
as Plug Hat
as Innkeeper
as Taxi Driver
as Frederick
as Police Constable Albert
as Mr. Boswick
as Cabby (uncredited)
as Curtis
as Jerry Cruncher
as Officer Watkins
as Private Foster
as Alfred
as Horse Auctioneer
as Jepson
as Police Sergeant
as Herb
as Man in Hotel Room
as Cloakroom Attendant
as Meadows
as Mac
as Hale
as Grandpa
as Two of Spades (uncredited)
as M. Prial
as Stage Director
as Jake Burke
as One of the Taxi Boys
as Detective #2 (uncredited)
as Will Swallow
as Uncle Jake
as Mr. Barker
as Mary's Father - the Mayor
as George Grainger
as Schultz
as Ashley (uncredited)
as Charlie Hammond
as Billy Bevan
as Joseph Sedley
as Colonel
as Horace Ward
as Father
as Soldier on the Make (uncredited)
as Hodgkins
as Cuthbert (uncredited)
as Departing British Soldier (uncredited)
as Edward O. Walker
as Train Conductor (uncredited)
as Sam
as Trotter
as Gilbert - Addie's Brother
as Walter
as George Downing
as Reporter (uncredited)
as Gus Jones
as Billy Blake
as Billy Brooks
as Billy Barton
as Tom Berry
as Billy Brooks
as Paris Cabman
as Bill Blake
as Billy Bender
as Billy Trotter
as Constable Billy Barnes
as Doty Bassett - the Bicycle Flirt
as Best Man
as Messenger
as Pete De Tour
as The Barber
as Billy Divott
as Professor Brawn
as Joe Whiffet
as Bill the Plumber
as The Detective
as Charley Carter
as Jerry Connors / Archibald De Shyster
as Casey McCorkle
as The Cop
as Billy Judkins
as Billy Foote
as Wilbur Watts
as Gus Gander
as Billy Hornby
as Walter Moore
as Pete
as Percy Nudge
as Gus Barnum
as Otto Stropp
as The Drifter
as Joe Bush
as Joe Dobell
as Nick
as Joe Gobb
as Joe Honck - Taxi Driver
as Hiram Case
as Otto Klutch
as Gaspard De Brie
as Farmer
as The Traffic Cop
as Adam Fargo - Baggage Master
as John Syrup Soother
as Sandy Hook - Sailor
as The Sheriff
as King of Anchovia
as Bud Gasket
as The Sheriff
as The Janitor
as Studio Organist
as Travers Dale
as A.J. Bird Jr.
as Jake aka Inbad the Sailor
as The Bachelor's Butler / Chauffeur / Footman
as Comedian
as Barfly (uncredited)
as Sailor
as Lyons - the Tenderfoot
as Press Agent
as Jim
as The Amateur Cop
as The Sportsman
as The Nosey Butler
as A Rolling Stone
as The Burglar
as A steerage passenger
as Director
as The Hired Lady's Sweetheart
as The Father
as Secretary
as The Chief of Police
as The Bartender
as The Minister
Director
as Director