Billy Bevan
Known For: Acting
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: September 29, 1887
Day of Death: November 26, 1957 (70 years old)
Place of Birth: 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.)
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1957
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1938
Actor Joe (uncredited)
Bringing Up Baby
Actor Customs Official
Mysterious Mr. Moto
Actor Nick
The Girl of the Golden West
Actor Gallicuddy
Shadows Over Shanghai
Actor Bartender (uncredited)
Blond Cheat
Actor Aquarium Guard
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Actor Kennel Man (uncredited)
The Young in Heart
Actor Street Watch Leader
A Christmas Carol
1937
1936
1935
1934
1933
Actor Grandpa
Pop's Pal
Actor George Grainger
Cavalcade
Actor Schultz
Luxury Liner
Actor Stage Director
Too Much Harmony
Actor Mr. Barker
Looking Forward
Actor Two of Spades (uncredited)
Alice in Wonderland
Actor Jake Burke
The Big Squeal
Actor Detective #2 (uncredited)
Peg o' My Heart
Actor One of the Taxi Boys
Thundering Taxis
Actor
She Whoops To Conquer
Actor Uncle Jake
Uncle Jake
Actor M. Prial
The Way to Love
Actor Will Swallow
A Study in Scarlet
Actor Mary's Father - the Mayor
Techno-Crazy
1932
1931
1930
1929
1928
Actor Doty Bassett - the Bicycle Flirt
The Bicycle Flirt
Actor Constable Billy Barnes
The Girl from Nowhere
Actor Billy Bender
Motorboat Mamas
Actor Bill Blake
Hubby's Weekend Trip
Actor Billy Brooks
His New Stenographer
Actor Best Man
The Best Man
Actor
The Beach Club
Actor Paris Cabman
Riley the Cop
Actor Billy Trotter
His Unlucky Night
1927
Actor The Barber
Gold Digger of Weepah
Actor Messenger
The Girl from Everywhere
Actor Charley Carter
Should Sleepwalkers Marry?
Actor Bill the Plumber
Peaches and Plumbers
Actor Professor Brawn
Cured in the Excitement
Actor Pete De Tour
The Bull Fighter
Actor The Detective
Easy Pickings
Actor Billy Divott
The Golf Nut
Actor Joe Whiffet
A Small Town Princess
1926
Actor Billy Hornby
Musclebound Music
Actor Pete
Hayfoot, Strawfoot?
Actor Otto Stropp
Trimmed in Gold
Actor The Cop
Should Husbands Marry?
Actor Percy Nudge
Wandering Willies
Actor Billy Foote
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game
Actor Billy Judkins
Hoboken to Hollywood
Actor Jerry Connors / Archibald De Shyster
Flirty Four-Flushers
Actor Casey McCorkle
Masked Mamas
Actor The Drifter
Whispering Whiskers
Actor Gus Barnum
Circus Today
Actor Wilbur Watts
A Sea Dog's Tale
Actor Gus Gander
Ice Cold Cocos
Actor Walter Moore
Fight Night
1925
1924
Actor The Traffic Cop
Off His Trolley
Actor The Sheriff
East of the Water Plug
Actor A.J. Bird Jr.
One Spooky Night
Actor Sandy Hook - Sailor
Wandering Waistlines
Actor Adam Fargo - Baggage Master
The Cannon Ball Express
Actor The Sheriff
Little Robinson Corkscrew
Actor Bud Gasket
Lizzies of the Field
Actor Studio Organist
The Hollywood Kid
Actor John Syrup Soother
Galloping Bungalows
Actor The Janitor
Wall Street Blues
Actor King of Anchovia
Three Foolish Weeks
Actor Travers Dale
The White Sin
