William Schallert

Acting

William Schallert

Born 1922-07-06 · Los Angeles, California, U.S.

William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957–1959), Death Valley Days (1955–1962), and The Patty Duke Show (1963–1966). Schallert was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edwin Francis Schallert, a longtime drama critic for the Los Angeles Times, and Elza Emily Schallert (née Baumgarten), a magazine writer and radio host. He began acting while a student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) but left to become an Army Air Corps fighter pilot in World War II. He returned to UCLA after the war and graduated in 1946. After graduating from UCLA, Schallert began his acting career in the theater. He appeared in several productions at the Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, including a staging of W. Somerset Maugham's Rain in 1948, which was directed by Charlie Chaplin. Schallert made his television debut in 1951, and he quickly became a familiar face on the small screen. He appeared in numerous guest roles on shows such as The Adventures of Superman, The Twilight Zone, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. He also had recurring roles on The Patty Duke Show, The Nancy Drew Mysteries, and The Torkelsons. In addition to his work on television, Schallert also appeared in several films, including The Bridges of Toko-Ri (1954), The Apartment (1960), and The Sting (1973). Schallert died in Pacific Palisades, California, in 2016, at the age of 93. He was survived by his wife, Leah Waggner, and their four children.

Acting credits

Gremlins poster
7.1

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.

Gremlins

1984

Singin' in the Rain poster
8.1

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his paranoid screen partner struggle to make the difficult transition to talking pictures.

Singin' in the Rain

1952

Twilight Zone: The Movie poster
6.5

An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."

Twilight Zone: The Movie

1983

Teachers poster
5.7

A teacher reconnects with an old student who is now an attorney representing a family who is suing the school for graduating their son who still cannot read or write. Amid the daily chaos of teaching in an inner city school, Alex Jurel tries to decide if he will lie at his deposition to protect the school or tell the truth and risk throwing away his career.

Teachers

1984

Innerspace poster
6.8

Test pilot Tuck Pendleton volunteers to test a special vessel for a miniaturization experiment. Accidentally injected into a neurotic hypochondriac, Jack Putter, Tuck must convince Jack to find his ex-girlfriend, Lydia Maxwell, to help him extract Tuck and his ship and re-enlarge them before his oxygen runs out.

Innerspace

1987

Green Lantern: First Flight poster
6.9

Test pilot Hal Jordan finds himself recruited as the newest member of the intergalactic police force, The Green Lantern Corps.

Green Lantern: First Flight

2009

In the Heat of the Night poster
7.7

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

In the Heat of the Night

1967

Them! poster
6.8

As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.

Them!

1954

Pillow Talk poster
7.1

Playboy songwriter Brad Allen's succession of romances annoys his neighbor, interior designer Jan Morrow, who shares a telephone party line with him and hears all his breezy routines. After Jan unsuccessfully lodges a complaint against him, Brad sets about to seduce her in the guise of a sincere and upstanding Texas rancher. When mutual friend Jonathan discovers that his best friend is moving in on the girl he desires, however, sparks fly.

Pillow Talk

1959

The Incredible Shrinking Man poster
7.5

A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

1957

Ike poster
6.8

Eisenhower the military man is the focus of this mini-series, his relationships with the other wartime leaders, and, very discreetly, his personal relationship with his driver, Kay Summersby.

Ike

1979

The High and the Mighty poster
6.0

Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.

The High and the Mighty

1954

Beethoven's 2nd poster
5.6

Beethoven is back -- and this time, he has a whole brood with him now that he's met his canine match, Missy, and fathered a family. The only problem is that Missy's owner, Regina, wants to sell the puppies and tear the clan apart. It's up to Beethoven and the Newton kids to save the day and keep everyone together.

Beethoven's 2nd

1993

Matinee poster
6.7

A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalizes on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.

Matinee

1993

Raw Edge poster
6.3

A Texan arrives in Oregon and seeks justice for his innocently-hanged brother.

Raw Edge

1956

The Jerk poster
6.9

After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.

The Jerk

1979

The Tarnished Angels poster
6.8

In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot at aerial stunt shows while his wife, LaVerne, works as a parachutist. When newspaper reporter Burke Devlin arrives to do a story on the Shumanns’ act, he quickly falls in love with the beautiful--and neglected--LaVerne.

The Tarnished Angels

1957

Charley Varrick poster
7.4

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

Charley Varrick

1973

The Strongest Man in the World poster
6.2

Medfield College science major Dexter Riley and his classmates have been working on a new vitamin compound when a lab accident creates a supercharged mix that ends up in Dexter's cereal box, giving him superhuman strength. The powerful formula comes to the attention of the college dean and two rival cereal companies, touching off a hilarious chain of events.

The Strongest Man in the World

1975

Mighty Joe Young poster
6.4

A young woman, Jill Young, grew up on her father's ranch in Africa, raising a large gorilla named Joe from an infant. Years later, she brings him to Hollywood to become a star.

Mighty Joe Young

1949

Colossus: The Forbin Project poster
7.0

The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

1970

House Party 2 poster
5.5

Kid'N'Play leave their neighborhood and enter the world of adulthood and higher education. Play attempts to get rich quick in the music business while Kid faces the challenges of college.

House Party 2

1991

Cry Terror! poster
6.5

A mad bomber holds an innocent family hostage.

Cry Terror!

1958

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes poster
6.0

Some college students manage to persuade the town's big businessman, A. J. Arno, to donate a computer to their college. When the problem- student, Dexter Riley, tries to fix the computer, he gets an electric shock and his brain turns to a computer; now he remembers everything he reads. Unfortunately, he also remembers information which was in the computer's memory, like Arno's illegal businesses..

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

1969