Dave Willock

Acting

Dave Willock

Born 1909-08-13 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dave Willock (August 13, 1909 – November 12, 1990) was an American character actor. Willock appeared in 181 films and television series from 1939 to 1989. Born in 1909, Willock began his professional career in vaudeville in 1931, teaming with his boyhood friend Jack Carson in a comedy song and dance routine. For a time in the mid-1930s he was a reporter and editor for a Milwaukee newspaper. He first appeared on screen in Good Girls Go to Paris (1939), in an uncredited bit part. He teamed with Carson again when Carson invited him to write for his radio show; Willock wrote and played the part of Carson's nephew Tugwell on The Jack Carson Show from 1943–1949. Willock and Cliff Arquette had their own radio and television shows in the early 1950s. Both versions were called Dave and Charley; the radio version was heard circa 1950, but the television version of it was on the air for only three months in early 1952. In the 1961–1962 season, he played Harvey Clayton, father of the 1920s teenager Margie Clayton, portrayed by Cynthia Pepper in ABC's Margie. He appeared on an episode of Dragnet as an ex-vaudevillean who is cheated out of $9,000 that he found on a sidewalk. In 1966, he had an uncredited role as the bartender in the Elvis Presley vehicle Frankie and Johnny. Willock is probably most familiar to modern audiences from his performance as Baby Jane Hudson's father in the opening scenes of the cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). He played seven different characters on CBS's Green Acres with Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor, mostly portraying clerks or elevator operators. Willock also did voice acting for animated roles, such as the offscreen narrator on Wacky Races (1968) and as father Augustus "Gus" Holiday on The Roman Holidays (1972). He appeared in a television commercial for "The Great American Soups", directed by American satirist Stan Freberg, alongside tap-dancing star Ann Miller. He died of complications due to stroke on November 12, 1990 at the age of 81. He is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery. For his contribution to the television industry, Dave Willock has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6358 Hollywood Boulevard.

Acting credits

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
7.8

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
7.9

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

1962

Spellbound poster
7.4

When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.

Spellbound

1945

Send Me No Flowers poster
6.8

When a hypochondriac assumes that he is dying, he makes an elaborate plan to ensure his wife's happiness. However, trouble ensues when she misunderstands his intentions.

Send Me No Flowers

1964

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte poster
7.3

An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

1964

Revenge of the Creature poster
5.6

In a tributary of the Amazon, a monster – half-man, half-fish – is captured and placed in a reservoir in a Florida national park to be observed by scientists.

Revenge of the Creature

1955

Frankie and Johnny poster
5.6

Johnny is a riverboat entertainer with a big gambling problem. After a psychic tells Johnny how he can change his luck, the appearance of a new 'lady luck' soon causes a catfight with Johnny's girlfriend, Frankie.

Frankie and Johnny

1966

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs poster
8.2

Gary is turning into a dinosaur, and Eric must find the cure. This becomes a globetrotting journey into everything dino while searching for the magic waters needed to stop Gary's odd transformation. Will Eric be too late? Get ready to meet the Garysaurus!

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

1985

It Came from Outer Space poster
6.3

Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam and schoolteacher Ellen Fields witness an enormous meteorite come down near a small town in Arizona. Putnam becomes a local object of scorn when, after examining the object up close, he announces that it is a spacecraft, and that it is inhabited...

It Came from Outer Space

1953

Prehistoric World poster
NR

First Stop...the Tar Pits, as Gary and Eric investigate the incredible creatures that came after the dinosaurs, from giant ground sloths to savage saber-tooths. It's a trip back to the age of monstrous mammals in this wild and whimsical blast into tour prehistoric past.

Prehistoric World

1989

The Patsy poster
6.2

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

The Patsy

1964

Four Jills in a Jeep poster
6.8

Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas.

Four Jills in a Jeep

1944

Emperor of the North poster
6.8

Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.

Emperor of the North

1973

The Amazing Mr. Williams poster
6.0

Kenny Williams, a lieutenant on the homicide squad, is engaged to Maxine Carroll, the Mayor's secretary. Or isn't he rather married with his job? For each time he has a date with his longtime fiancée, he is prevented from keeping it by his devotion to duty. Maxine, in desperation, decides to take action and bring Kenny to the altar. Who will win, Maxine's curves or the glorious fight against crime?

The Amazing Mr. Williams

1939

State of the Union poster
6.8

An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.

State of the Union

1948

Now You See Him, Now You Don't poster
6.3

Dexter Riley is a science student at Medfield College who inadvertently invents a liquid capable of rendering objects and people invisible. Before Dexter and his friends, Debbie and Richard Schuyler, can even enjoy their spectacular discovery, corrupt businessman A.J. Arno plots to get his greedy hands on it. Slapstick hijinks ensue as Dexter and his pals try to thwart the evil Arno before he can use the invisibility spray to rob a bank.

Now You See Him, Now You Don't

1972

4 for Texas poster
5.1

In the 1870s, two rival businessmen, Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett, on a stagecoach heading to Galveston, Texas, must pull together to protect $100,000 from an outlaw named Matson. Once in Galveston, however, their rivalry continues, as Thomas joins up with Elya Carlson and Jarret with Maxine Richter. But Matson is still on the loose, and a scheming banker threatens both Thomas and Jarrett.

4 for Texas

1963

The Legend of Lylah Clare poster
6.0

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

The Legend of Lylah Clare

1968

Louisiana Purchase poster
6.7

A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.

Louisiana Purchase

1941

Action in the North Atlantic poster
7.1

Merchant Marine sailors Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart) and Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey) are charged with getting a supply vessel to Russian allies as part of a sea convoy. When the group of ships comes under attack from a German U-boat, Rossi and Jarvis navigate through dangerous waters to evade Nazi naval forces. Though their mission across the Atlantic is extremely treacherous, they are motivated by the opportunity to strike back at the Germans, who sank one of their earlier ships.

Action in the North Atlantic

1943

The Delicate Delinquent poster
6.4

Sidney Pythias is a bumbling janitor picked up by cop Mike Damon as a teenage gang member worth saving from delinquency. With Damon's help, Sidney works his way through the Police Academy to become a cop too.

The Delicate Delinquent

1957

The Ladies Man poster
6.3

After his girl leaves him for someone else, Herbert gets really depressed and starts searching for a job. He finally finds one in a big house which is inhabited by many, many women. Can he live in the same home with all these females?

The Ladies Man

1961

The Geisha Boy poster
6.4

Gilbert Wooley is a second-rate magician who is sent to entertain the troops in the pacific. During his time in Japan he becomes attached to a little orphan boy.

The Geisha Boy

1958

Roadblock poster
5.9

An insurance agent's greedy girlfriend with a taste for mink leads him to a life of crime.

Roadblock

1951