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
Policeman (uncredited)
Rebecca
Joe (uncredited)
Bringing Up Baby
Douglas (uncredited)
The Secret Of St. Ives
Conductor Taking Tickets
Terror by Night
Police Constable Albert
Dracula's Daughter
Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Suspicion
Cabby (uncredited)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Billy Bragg
Fortunes of Captain Blood
Grandpa
Pop's Pal
Constable With Food Tray (uncredited)
The Pearl of Death
The Traffic Cop
Off His Trolley
Jerry Cruncher
A Tale of Two Cities
Himself
Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios
Jim (uncredited)
The Invisible Man Returns
Police Sergeant (uncredited)
The Invisible Man's Revenge
Charlie Hammond
Payment Deferred
Customs Official
Mysterious Mr. Moto
Cabbie (uncredited)
Tonight and Every Night
Trotter
Journey's End
Nick
The Girl of the Golden West
The Chief of Police
Bombs and Bandits
Hale
The Lost Patrol
The Barber
Gold Digger of Weepah
Messenger
The Girl from Everywhere
Doty Bassett - the Bicycle Flirt
The Bicycle Flirt
Constable Billy Barnes
The Girl from Nowhere
Billy Bender
Motorboat Mamas
Bill Blake
Hubby's Weekend Trip
Billy Blake
Don't Get Jealous
George Barrow
Counter-Espionage
George Grainger
Cavalcade
Billy Barton
Calling Hubby's Bluff
Billy Brooks
Pink Pajamas
Billy Hornby
Musclebound Music
Pete
Hayfoot, Strawfoot?
The Sheriff
East of the Water Plug
Phillips
The Man Who Wouldn't Die
Joe Bush
From Rags to Britches
Otto Stropp
Trimmed in Gold
Charley Carter
Should Sleepwalkers Marry?
The Cop
Should Husbands Marry?
Barfly (uncredited)
Pitfalls of a Big City
Jake aka Inbad the Sailor
Inbad the Sailor
A.J. Bird Jr.
One Spooky Night
Adam Fargo - Baggage Master
The Cannon Ball Express
Sandy Hook - Sailor
Wandering Waistlines
Press Agent
The Crossroads of New York
The Sheriff
Little Robinson Corkscrew
Joe Honck - Taxi Driver
Sneezing Beezers
Joe Dobell
Over Thereabouts
Bill the Plumber
Peaches and Plumbers
Professor Brawn
Cured in the Excitement
Pete De Tour
The Bull Fighter
George Downing
Weak But Willing
Plug Hat
God's Country and the Woman
The Bartender
Pirates of the Air
Schultz
Luxury Liner
Billy Brooks
His New Stenographer
Gus Jones
High Voltage
Nick
Butter Fingers
Percy Nudge
Wandering Willies
Billy Foote
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game
Joseph Sedley
Vanity Fair
Best Man
The Best Man
The Beach Club
Taxi Driver
Piccadilly Jim
Bus Conductor (uncredited)
Mrs. Miniver
Colonel
Sky Devils
(archive footage)
Ça, c'est du cinéma
Herb
Limehouse Blues
Hiram Case
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies
Mac
Stingaree
Atkins
Slave Ship
Billy Judkins
Hoboken to Hollywood
Bud Gasket
Lizzies of the Field
Jerry Connors / Archibald De Shyster
Flirty Four-Flushers
Casey McCorkle
Masked Mamas
A steerage passenger
Astray from the Steerage
A Rolling Stone
Be Reasonable
Jepson
Mystery Woman
Tom Berry
The Sky Hawk
The Drifter
Whispering Whiskers
McLean
The Wrong Road
British Sergeant
Pack Up Your Troubles
Studio Organist
The Hollywood Kid
Father
Who's Who in the Zoo
Gilbert - Addie's Brother
Scotch
Chivers
Shining Victory
Walter
Peacock Alley
Stage Director
Too Much Harmony
Gallicuddy
Shadows Over Shanghai
John Syrup Soother
Galloping Bungalows
Gus Barnum
Circus Today
Mr. Barker
Looking Forward
Town Councilman (uncredited)
Hans Christian Andersen
Wilbur Watts
A Sea Dog's Tale
Gus Gander
Ice Cold Cocos
Alfred
Black Sheep
Frederick
Private Number
Jim
Gymnasium Jim
Harry, Cab Driver (uncredited)
Moss Rose
Comedian
The Extra Girl
The Nosey Butler
Bright Eyes
The Burglar
Love and Doughnuts
The Detective
Easy Pickings
McDougal (uncredited)
Penny Serenade
Two of Spades (uncredited)
Alice in Wonderland
Secretary
Somebody's Widow
The Minister
Gertie's Gasoline Glide
Bartender (uncredited)
Blond Cheat
Mr. Boswick
Champagne Charlie
Aquarium Guard
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Departing British Soldier (uncredited)
Born to Love
Police Sergeant
Caravan
Cockney (uncredited)
Let Freedom Ring
Mr. Jones
We Are Not Alone
Jake Burke
The Big Squeal
Old Andrew
The Swordsman
Lyons - the Tenderfoot
When Summer Comes
The Amateur Cop
On Patrol
The Janitor
Wall Street Blues
The Bachelor's Butler / Chauffeur / Footman
One Cylinder Love
The Sportsman
The Duck Hunter
Her Rustic Romeo
Bookie (uncredited)
Jane Eyre
King of Anchovia
Three Foolish Weeks
Evans
It Had to Be You
Munson
The Sheik Steps Out
Hodgkins
Transatlantic
Paris Cabman
Riley the Cop
Mr. Bindle
Confirm or Deny
Pvt. Hawkins
Another Dawn
Meadows
Shock
Castle Guide
The Earl of Chicago
The Lodger
Air Raid Warden
London Blackout Murders
Billy Divott
The Golf Nut
Mr. Weller
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dungeon Keeper
The Black Arrow
Will Scarlet
Rogues of Sherwood Forest
Detective #2 (uncredited)
Peg o' My Heart
One of the Taxi Boys
Thundering Taxis
Horse Auctioneer
Vanessa: Her Love Story
Stage Doorman
Tin Pan Alley
Horace Ward
The Silent Witness
Joe
The Long Voyage Home
She Whoops To Conquer
Private Foster
The Last Outpost
Sailor
Nip and Tuck
Sam
Temptation
Wartime Cabby
Forever and a Day
Ashley, Arguing Drunk (uncredited)
Me and My Gal
Frank (uncredited)
Personal Property
Duffy
Captain Fury
Puritan Vendor (uncredited)
I Married a Witch
Train Conductor (uncredited)
Monte Carlo
Uncle Jake
Uncle Jake
Reporter (uncredited)
The Trespasser
Gaspard De Brie
Giddap!
Kennel Man (uncredited)
The Young in Heart
Constable (uncredited)
National Velvet
Street Watch Leader
A Christmas Carol
Billy Bevan
Honeymoon Beach
Curtis
Song and Dance Man
Travers Dale
The White Sin
Malvolio Jones
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Director
A Small Town Idol
The Hired Lady's Sweetheart
The Quack Doctor
Horace (uncredited)
The Return of the Vampire
The Father
Cupid In Quarantine
Joe Gobb
The Iron Nag
Otto Klutch
The Lion's Whiskers
Farmer
Honeymoon Hardships
Billy Trotter
His Unlucky Night
(archive footage)
Happy Times and Jolly Moments
Walter Moore
Fight Night
Joe Whiffet
A Small Town Princess
Cuthbert (uncredited)
Chances
Morton
Let's Live a Little
Officer Watkins
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Innkeeper
Lloyd's of London
Ed Jackson (uncredited)
Three Secrets
archive footage
The Golden Age of Comedy
Soldier on the Make (uncredited)
Waterloo Bridge
Cloakroom Attendant
One More River
Man in Hotel Room
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Barney
The Secret Garden
Farmer
This Above All
Mr. Ames (uncredited)
Devotion
M. Prial
The Way to Love
Edward O. Walker
For the Love o' Lil
Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited)
Tell It to the Judge
Will Swallow
A Study in Scarlet
(archive footage)
30 Years of Fun
Mary's Father - the Mayor
Techno-Crazy
Uncle Arn Porritt
Cluny Brown
Distilled Love
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
197
Gender
Male
Birthday
1887-09-29
Place of Birth
Orange, New South Wales, Australia
Also Known As
William Bevan