Little Known Actors - William Demarest

William Demarest (1892 - 1983) was an American character actor who often specialized in playing crusty yet kind hearted old men. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota he began his acting career in Vaudeville later moving on to Broadway in the 1920s. It is documented that with his acting parts totaled from both film and TV apperances that he played 140 roles. He made apperances in such films as Hands Across the Table (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Lady Eve (1941), Sullavan's Travels (1941), and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944).

He retired from acting in 1978 and enjoyed a peaceful retierment in Palm Springs, CA. He would die from a mix of pneumonia and prostate cancer in 1982 at the age of 91. He was laid to rest in Glendale, CA's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.