William Bendix

William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film, radio, and television actor, known for his portrayals of rough, blue-collar characters. He gained significant recognition for his role in Wake Island, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bendix is also remembered for playing Chester A. Riley, the earnest and clumsy aircraft plant worker, in both the radio and television versions of The Life of Riley. Additionally, he portrayed baseball legend Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story. Bendix frequently co-starred with Alan Ladd, appearing in ten films together; both actors died in 1964.

Early life Bendix was born in Manhattan, the only child of Oscar and Hilda (Carnell) Bendix, and was named William after his German paternal grandfather. His uncle was composer, conductor, and violinist Max Bendix. In the early 1920s, Bendix was a batboy for the New York Yankees and said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than 100 home runs at Yankee Stadium. However, he was fired after fulfilling Ruth's request for a large order of hot dogs and soda before a game, which resulted in Ruth being unable to play that day. He worked as a grocer until the Great Depression.

Career

Film

Bendix began his acting career at age 30 in the New Jersey Federal Theatre Project. He made his film debut in 1942. He played in supporting roles in dozens of Hollywood films, usually as a warm-hearted gangster, detective or serviceman. He began with appearances in films noir, including a supporting role in The Glass Key (1942), which featured Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in the leads. He soon gained attention after appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) as Gus, a wounded and dying American sailor. He was the top-billed lead in The Hairy Ape (1944) based upon the Eugene O'Neill play, also starring Susan Hayward and Dorothy Comingore. He was cast in The Blue Dahlia (1946), appearing for the second time alongside Ladd and Lake.

Bendix's other film roles include his portrayal of Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story (1948) – a film roundly considered one of the worst sports biopics in film history. He played Nick the bartender in the film version of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (1948) starring James Cagney. Bendix had appeared in the stage version, but in the role of Officer Krupp (a role played on film by Broderick Crawford). He played Sir Sagramore opposite Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), in which he took part in the trio, "Busy Doing Nothing". He also starred in a film adaptation of his radio program The Life of Riley (1949).

Radio and television Bendix's appearance in the Hal Roach-produced film The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942), playing a rugged blue-collar man, led to his best-remembered role. Producer and creator Irving Brecher saw Bendix as the perfect personification of Chester A. Riley, giving a second chance to a show whose audition failed when the sponsor spurned Groucho Marx for the lead. With Bendix stumbling, bumbling, and skating almost perpetually on thin ice, stretching the patience of his otherwise loving wife and children, The Life of Riley was a radio hit from 1944 through 1951. In 1950 Bendix brought an adaptation of the film version to Lux Radio Theatre.

The show began as a proposed Groucho Marx radio series, The Flotsam Family, but the sponsor balked at what would have been essentially a straight head-of-household role for the comedian. Then creator and producer Irving Brecher saw Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in The McGuerins from Brooklyn. Brecher stated: "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. I thought, This guy could play it. He'd made a few films, like Lifeboat, but he was not a name. So I took The Flotsam Family script, revised it, made it a Brooklyn Family, took out the flippancies and made it more meat-and-potatoes, and thought of a new title, The Life of Riley. Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work." The reworked script cast Bendix as blundering Chester A. Riley, a wing riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. His frequent exclamation of indignation"What a revoltin' development this is!"became one of the catchphrases of the 1940s. It was later reused by Benjamin J. Grimm of the Fantastic Four.

Bendix was not able to play the role on television because of a contracted film commitment. The part instead went to Jackie Gleason and aired a single season beginning in October 1949. Despite winning an Emmy award, the show was canceled, in part because Gleason was less acceptable as Riley, since Bendix had been so identified with the part on radio. In 1953, Bendix became available for a new television version, and this time the show was a hit. The second television version of The Life of Riley ran from 1953 to 1958, long enough for Riley to become a grandfather.

On the 1952 television program This Is Your Life, hosted by Ralph Edwards, Bendix was claimed to be a descendant of the 19th-century composer Felix Mendelssohn.

Bendix played the lead in Rod Serling's "The Time Element" (1958), a time-travel adventure episode about a man who travels back to 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone in Honolulu about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor; the program's success opened the doors for Serling's later series The Twilight Zone. Bendix also appeared on The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (also 1958). He returned for a second appearance on October 1, 1959, the fourth-season premiere of the series, in which he and Tennessee Ernie Ford performed a comedy skit about a safari.

In NBC's Wagon Train ("Around the Horn", 1958), Bendix played the captain of a sailing cargo ship who shanghaied Major Adams (Ward Bond), Bill Hawks (Terry Wilson) and Charlie Wooster (Frank McGrath), forcing them to work on his ship. On November 16, 1959, Bendix appeared on NBC's color broadcast of The Steve Allen Plymouth Show with Jack Kerouac. A color videotape of the broadcast survives. Bendix starred in all 17 episodes of the NBC Western series Overland Trail (1960) in the role of Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly. He guest-starred in an episode of Mister Ed ("Pine Lake Lodge", 1961) which served as a backdoor pilot for a proposed sitcom that was not picked up.

In the fall of 1964, an American situation comedy starring Bendix and Martha Raye was scheduled to air on CBS, but due to Bendix's shaky health, the network decided not to air the program. This action resulted in a lawsuit from Bendix for $2.658 million in May, with the actor stating that the decision hurt his career and that he was in excellent health and could perform all of the requirements of the agreement. The case was settled out of court. Bendix died on December 14, 1964, of complications from pneumonia.

Personal life Bendix married a childhood friend, Theresa Stefanotti, on October 22, 1927. They remained married until his death 37 years later in 1964. The couple had a daughter, Lorraine, and adopted another, Stephanie. He was interred at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles.

During the 1944 presidential election campaign, Bendix attended a reception organized by David O. Selznick in support of the Dewey-Bricker ticket as well as Governor Earl Warren of California.

Upon his death a requiem mass was held on December 17, 1964 in Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino, California.

Complete filmography Year Film Role Director Notes 1940 They Drive by Night Truck Driver Watching Pinball Game Raoul Walsh uncredited 1942 Brooklyn Orchid Timothy "Tim" McGuerin Kurt Neumann Woman of the Year "Pinkie" Peters George Stevens Wake Island Pvt. Aloysius K. "Smacksie" Randall John Farrow Best Supporting Actor nomination The Glass Key Jeff Stuart Heisler Who Done It? Detective Brannigan Star Spangled Rhythm Herman the Husband in Bob Hope Skit Paul Weatherwax The McGuerins from Brooklyn Timothy 'Tim' McGuerin Kurt Neumann 1943 The Crystal Ball Biff Carter Elliott Nugent Taxi, Mister Tim McGuerin Kurt Neumann China Johnny Sparrow John Farrow Hostages Underground Leader Frank Tuttle Guadalcanal Diary Corp. Taxi Potts Lewis Seiler 1944 Lifeboat Gus Smith Alfred Hitchcock Skirmish on the Home Front Herb Miller short The Hairy Ape Hank Smith Alfred Santell Abroad with Two Yanks Biff Koraski John E. Burch (assistant) Greenwich Village Danny O'Mara Walter Lang 1945 It's in the Bag William Bendix Richard Wallace Don Juan Quilligan Patrick Michael "Don Juan" Quilligan Frank Tuttle A Bell for Adano Sgt. Borth Henry King Duffy's Tavern William Bendix Hal Walker 1946 Sentimental Journey Donnelly — Uncle Don Walter Lang The Blue Dahlia Buzz Wanchek George Marshall The Dark Corner Stauffer a.k.a. Fred Foss Henry Hathaway White Tie and Tails Larry Lundie Charles Barton Two Years Before the Mast First Mate Amazeen John Farrow Rough But Hopeful Himself short 1947 I'll Be Yours Wechsberg William A. Seiter Calcutta Pedro Blake John Farrow Blaze of Noon Porkie Scott John Farrow The Web Lt. Damico Michael Gordon Variety Girl Himself George Marshall Where There's Life Victor O'Brien Sidney Lanfield 1948 The Time of Your Life Nick H. C. Potter The Babe Ruth Story George Herman 'Babe' Ruth Roy Del Ruth Race Street Lt. Barney Runson Edwin L. Marin 10,000 Kids and a Cop Neighborhood Policeman short documentary 1949 Cover Up Sheriff Larry Best Alfred E. Green The Life of Riley Chester A. Riley Irving Brecher A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Sir Sagramore Tay Garnett Streets of Laredo Reuben "Wahoo" Jones Leslie Fenton The Big Steal Capt. Vincent Blake Don Siegel Johnny Holiday Sgt. Walker Willis Goldbeck 1950 Kill the Umpire Bill "Two Call" Johnson Lloyd Bacon 1951 Gambling House Joe Farrow Ted Tetzlaff Detective Story Det. Lou Brody William Wyler Submarine Command CPO Boyer John Farrow 1952 A Girl in Every Port Timothy Aloysius "Tim" Dunnovan Chester Erskine Macao Lawrence C. Trumble Nicholas Ray Blackbeard the Pirate Ben Worley Raoul Walsh 1954 Dangerous Mission Chief Ranger Joe Parker Louis King 1955 Crashout Van Morgan Duff Lewis R. Foster 1956 Battle Stations Buck Fitzpatrick 1958 The Deep Six "Frenchy" Shapiro Rudolph Maté 1959 Idol on Parade Sgt. Lush John Gilling The Ransom of Red Chief Bill Driscoll TV movie The Rough and the Smooth Reg Barker Robert Siodmak 1961 Johnny Nobody James Ronald Mulcahy Nigel Patrick The Phony American Sergeant Harrigan, USAF Ákos Ráthonyi 1962 Boys' Night Out Slattery Michael Gordon 1963 For Love or Money Joe Fogel Michael Gordon The Young and the Brave Sgt. Peter L. Kane Francis D. Lyon 1964 Law of the Lawless Sheriff Ed Tanner William F. Claxton 1965 Young Fury Blacksmith, Joe Christian Nyby Released posthumously

Partial television credits The Life of Riley (1953–1958) Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse: "The Time Element" (TV series, 1958) as Peter Jenson The Untouchables: "The Tri-State Gang" (TV series, 1959) as Wally Legenza Overland Trail, a 1960 Western series starring Bendix and Doug McClure

Dramatic radio appearances Cavalcade of America (1952) -- Portraying Lou Diamond in The Marine Who Was 200 Years Old

Year Program Episode/source February 28, 1944 Lux Radio Theatre Guadalcanal Diary January 23, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre I'll Be Yours May 8, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre Life Of Riley