Billy Bevan
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.)
202 acting credits · 1 directing credit
Acting · 202
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
Rebecca
1940
Jane Eyre
1943
Mrs. Miniver
1942
Bringing Up Baby
1938
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1945
Suspicion
1941
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1941
A Tale of Two Cities
1935
The Invisible Man Returns
1940
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
The Secret Garden
1949
Cavalcade
1933
A Christmas Carol
1938
Penny Serenade
1941
Terror by Night
1946
I Married a Witch
1942
Slave Ship
1937
The Black Arrow
1948
The Invisible Man's Revenge
1944
It Had to Be You
1947
National Velvet
1945
Private Number
1936
Dracula's Daughter
1936
Captain Fury
1939
Stingaree
1934
Sky Devils
1932
The Lodger
1944
Alice in Wonderland
1933
Hans Christian Andersen
1952
Waterloo Bridge
1931
The Return of the Vampire
1943
This Above All
1942
Let Freedom Ring
1939
The Lost Patrol
1934
Devotion
1946
Lloyd's of London
1936
Forever and a Day
1943
Three Secrets
1950
The Pearl of Death
1944
Rogues of Sherwood Forest
1950
Caravan
1934
The Long Voyage Home
1940
Vanity Fair
1932
Peacock Alley
1930
The Young in Heart
1938
The Trespasser
1929
Piccadilly Jim
1936
Tonight and Every Night
1945
One More River
1934
Cluny Brown
1946
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
1934
Shining Victory
1941
Fortunes of Captain Blood
1950
Monte Carlo
1930
A Study in Scarlet
1933
Luxury Liner
1933
Galloping Bungalows
1924
The Best Man
1928
The Man Who Wouldn't Die
1942
The Silent Witness
1932
Mystery Woman
1935
Transatlantic
1931
Another Dawn
1937
Counter-Espionage
1942
The Earl of Chicago
1940
Confirm or Deny
1941
Payment Deferred
1932
Personal Property
1937
Me and My Gal
1932
Looking Forward
1933
Blond Cheat
1938
Vanessa: Her Love Story
1935
The Way to Love
1933
Let's Live a Little
1948
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
1951
Chances
1931
Bright Eyes
1921
The Golden Age of Comedy
1957
Champagne Charlie
1936
Shock
1934
The Girl of the Golden West
1938
Easy Pickings
1927
Moss Rose
1947
Limehouse Blues
1934
The Last Outpost
1935
Shadows Over Shanghai
1938
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
1938
Black Sheep
1935
High Voltage
1929
The Widow from Monte Carlo
1935
Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies
1925
Too Much Harmony
1933
Born to Love
1931
We Are Not Alone
1939
Mysterious Mr. Moto
1938
Tell It to the Judge
1949
Whispering Whiskers
1926
Trimmed in Gold
1926
The Secret Of St. Ives
1949
Journey's End
1930
Peg o' My Heart
1933
The Wrong Road
1937
Tin Pan Alley
1940
London Blackout Murders
1943
A Sea Dog's Tale
1926
Temptation
1930
God's Country and the Woman
1937
On Patrol
1922
Riley the Cop
1928
From Rags to Britches
1925
30 Years of Fun
1963
Happy Times and Jolly Moments
1943
The Extra Girl
1923
Be Reasonable
1921
Pack Up Your Troubles
1939
Flirty Four-Flushers
1926
Fight Night
1926
One Cylinder Love
1923
Uncle Jake
1933
For the Love o' Lil
1930
Gymnasium Jim
1922
The White Sin
1924
Hoboken to Hollywood
1926
Motorboat Mamas
1928
The Swordsman
1948
Over Thereabouts
1925
Astray from the Steerage
1921
Off His Trolley
1924
Calling Hubby's Bluff
1929
The Lion's Whiskers
1925
The Sky Hawk
1929
Hayfoot, Strawfoot?
1926
Weak But Willing
1929
Wandering Willies
1926
The Girl from Nowhere
1928
Song and Dance Man
1936
Love, Honor and Behave
1920
A Small Town Idol
1921
Hubby’s Quiet Little Game
1926
Lizzies of the Field
1924
The Girl from Everywhere
1927
Scotch
1930
Techno-Crazy
1933
The Bicycle Flirt
1928
Ice Cold Cocos
1926
The Spot on the Rug
1932
Who's Who in the Zoo
1931
Three Foolish Weeks
1924
The Crossroads of New York
1922
Sneezing Beezers
1925
Pop's Pal
1933
Circus Today
1926
Butter Fingers
1925
Married Life
1920
The Quack Doctor
1920
Little Robinson Corkscrew
1924
His Unlucky Night
1928
Peaches and Plumbers
1927
Hubby's Weekend Trip
1928
The Hollywood Kid
1924
Wandering Waistlines
1924
Pink Pajamas
1929
Pitfalls of a Big City
1923
Don't Get Jealous
1929
Gold Digger of Weepah
1927
The Cannon Ball Express
1924
Pirates of the Air
1916
His New Stenographer
1928
Somebody's Widow
1918
The Iron Nag
1925
One Spooky Night
1924
Wall Street Blues
1924
Honeymoon Beach
1932
Distilled Love
1920
The Big Squeal
1933
The Sheik Steps Out
1937
Musclebound Music
1926
Should Husbands Marry?
1926
East of the Water Plug
1924
Cured in the Excitement
1927
A Small Town Princess
1927
Love and Doughnuts
1921
Are Married Policemen Safe?
1918
Honeymoon Hardships
1925
The Golf Nut
1927
The Duck Hunter
1922
She Whoops To Conquer
1933
Should Sleepwalkers Marry?
1927
Gertie's Gasoline Glide
1916
The Bull Fighter
1927
When Summer Comes
1922
Thundering Taxis
1933
Nip and Tuck
1923
Masked Mamas
1926
Giddap!
1925
The Beach Club
1928
Bombs and Bandits
1917
Cupid In Quarantine
1918
Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios
1921
Her Rustic Romeo
1918
Inbad the Sailor
1923