Wally Vernon

Wally Vernon
Vernon in Sailor's Lady (1940)
Born	Walter J. Vernon (1905-05-27)May 27, 1905 New York City, U.S.
Died	March 27, 1970(1970-03-27) (aged 64) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California
Occupation(s)	Actor, dancer
Years active	1937–1964

Walter J. Vernon (May 27, 1905 – March 7, 1970) was an American comic and character actor and dancer.

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Early life

Vernon was born in New York City^{[citation needed]} in 1905. He was in show business from the age of three, appearing in vaudeville and stock theater; he made his first Hollywood appearance in 1937's Mountain Music.^[1]

Career

He made more than 75 films, almost always playing a Brooklynese wiseguy and/or the hero's assistant. He was a fixture in Twentieth Century Fox features of the late 1930s and early 1940s; Vernon is seen as an eccentric dancer in Fox's Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), where he appears as himself.

Vernon freelanced at other studios after leaving Fox. He became the sidekick to cowboy star Don "Red" Barry at Republic Pictures, and when Barry began producing his own features in 1949, he remembered Vernon and brought him back as his sidekick.

In 1948 Columbia Pictures producer Jules White paired Vernon with Eddie Quillan, another comedian with a vaudeville background. White emphasized physical comedy in films, and Vernon and Quillan indulged in pratfalling, head-banging, kick-in-the-pants slapstick. The Vernon & Quillan comedies were favorites of White, who kept making them through 1956.

In 1961, he appeared as a bartender in the TV Western series Bat Masterson (S3E18 "The Prescott Campaign").

Death

On March 7, 1970, Vernon died in an ambulance shortly after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Hollywood, California.^[1] He was buried in Hollywood Hills at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Films

Mountain Music (1937) - Odette Potta
You Can't Have Everything (1937) - Jerry
This Way Please (1937) - Bumps
Submarine D-1 (1937) - Sailor (uncredited)
Happy Landing (1938) - Al Mahoney
Kentucky Moonshine (1938) - Gus Bryce
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) - Wally Vernon
Meet the Girls (1938) - Delbert Jones
Sharpshooters (1938) - Waldo
Tail Spin (1939) - Chick
Broadway Serenade (1939) - Joey - the Jinx
Chasing Danger (1939) - Waldo Winkle [AFI Name: Waldo Rohrbeck]
The Gorilla (1939) - Seaman
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) - Elmer Kelner
Sailor's Lady (1940) - Goofer
Margie (1940) - Al
Sandy Gets Her Man (1940) - Fireman Bagshaw
Reveille with Beverly (1943) - Stomp McCoy
Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) - Vaudeville Actor (uncredited)
Tahiti Honey (1943) - Maxie
Get Going (1943) - Comic Bit
Fugitive from Sonora (1943) - Jack Pot Murphy
Thumbs Up (1943) - Comedy Trio Member (uncredited)
Black Hills Express (1943) - Deputy Deadeye
A Scream in the Dark (1943) - Klousky
The Man from the Rio Grande (1943) - Jimpson Simpson
Here Comes Elmer (1943) - Wally
Canyon City (1943) - Beauty Bradshaw
Pistol Packin' Mama (1943) - The Joker
California Joe (1943) - Tumbleweed Smith
Outlaws of Santa Fe (1944) - Buckshot Peters
Call of the South Seas (1944) - Handsome
Silent Partner (1944) - Room Service Waiter
Silver City Kid (1944) - Wildcat Higgens
Stagecoach to Monterey (1944) - Throckmorton 'Other-Hand' Snodgrass
Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad (1948) - Archie Stone
King of the Gamblers (1948) - Mike Burns
Behind Locked Doors (1948) - Maintenance Man (uncredited)
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All (1948) - Taxi Driver
He Walked by Night (1948) - Postman (uncredited)
The Lucky Stiff (1949) - Card Player (uncredited)
Square Dance Jubilee (1949) - Seldom Sam Jenks
Always Leave Them Laughing (1949) - Wally Vernon - Comic
Beauty on Parade (1950) - Sam Short
I Shot Billy the Kid (1950) - Vicente
Gunfire (1950) - Clem
Train to Tombstone (1950) - Clifton Gulliver
Border Rangers (1950) - Hungry Hicks
Holiday Rhythm (1950) - Klaxon
What Price Glory? (1952) - Lipinsky
Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952) - Harry 'Poorly' Sammis
Affair with a Stranger (1953) - Joe, Taxi Driver
Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956) - Okay, Okay aka Johnny Oakes
The White Squaw (1956) - Faro Bill
What a Way to Go! (1964) - Agent

References

^ ^a ^b "Wally Vernon, movie comic, in Hollywood". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. Associated Press. March 8, 1970. p. 95. Retrieved March 9, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.