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Overview (5) |
Mini Bio (1) |
Family (1) |
Trade Mark (2) |
Trivia (21) |
Personal Quotes (4) |
Salary (1)
Overview (5)
| Born | in Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Died | in Pacific Palisades, California, USA (undisclosed) |
| Birth Name | William Joseph Schallert |
| Nickname | Bill |
| Height | 6' 1" (1.85 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
The son of Edwin Schallert, drama editor of the "Los Angeles Times" and the dean of West Coast critics, William Schallert became interested in an acting career while at UCLA in 1942. After graduation, he became involved with the Circle Theater (eventually becoming one of its owners) and made his film debut in The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He then became ubiquitous in movies and TV ever since, and from 1979 to 1981, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. He stayed active with SAG projects and said he never gave retirement a thought.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
Family (1)
| Spouse | Leah Waggner (26 February 1949 - 3 September 2015) (her death) (4 children) |
Trade Mark (2)
Frequently cast in 'Joe Dante' films.
Distinctive clipped speech
Trivia (21)
(1979-1981) President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
Martin Lane, Schallert's character on The Patty Duke Show (1963), was ranked #39 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].
Of Schallert's myriad movie and TV roles, he has said the one individual role for which he still receives the most recognition is as Nilz Baris, the Federation Undersecretary of Agricultural Affairs, in the Star Trek (1966) episode Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967).
During the 1940s, Schallert was a member of Los Angeles' 'The Group Theatre'--a West Coast version of New York's 'The Actor's Studio'--where he appeared in a production of W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" directed by Charles Chaplin.
Is also a composer, pianist and singer.
Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book, "They Fought in the Creature Features" (McFarland & Co., 1995).
Along with Warren Kenner, he is one of only two actors to appear in both In the Heat of the Night (1967) and In the Heat of the Night (1988).
Appeared in the original "Twilight Zone" TV series (The Twilight Zone: Mr. Bevis (1960)), the 1985 revival series The Twilight Zone: Shadow Play/Grace Note (1986); segment "Shadow Play"), and in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).
Appearing with Harry Hamlin in the premiere production of the play "House" in Los Angeles, at the Falcon Theatre. [June 2001]
Was a popular spokesperson for the Michigan-based Arbor Drugs Pharmacy in the 1980s.
Friends with Patty Duke.
Like Norman Lloyd, Dick Van Dyke, Ernest Borgnine, Mickey Rooney, Betty White, Angela Lansbury, Charlotte Rae, and Larry Hagman, Schallert was one of the stars in Hollywood never to retire from acting.
He appeared in five films or television films directed by Joe Dante: Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Gremlins (1984), Innerspace (1987), Matinee (1993) and The Second Civil War (1997).
He was awarded the 1971 OBIE Award for Distinguished Performance for "The Trial of Catonsville Nine" off-Broadway in New York City.
He was the longtime voice of Oscar Meyer in TV commercials and was a proficient voice-over announcer for several other products.
Died just over a month after the death of his on-screen daughter, Patty Duke. They also both served as President of the Screen Actors Guild.
He was a lifelong liberal Democrat.
Upon his death, he was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.
Lived in Pacific Palisades on Ramos Place right around the corner from the Toyopa Drive homes of Mel Blanc and Walter Matthau.
Appeared in Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967) & Innerspace (1987), making him one of two actors to appear in inner space & outer space. Robert Picardo is the other.
Personal Quotes (4)
I believe you shouldn't become an actor unless you need to. Unless you have no choice about it. Liking--even loving--acting is not enough. You have to need to act.
I've never been single-minded in my pursuit of acting as a career. Whatever it was that got me hired and kept me working was probably just me.
[on Patty Duke] When I think of her, she's family as far as I'm concerned. We had a very close relationship. Whenever I saw her it was like greeting one of my kids. She just had a wonderful quality and I got to know her over the years and she was admirable in a lot of ways. She really did her best to raise her own kids and she certainly had very little help in her own life to do that, but she was very mature and she did a lot of growing up very fast. People take that kind of thing for granted far too easily, and she doesn't get the credit she deserves for that.
[on Patty Duke going public with her bipolar disorder] She was one of the pioneers who stuck her neck out so to speak to say "here I am" at a time where people didn't do that. She had the courage to do it and she did a lot of good, I think, by doing that and by the rest of her life by example.
Salary (1)
| The Man from Planet X (1951) | $175 /week |
