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Chill Wills

Highest Rated: 100% The Westerner (1940)

Lowest Rated: 52% The Alamo (1960)

Birthday: Jul 18, 1902

Birthplace: Seagoville, Texas, USA

No classic Western fan could mistake character actor Chill Wills for anyone else. First there was the name, then his unforgettable foghorn bellow of a voice. Starting out as a leader of the singing cowboy group the Avalon Boys Quartet, he appeared with the quartet in a number of oaters in the 1930s, most memorably the Laurel and Hardy Western comedy "Way Out West." When he left the group, he focused solely on working in film, landing bit parts in the shadow of bigger stars like John Wayne in "Allegheny Uprising" and Gary Cooper in "The Westerner." His most notable part was voicing the sardonic Francis the mule in six movies from 1950 to 1955. When not playing the mule, Wills frequently worked with one of the true greats of classic Hollywood, John Wayne, and when Wayne finally saddled into the director's chair to make the 1960 epic "The Alamo," Wills was cast in a juicy role. When award season swung around, Wills mounted a notoriously gauche Oscar campaign after he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, much to the horror of Wayne and almost everyone else in Hollywood. He didn't win, though several comedians (including Groucho Marx) made sure to use Wills as their comedic punching bag. Some of his other memorable parts are in the star-studded "Giant"; the roaring Western comedy "McLintock!," with Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; and as a drunken, sweaty saloon keeper in Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid."

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Highest rated movies

100% 76% The Westerner
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100% 65% The Man From the Alamo
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100% 91% Way Out West
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100% 83% The Harvey Girls
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100% 76% The Yearling
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88% 70% Where the Boys Are
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86% 87% Giant
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85% 86% Leave Her to Heaven
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83% 37% The Deadly Companions
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83% 62% Tarzan's New York Adventure
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Poco Big Burt (Character) - 1977
59% 82% Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Lemuel (Character) - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet Guns of a Stranger Tom Duncan (Character) - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Steagle Tall-Guy McCoy (Character) - 1971
No Score Yet 31% The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again George Agnew (Character) - 1970
63% 86% The Liberation of L.B. Jones Mr. Ike (Character) - 1970
No Score Yet 25% The Over-the-Hill Gang Gentleman George Agnew (Character) - 1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet Big Daddy Unknown (Character) - 1969
No Score Yet 35% Fireball 500 Big Jaw Harris (Character) - 1966
No Score Yet 55% The Rounders Jim Ed Love (Character) - 1965
57% 85% McLintock! Drago (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet 56% The Wheeler Dealers Jay Ray Spinelby (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Young Guns of Texas Preacher Sam Shelby (Character) - 1962
83% 37% The Deadly Companions Turk (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gold of the Seven Saints Doc Wilson Gates (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come Major Buford (Character) - 1961
52% 64% The Alamo Beekeeper (Character) - 1960
88% 70% Where the Boys Are Police Captain (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Sad Horse Capt Connors (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet 27% From Hell to Texas Amos Bradley (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet 25% Gun for a Coward Loving (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet 33% Gun Glory reacher (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Santiago Captain "Sidewheel" Jones (Character) - 1956
86% 87% Giant Uncle Bawley Benedict (Character) $183.9K 1956
No Score Yet 0% Kentucky Rifle Tobias Taylor (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hell's Outpost Kevin Russel (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ricochet Romance Tom Williams (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet 40% Francis Joins the WACS Gen. Benjamin Kaye/Francis the Talking Mule (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Timberjack Steve Riika (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tumbleweed Sheriff Murchoree (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet 38% City That Never Sleeps Unknown (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet 13% Small Town Girl "Happy" (Character) - 1953
100% 65% The Man From the Alamo John Gage (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ride the Man Down Ike Adams (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet 33% Cattle Drive Dallas (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet Oh! Susanna Sergeant Barhydt (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet 28% The Sundowners Sam Beers (Character) - 1950
75% 70% Rio Grande Dr. Wilkins (regimental surgeon) (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet High Lonesome Boatwhistle (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rock Island Trail Hogger McCoy (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Stella Chief Clark (uncredited) (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet Red Canyon Marshal G.T. Brackton (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet Loaded Pistols Sheriff Cramer (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 44% Tulsa Narrator - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet Family Honeymoon Fred (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet Northwest Stampede Mileaway (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Saxon Charm Captain Chatham (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet High Barbaree Lars (uncredited) (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet No Score Yet Heartaches "Breezie" Mann (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gallant Bess Chief Petty Officer (Character) - 1946
100% 76% The Yearling Buck Forrester (Character) - 1946
100% 83% The Harvey Girls H.H. Hartsey (Character) - 1946
85% 86% Leave Her to Heaven Leick Thome (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet No Score Yet What Next, Corporal Hargrove? Sgt. Cramp (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sunday Dinner for a Soldier Mr. York (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet No Score Yet See Here, Private Hargrove First Sgt. Cramp (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet No Score Yet Barbary Coast Gent Sheriff Hightower (Character) - 1944
No Score Yet 70% A Stranger in Town Charles Craig (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 50% Best Foot Forward Chester Short (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 38% Her Cardboard Lover Sam the Judge (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet 17% Stand by for Action Chief Boatswain's Mate Jenks (Character) - 1942
83% 62% Tarzan's New York Adventure Manchester Montford (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Apache Trail "Pike" Skelton (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Omaha Trail Henry Hawkins (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Bad Man "Red" Giddings (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 29% Billy the Kid Tom Patterson (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 72% Honky Tonk The Sniper (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 35% Belle Starr Blue Duck (Character) - 1941
75% 60% Western Union Homer Kettle (Character) - 1941
100% 76% The Westerner Southeast (Character) - 1940
No Score Yet 67% Boom Town Harmony Jones (Character) - 1940
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tugboat Annie Sails Again Shiftless (Character) - 1940
No Score Yet 39% Allegheny Uprising John M'Cammon (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Timber Stampede Whopper Hatch (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Arizona Legion "Whopper" Hatch (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Racketeers of the Range Whopper Hatch (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Trouble in Sundown Whopper (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lawless Valley Deputy Speedy McGow (Character) - 1938
100% 91% Way Out West One of the Avalon Boys/Stan's bass singing (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet No Score Yet Call of the Prairie Singing Cowhand (Character) - 1936

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Alias Smith and Jones Unknown (Guest Star) 1972
No Score Yet 100% Night Gallery Unknown (Character) 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet What's My Line? Guest 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gunsmoke Red Conniston (Guest Star) 1962 1967-1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tarzan Ronald Montrose (Guest Star) 1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rawhide Unknown (Guest Star) 1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Trackdown Zebulon Hunt (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wagon Train Bije Wilcox (Guest Star) 1958
No Score Yet 87% Alfred Hitchcock Presents Mr. Kilmer (Character) 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Gene Autry Show Sheriff Chill Wills (Guest Star) 1950