William Redfield (actor)

William Redfield
William Redfield
Born	January 26, 1927; New York City, U.S.
Died	August 17, 1976 (aged 49); New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor and writer
Years active	1939–1976
Spouse(s)	Betsy Redfield, Lynda Redfield
Children	2

William Redfield (January 26, 1927 – August 17, 1976) was an American actor and author who appeared in many theatrical, film, radio, and television roles.

Early years

Born in New York City, Redfield was the son of Henry C. Redfield and the former Mareta A. George. His father was a conductor and arranger of music, and his mother was a chorus girl with the Ziegfeld Follies.[1]

Acting career

Redfield began acting when he was 9 years old, appearing in the Broadway production Swing Your Lady (1936).[1] He appeared in the original 1938 Broadway production of Our Town. A founding member of New York's Actors Studio,[2] Redfield's additional theatre credits include A Man for All Seasons, Hamlet, You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running, and Dude. He also sang and danced the role of Mercury in Cole Porter's Out of This World.

Other Broadway credits include Excursion (1937), Virginia (1937), Stop-over (1938), Junior Miss, Snafu, U.S.A., Barefoot Boy With Cheek (1947), Montserrat (1949), Misalliance (1953), Double in Hearts (1956), Midgie Purvis (1961), A Minor Adjustment (1967) and The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks (1972).

His film credits include The Connection, Such Good Friends, Fantastic Voyage, A New Leaf and For Pete's Sake. Redfield's best known film appearance was as Dale Harding in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

On television, Redfield played the title role in the DuMont series Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop (1953), and appeared in The Philco Television Playhouse, Lux Video Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, Studio One, As the World Turns, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Maude, Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, Bewitched , and The Bob Newhart Show. He is best known as Floyd, the younger brother of Felix Unger (played by Tony Randall), on The Odd Couple.

Author

In his book Letters from an Actor, Redfield published a colorful and personal recollection of his work in the 1964 international stage production of Hamlet, starring Richard Burton and directed by Sir John Gielgud. He also was a columnist for Playfare Magazine and collaborated with Wally Cox on Mr. Peepers, a book about the television character with that name.[1]

Death

During the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Redfield was diagnosed with leukemia, after a doctor on set had noticed symptoms of the disease he was exhibiting. Redfield died at Saint Clare's Hospital[1] on August 17, 1976 at age 49,[3] with the cause of death given as "a respiratory ailment complicated by leukemia."[1] With his wife, he had a son and a daughter.[1]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1939	Back Door to Heaven	Charley Smith
1955	Conquest of Space	Roy Cooper
1956	The Proud and Profane	Chaplain Lt. (jg) Holmes
1958	I Married a Woman	Eddie Benson - Elevator Operator
1961	The Connection	Jim Dunn
1964	Hamlet	Guildenstern
1964	Pão de Açúcar	Gary Wills
1965	Morituri	Baldwin
1966	Duel at Diablo	Sgt. Ferguson
1966	Fantastic Voyage	Captain Bill Owens
1967	All Woman	Tod
1971	Pigeons	Jonathan's Father
1971	A New Leaf	Beckett
1971	Such Good Friends	Barney
1972	The Hot Rock	Lt. Hoover
1974	For Pete's Sake	Fred Robbins
1974	Death Wish	Sam Kreutzer
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Dale Harding
1977	Mr. Billion	Leopold Lacy	(final film role)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1952	Grand Central Station	It Makes a Difference[4]
1955-57	X Minus One	Numerous episodes
Dec. 10, 1961	Suspense	And So To Sleep My Love
1974-76	CBS Radio Mystery Theater	80 episodes

References

Permutter, Emanuel (August 18, 1976). "William Redfield Dead at 49; A TV, Stage and Movie Actor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-0254-2650-4. Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Mildred Dunnock, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, William Redfield, Jerome Robbins, Maureen Stapleton, Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne.
"Leukemia kills actor Redfield". Eugene Register-Guard. August 18, 1976. p. 6A. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
Kirby, Walter (March 2, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved May 28, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[nyt-1] Permutter, Emanuel (August 18, 1976). "William Redfield Dead at 49; A TV, Stage and Movie Actor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.

[2] Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-0254-2650-4. Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Mildred Dunnock, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, William Redfield, Jerome Robbins, Maureen Stapleton, Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne.

[obit-3] "Leukemia kills actor Redfield". Eugene Register-Guard. August 18, 1976. p. 6A. Retrieved December 7, 2014.

[4] Kirby, Walter (March 2, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved May 28, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.