Frank Wilcox
Frank Reppy Wilcox (March 13, 1907 – March 3, 1974) was an American character actor who made appearances in more than 150 films and nearly 200 episodes of television programs.
Though born in De Soto in Jefferson County in eastern Missouri, Wilcox was reared primarily in Atchison, Kansas. He attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence for a year, where he was a fraternity brother of subsequent newsman John Cameron Swayze. He graduated in 1933 from St. Benedict’s College, now Benedictine College, in Atchison. Years later, Wilcox was an active and honored trustee of Benedictine College.[1]
Wilcox first came to California to live with his grandparents and to work in the lemon groves near Pomona. He later opened a tire repair shop in Pomona and helped to establish a theater company. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he met George Reeves, prior to Reeves’ being cast as Clark Kent in Adventures of Superman. He and Reeves were in eleven films together, and Wilcox was best man at Reeves’ wedding.[1]
During World War II, Wilcox earned five battle stars. During the 1960s he was the “honorary mayor” of his city of residence, Granada Hills, California. He was “honorary fire chief” of Los Angeles, which on January 11, 1964, observed “Frank Wilcox Day.” He served on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors.[1]
WIKIPEDIA
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American character actor in scores of films after substantial stage experience. He was born in DeSoto, Missouri, but raised in Atchison, Kansas. The son of a railroad worker and law clerk (some publicity material states the father was a physician, but family and census records show otherwise), he wavered between various careers including oil exploration, but found his way after an introduction to the stage with the Atchison Civic Theatre and Kansas City Civic Theatre. He briefly attended the University of Kansas (where he was a fraternity brother of future newsman John Cameron Swayze). He moved from Kansas to California in 1930, where he lived with his grandparents and worked in the lemon groves near Pomona prior to opening a tire-repair shop in that city. He also helped found a theatre company in Pomona. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout looking for someone with a resemblance to Henry Clay, for the Warners short film The Monroe Doctrine (1939). He signed with Warners as a contract player and was thereafter virtually never without work. He played in an enormous number of films over the next three decades, mostly in small supporting roles. He was equally adept at playing businessmen, attorneys, or historical figures, and was a familiar face on screen and on television for his entire career, though most people would have been unable to identify him by name. Perhaps his greatest fame came in the TV role of oil company president John Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962).
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