Biography

Percy Kilbride

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He had a long career in theater before making movies, playing hundreds of roles, mostly rustic bumpkins, in stage and stock. His film career included two isolated early films: White Woman (1933) and Soak the Rich (1936). It began in earnest with the part of Orion Peabody in the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn wartime drama Keeper of the Flame (1942); Kilbride was already fifty-four by then. The movie public really came to recognize him when he played the part of Pa Kettle (against Marjorie Main's Ma) in The Egg and I (1947), a role he reprised for seven more "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies, the last of which, and the last of his career, was in 1955.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Percy Kilbride and actor Ralph Belmont were walking through Kilbride's neighborhood at night when they were struck by a car. Belmont died instantly, while Kilbride died over two months later from head injuries.
Buried in the beautiful Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California. Section 2B near chain linking fencing bordering the freeway. Located in Northern California just a few miles from San Francisco, CA.
Starred in "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies as Pa Kettle.
Unmarried.
Had originally wanted Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955) to be his swan song, but was lured by Universal-International to do Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954) on the condition that it would be the last Ma and Pa Kettle movie.

On the stage I did all kinds of parts, including eccentric comedians. But the role that brought me out to Hollywood was that of a rural sort of a fellow in "George Washington Slept Here." I repeated the role in the movie and I've been doing the same sort of thing since.
[on the "Ma and Pa Kettle" films] We've tried to figure out the reason for their success. I think maybe it's because the moviegoer can laugh at these poor slobs and realize how well off he himself is. It's the same sort of formula that paid off in the old days with Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and on the stage before that.
[when asked if he would like to play a dramatic role] You bet I would. But I'm afraid I can't convince the producers. They probably think the audience would laugh as soon as it sees my face. And they could be right.
[1952] I've reached the time in life when I should own a house and settle down but I know that Kettle virus would paralyze me when it came to mowing a lawn, sweeping off a porch or changing a light bulb. So I think the thing to do is to blow for New York and pick up some guest shots in television. But I'm off anything with the word "series" in it. From here in, that's not my line.
[1953] I have had dozens of offers to do television series, but I have turned them all down. I might do one-shot appearances, but I won't let myself get tied down to one character.

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