Biography

Chill Wills

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Colorful character actor of American Westerns. A musician from his youth, he performed from the age of 12 with tent shows, in vaudeville, and with stock companies. While performing in vaudeville in Kansas City, he married ballet dancer Betty Chappelle, with whom he had two children. He formed a musical group, Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys. During an appearance at the Trocadero in Hollywood, they were spotted by an RKO executive, subsequently appearing as a group in several low-budget Westerns. After a prominent appearance with The Avalon Boys as both himself and the bass-singing voice of Stan Laurel in Way Out West (1937), Wills disbanded the group and began a solo career as a usually jovial (but occasionally sinister) character actor, primarily in Westerns. His delightful portrayal of Beekeeper in The Alamo (1960) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but his blatant and embarrassing campaign for the Oscar cost him the award and subjected him to a great deal of humiliation -- and probably cost the film a number of awards as well. His wife died in 1971, and he remarried, to Novadeen Googe, in 1973. He continued to work in films and television, usually in roguishly lovable good-old'-boy parts, up until his death in 1978.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

According to 1942 MGM publicity, it was a sweltering hot day when Chill Wills was born, so his parents were inspired to name him "Chill". However, "Chill" is simply a truncated version of his actual middle name, Childress.
In his later years he appeared in commercials for Wolf brand chili.
Was in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Yearling (1946), Giant (1956) and The Alamo (1960).
Chill Wills claimed to have won a degree from the "Minsky College of Burlesque".
He was the most prominent member of The Avalon Boys and broke away to start a new career as a solo performer. RKO put him in B Weterns as a sidekick to George O'Brien. In 1940 he was signed up by MGM for whom he played comical cowpokes.

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