William Edward Phipps

William Phipps
Promotional headshot, 1951
Born	William Edward Phipps (1922-02-04)February 4, 1922 Vincennes, Indiana, U.S.
Died	June 1, 2018(2018-06-01) (aged 96) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Valley Oaks Memorial Park
Alma mater	Eastern Illinois University
Occupation(s)	Actor, film producer
Years active	1947–2000

William Edward Phipps (February 4, 1922 – June 1, 2018) was an American actor and producer, sometimes credited simply as William Phipps, known for his roles in films and on television.

Early years

Hometown

Phipps grew up in St. Francisville, Illinois. His parents divorced when he was six years old. By the time he was in high school, he was using his stepfather's last name of Couch. He developed a love of acting at a young age and performed in several plays in grade school and high school. One of the plays in which he performed, during his junior year of high school in 1937, was Before Morning, a 1933 play made into a film that same year.

College

After graduating from high school in 1939, he attended Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, where he majored in accounting, was elected freshman class president and served as head cheerleader. After two years of college, he moved to Hollywood, to pursue a career in acting and resumed his original last name of Phipps.

World War II

During that same year, the United States entered into World War II, and Phipps enlisted in the United States Navy, serving as a radio operator on several ships all across the Pacific. He served three years, then settled in Los Angeles to begin his career. He enrolled in the Actors' Laboratory Theatre in Hollywood, alongside fellow actor Russell Johnson.

Hollywood

Phipps' big break came when he and Johnson were double-cast in a play at the Actors Lab. They drew straws to see which actor would perform in the matinée, and which would take the evening show. Phipps drew the evening show, which was attended that same evening by actor Charles Laughton. Laughton was impressed by Phipps' performance, and came backstage afterwards to ask Phipps to perform in Laughton's own play. Phipps' career took off, and he was soon in his first feature film, Crossfire (1947). In 1949, Phipps auditioned for the speaking voice of Prince Charming in the upcoming Disney film Cinderella. The studio was pleased with his performance and Phipps was offered the part by Walt Disney himself.

In 1959 he guest starred as "Ken Wills" a cheated card player in Bat Masterson, teaming up with the star to clean out a town of crooked poker dealers in the episode "License To Cheat" (S1E17).

In 1962 he guest starred on the TV Western Gunsmoke as weak husband “Ham” in S7E33's “The Prisoner”.

Hawaii

After nearly thirty years in the business, performing in film and television in a wide variety of roles, Phipps took a break from Hollywood and moved to Hawaii. While there, he hosted a movie presentation program called "Hollywood Oldies", on Maui's Cable 7. After a little more than five years in Hawaii, he returned to Hollywood to portray President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1976 television movie Eleanor and Franklin.

Retirement and post-career

Phipps' last movie role was in the 2000 independent film Sordid Lives, in which he also served as one of the film's producers. In 2005, several of Phipps' films were the subject of an EIU (Eastern Illinois University) film festival in his honor. He received an honorary doctorate from the university the following year.

Death

Phipps died on June 1, 2018, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 96 from lung cancer. He is buried in Valley Oaks Memorial Park.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	Crossfire	Leroy
1948	The Arizona Ranger	Ranger Mac
	Train to Alcatraz	Tommy Callahan
	They Live by Night	Young Farmer
	Station West	Sergeant	Uncredited
	Desperadoes of Dodge City	Ted Loring
	Belle Starr's Daughter	Yuma Talbott
1949	Scene of the Crime	Young Gun Owner	Uncredited
1950	The Man on the Eiffel Tower	Janvier
	Key to the City	Reporter	Uncredited
	Cinderella	Prince Charming	Voice
	The Outriders	Young Union Guard
	Rider from Tucson	Bud Thurber
	Rider from Tucson	Tug Bailey
1951	Five	Michael
	No Questions Asked	Roger
	The Red Badge of Courage	Officer	Uncredited
1952	Rose of Cimarron	Jeb Dawley
	Fort Osage	Nathan Goodspeed
	Loan Shark	Ed Haines	Uncredited
	Flat Top	Red Kelley
1953	The Blue Gardenia	Lt. George Foster	Voice, Uncredited
	The War of the Worlds	Wash Perry
	Invaders from Mars	Sgt. Baker
	Julius Caesar	Servant to Antony
	Savage Frontier	Johnny Webb
	The Twonky	Student
	Northern Patrol	Frank Stevens
	Fort Algiers	Lt. Gerrier
	Cat-Women of the Moon	Douglas 'Doug' Smith
	Red River Shore	Ned Barlow
1954	Riot in Cell Block 11	Mickey
	Executive Suite	Bill Lundeen
	Jesse James vs. the Daltons	Bill Dalton
	Francis Joins the WACS	Jeep driver	Uncredited
	Two Guns and a Badge	Dick Grant - Rancher
	The Snow Creature	Lieutenant Dunbar
	The Violent Men	Bud Hinkleman	Uncredited
1955	Rage at Dawn	Bill Peterson Jr.	Uncredited
	Smoke Signal	Pvt. Porter
	The Eternal Sea	Legless Sailor	Uncredited
	The Far Horizons	Oarsman / Camp Sentry	Uncredited
	Lord of the Jungle	Kenny Balou
	The Indian Fighter	Lt. Blake
1956	The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit	Army Sergeant	Uncredited
	Great Day in the Morning	Ralston	Uncredited
	The First Texan	Lt. Jack LeBlanc	Uncredited
	Away All Boats	Ship Machinist	Uncredited
	The Boss	Stitch
	Lust for Life	Emile Bernard
	The Desperados Are in Town	Bit Man at Cotton Gin	Uncredited
	The Wild Party	Wino
1957	Badlands of Montana	Walt Branton
	The Brothers Rico	Joe Wesson
	Kiss Them for Me	Lt. Al Hendricks	Uncredited
	Escape from Red Rock	Arky Shanks
1958	The Day of the Trumpet	Pvt. Steve Haines
	The Walter Winchell File	Stony Jones	Episode: "David & Goliath"
	Man on the Run	Jay
1959	The FBI Story	Baby Face Nelson	Uncredited
	Gunsmoke	Hody Peel	Episode: "Odd Man Out" (S5/E11)
	Gunsmoke	Lou	Episode: "The Coward"
	The Rifleman	Asa Manning	Episode: "The Money Gun"
1962	The Virginian	Jack Wheeler	Episode: "Impasse"
	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	The Bartender	Season 1 Episode 12: "Hangover"
	Black Gold	Albert Mailer
1963	Showdown	Deputy	Uncredited
	Gunsmoke	Joe Stark	Episode: "Carter Caper"
1964	The Evil of Frankenstein	Rena's Father	additional sequence: US, Uncredited
1965	Harlow	Reporter	Uncredited
	Combat!	Pvt. Barnhill	Episode: "The Old Men"
1966	Incident at Phantom Hill	Trader
	The Green Hornet	Jack Starkey	Episode: "May the Best Man Lose"
	Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round	Kleiner	Uncredited
	Not with My Wife, You Don't!	Sergeant	Uncredited
1967	Gunfight in Abilene	Frank Norton
1978	Space Force	Commander Irving Hinkley
1983	The Dukes of Hazzard	Barney Benson	Episode: "Big Brothers Duke"
1984	Dune	Narrator	TV version, Uncredited
1988	Messenger of Death	Doc Turner
1993	Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey	Quentin
2000	Sordid Lives	Rev Barnes	(final film role)

External links

• William Edward Phipps at IMDb 
• William Edward Phipps at AllMovie
• William Edward Phipps at the TCM Movie Database
• William Edward Phipps at Find a Grave
• William Edward "Bill" Phipps fan page at Facebook
• Interview with William Phipps in Tom Weaver's book "Double Feature Creature Attack", at Google Books