Frank Wilcox

Frank Wilcox
Frank Wilcox in Perry Mason 1958
Born	Frank Reppy Wilcox (1907-03-13)March 13, 1907 De Soto, Missouri, U.S.
Died	March 3, 1974(1974-03-03) (aged 66) Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	San Fernando Mission Cemetery
Other names	Frank R. Wilcox
Education	University of Kansas Benedictine College Pasadena Playhouse
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1930–1973
Spouse(s)	Joy Langston ​ (m. 1953)​
Children	3

Frank Reppy Wilcox (March 13, 1907 – March 3, 1974) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and television series, as well as Broadway plays.

Background[]

Wilcox was the son of Roger Vincent Wilcox and Mabel Irene Wilcox, née Reppy.^[1] Though born in De Soto, Missouri, he was reared primarily in Atchison, Kansas. He attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Hollywood career[]

Wilcox first came to California to live with his grandparents in the 1920s and to work in the lemon groves near Pomona, California. He later opened a tire repair shop in Pomona and helped to establish a theater company. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse,^[1] where he met George Reeves, before Reeves was cast as Clark Kent in Adventures of Superman. He and Reeves were in 11 films together, and Wilcox was best man at Reeves's wedding.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, Wilcox served on a destroyer,^[1] earning 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.^{[citation needed]}

Wilcox became a contract player for Warner Bros., beginning with the 1939 short film The Monroe Doctrine, in which he was chosen to portray the American statesman Henry Clay during the early 1820s.^{[citation needed]} He played Abraham Lincoln as a militia captain in another 1939 film short Old Hickory, based on key events in the public career of President Andrew Jackson, played by Hugh Sothern (1881–1947).^{[citation needed]}

Another film role was as the circus doctor in the 1952 production The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Charlton Heston.^{[citation needed]}

In 1951, already at work in the new medium of television, Wilcox was cast in two episodes of the police drama Racket Squad, starring Reed Hadley and narrated by Hugh Beaumont. Between 1952 and 1955, he guest-starred four times in different roles on the television series The Lone Ranger. In 1956, Wilcox portrayed the character John Gould in "God's Healing" on the religion Crossroads. The same year, he was cast as Duncan Glowrie in the episode "Bonnie Lassie" of The Gale Storm Show.^{[citation needed]} From 1955 to 1958, he appeared three times on Jackie Cooper's sitcom The People's Choice.

In 1957, Wilcox guest-starred in the episode "Quicksilver" of Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins as a young frontier law student. His best known television role, the one which brought him great recognition from millions of viewers, was that of the oil executive John Brewster in the first season of The Beverly Hillbillies.^{[citation needed]}

Wilcox appeared in 1957 as Joe Spaulding in "Lucy Wants to Move to the Country," one of the later episodes of Lucille Ball's CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. He appeared as well on Ann Sothern's sitcom Private Secretary.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1953 and 1956, Wilcox made 16 appearances in different roles on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.^{[citation needed]} He appeared three times in two different roles from 1961 to 1962 on Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. He was reunited with Williams in 1965 as a guest star in an episode of The Cara Williams Show.^{[citation needed]}

In 1959, he was cast as Colonel Dodge in the episode "Man to Man" of the syndicated western series, Frontier Doctor, starring Rex Allen. He guest-starred on the ABC sitcoms Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show and The Real McCoys.^{[citation needed]}

Wilcox made several guest appearances as a judge on Perry Mason during the nine-year run of that program. In 1961, he appeared as the judge on the "Jack Benny Show", titled "Jack on Trial for Murder", which had Raymond Burr as a guest star appearing as Perry Mason in a dream sequence where Jack dreams that he is on trial for murder and Perry Mason is his defense attorney. Wilcox also appeared as a judge in the 1961 episode "The Dentist" of Angel^{[citation needed]} and as Jennings is the 1961 episode "Troubleshooter" of Straightaway.^{[citation needed]} Wilcox was also renowned for his performances in numerous episodes of The Untouchables as Federal District Attorney Beecher Asbury. He appeared in a 1965 episode of Kentucky Jones,^{[citation needed]} and he played a guest-starring role in The Munsters in which, hosting a masquerade ball, he is made up to resemble Herman Munster. His last television role was as Judge Moon in a 1973 episode of Kung Fu, starring David Carradine.^{[citation needed]}

His hometown of De Soto, Missouri, hosts the Frank Wilcox Film Festival every March during the weekend closest to his birthday. An actor who performed with Wilcox, or those with "Wilcoxian" careers as character actors, serve as the guest host of the event. Those actors in the past few years have included Donna Douglas, Jerry Mathers, Sandy Duncan, Dawn Wells, Erik Estrada, Loretta Swit and George Wendt.

Death[]

On March 3, 1974, Wilcox died in Los Angeles.^[2]

Selected filmography[]

References[]

External links[]

• Frank Wilcox at IMDb
• Frank Wilcox at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frank Wilcox at Find a Grave