Eddie Quillan
Encyclopedia
Edward "Eddie" Quillan was an American
film actor whose career began as a child on the vaudeville
stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.
into a family of vaudeville performers, Quillan made his stage debut at the age of seven alongside his parents, Scottish-born Joseph Quillan and his wife Sarah, as well as his siblings in their act entitled 'The Rising Generation'. By the early 1920s he was called upon by film director Mack Sennett
to perform a screen test for Mack Sennett Studios. Sennett signed Quillan to a contract in 1922.
Quillan's very first film appearance was in the 1922 comedy short Up and at 'Em. His next performance was in the 1926 comedy short The Love Sundae opposite actress Alice Day
. His next ten film appearances (all released in 1926) were all comedy shorts that were vehicles for Day. He would spend most of the remaining years of the 1920s in comedy shorts featuring actresses Ruth Taylor
and Madeline Hurlock
. In 1928, Quillan starred in the comedy A Little Bit of Everything, notable because it featured his siblings Marie, Joseph and John in starring roles. Marie Quillan would eventually embark on a film career of her own and appear opposite her brother once more, in the 1929 comedy Nosy Neighbors.
Quillan's first feature-length film was the 1928 comedy-drama Show Folks opposite actress Lina Basquette
, in which Quillan appropriately plays a vaudeville dancer. The film was a modest success and also featured actress Carole Lombard
. Quillan's breakout role (and first dramatic film role) was in the 1929 Cecil B. DeMille
directed The Godless Girl
. The film paired Quillan once again with Basquette and starred Marie Prevost
and Noah Beery, Sr.
His subsequent exposure from the film landed him a contract with Pathé
studios.
with Clark Gable
, Charles Laughton
, and Franchot Tone
, 1939's Young Mr. Lincoln
opposite Henry Fonda and Alice Brady
, and as 'Connie Rivers' in John Ford's 1940 film adaptation of the John Steinbeck
novel The Grapes of Wrath
opposite Henry Fonda
and 1943's It Ain't Hay opposite the comedic duo Abbott and Costello
.
Quillan's breezy screen personality was seen in "B" musicals, comedies, and even serials during the 1940s. In 1948 Columbia Pictures
producer Jules White
teamed Eddie Quillan with veteran movie comic Wally Vernon for a series of comedy short subjects. White emphasized extreme physical comedy in these films, and Vernon and Quillan made a good team, enthusiastically engaging in pratfalling, kick-in-the-pants slapstick. The series ran through 1956.
Beginning in the late 1950s, Eddie Quillan began to make the transition to the medium of television and by the 1960s could be seen frequently appearing as a guest actor in such series as The Andy Griffith Show
, Petticoat Junction
, Perry Mason
, and approximately five appearances on the camp-horror comedy series The Addams Family
. He was a regular on the Anthony Franciosa sitcom Valentine's Day
from 1964–65, and from 1968 through 1971 he appeared as "Eddie Edson" on the television drama Julia
opposite actress Diahann Carroll.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Quillan continued to appear in motion pictures, but in increasingly smaller roles and often in bit parts. One notable appearance of the era was his role of 'Sandy' in the 1954 Vincente Minnelli
directed musical Brigadoon
, starring Gene Kelly
, Van Johnson
and Cyd Charisse
. Quillan also appeared in the uncredited role of 'Mr.Cassidy' in the 1969 Gene Kelly film adaptation of Hello, Dolly!, starring Barbra Streisand
and Walter Matthau
and featuring Louis Armstrong
.
In the 1970s, Quillan made guest appearances on such television series as Mannix
, Chico and the Man
and Baretta
. After meeting and befriending actor and director Michael Landon
, he played numerous bit roles in the popular television series Little House on the Prairie
. Quillan also performed in the Landon directed series Highway to Heaven
and Father Murphy
during the 1980s. Eddie Quillan made his last television appearance in a 1987 episode of the television crime-mystery series Matlock
.
in Burbank, California
, in 1990 and was interred at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery
in Mission Hills
, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film actor whose career began as a child on the vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.
Vaudeville and silent films
Born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
into a family of vaudeville performers, Quillan made his stage debut at the age of seven alongside his parents, Scottish-born Joseph Quillan and his wife Sarah, as well as his siblings in their act entitled 'The Rising Generation'. By the early 1920s he was called upon by film director Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
to perform a screen test for Mack Sennett Studios. Sennett signed Quillan to a contract in 1922.
Quillan's very first film appearance was in the 1922 comedy short Up and at 'Em. His next performance was in the 1926 comedy short The Love Sundae opposite actress Alice Day
Alice Day
Alice Day was a film actor who began her career as of the Sennett Bathing Beauties....
. His next ten film appearances (all released in 1926) were all comedy shorts that were vehicles for Day. He would spend most of the remaining years of the 1920s in comedy shorts featuring actresses Ruth Taylor
Ruth Taylor (actress)
Ruth Taylor was an American actress in silent films and early talkies. Her son is the writer Buck Henry.-Early years:Born Ruth Alice Taylor to Norman and Ivah Taylor in Grand Rapids, Michigan...
and Madeline Hurlock
Madeline Hurlock
Madeline Hurlock was a silent film actress, hailing from Federalsburg, Maryland.Hurlock appeared in many short comedies for Mack Sennett, starting as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties in 1923, and was one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1925. She was a talented comedian, also known for her...
. In 1928, Quillan starred in the comedy A Little Bit of Everything, notable because it featured his siblings Marie, Joseph and John in starring roles. Marie Quillan would eventually embark on a film career of her own and appear opposite her brother once more, in the 1929 comedy Nosy Neighbors.
Quillan's first feature-length film was the 1928 comedy-drama Show Folks opposite actress Lina Basquette
Lina Basquette
Lina Basquette was an American actress noted as much for her more than 75 years in entertainment beginning in the silent film era, as her tumultuous personal life and nine marriages.-Early years:...
, in which Quillan appropriately plays a vaudeville dancer. The film was a modest success and also featured actress Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
. Quillan's breakout role (and first dramatic film role) was in the 1929 Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
directed The Godless Girl
The Godless Girl
The Godless Girl is a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shown for years as his last completely silent film.-Production background:...
. The film paired Quillan once again with Basquette and starred Marie Prevost
Marie Prevost
Marie Prevost was a Canadian-born actress of the early days of cinema. During her twenty year career, she made 121 silent and talking pictures.-Early life:...
and Noah Beery, Sr.
Noah Beery, Sr.
Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor, who appeared in films from 1913 to 1945.-Early life:His parents originally came from Switzerland. Beery was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his brothers William C. Beery and Wallace Beery became Hollywood actors...
His subsequent exposure from the film landed him a contract with Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
studios.
Talkies and television
Eddie Quillan would remain a popular leading and secondary actor throughout the sound film era and would appear in such notable fims as 1935's Mutiny on the BountyMutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 film starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, and directed by Frank Lloyd based on the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall novel Mutiny on the Bounty.The film was one of the biggest hits of its time...
with Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
, and Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...
, 1939's Young Mr. Lincoln
Young Mr. Lincoln
Young Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 partly fictionalized biography about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought for control of the film, to the point where Ford destroyed unwanted takes for fear the studio...
opposite Henry Fonda and Alice Brady
Alice Brady
Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked up until six months before her death from cancer in 1939...
, and as 'Connie Rivers' in John Ford's 1940 film adaptation of the John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
novel The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
opposite Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and 1943's It Ain't Hay opposite the comedic duo Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
.
Quillan's breezy screen personality was seen in "B" musicals, comedies, and even serials during the 1940s. In 1948 Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
producer Jules White
Jules White
Jules White born Julius Weiss was a film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring the Three Stooges.-Early years:...
teamed Eddie Quillan with veteran movie comic Wally Vernon for a series of comedy short subjects. White emphasized extreme physical comedy in these films, and Vernon and Quillan made a good team, enthusiastically engaging in pratfalling, kick-in-the-pants slapstick. The series ran through 1956.
Beginning in the late 1950s, Eddie Quillan began to make the transition to the medium of television and by the 1960s could be seen frequently appearing as a guest actor in such series as The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, and approximately five appearances on the camp-horror comedy series The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966...
. He was a regular on the Anthony Franciosa sitcom Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
from 1964–65, and from 1968 through 1971 he appeared as "Eddie Edson" on the television drama Julia
Julia (TV series)
Julia is an American sitcom notable for being one of the first weekly series to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role. Previous television series featured African American lead characters, but the characters were usually servants. The show starred actress and singer Diahann...
opposite actress Diahann Carroll.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Quillan continued to appear in motion pictures, but in increasingly smaller roles and often in bit parts. One notable appearance of the era was his role of 'Sandy' in the 1954 Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...
directed musical Brigadoon
Brigadoon (film)
Brigadoon is a 1954 MGM musical feature film made in CinemaScope and Ansco Color based on the Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse...
, starring Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
and Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
. Quillan also appeared in the uncredited role of 'Mr.Cassidy' in the 1969 Gene Kelly film adaptation of Hello, Dolly!, starring Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
and featuring Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
.
In the 1970s, Quillan made guest appearances on such television series as Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
, Chico and the Man
Chico and the Man
Chico and the Man is an American sitcom which ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974 to July 21, 1978. It stars Jack Albertson as Ed Brown , the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and Freddie Prinze as Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic Chicano...
and Baretta
Baretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
. After meeting and befriending actor and director Michael Landon
Michael Landon
Michael Landon was an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is widely known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza , Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie , and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven...
, he played numerous bit roles in the popular television series Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
. Quillan also performed in the Landon directed series Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven is an American television drama series which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.- Season 1 :- Season 2 :- Season 3 :- Season 4 :- Season 5 :...
and Father Murphy
Father Murphy
Father Murphy is an American television drama series that aired on the NBC network from November 3, 1981 to September 18, 1983. Michael Landon created the series, was the executive producer, and also directed the show in partnership with William F...
during the 1980s. Eddie Quillan made his last television appearance in a 1987 episode of the television crime-mystery series Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
.
Death
Eddie Quillan died of cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, in 1990 and was interred at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery
San Fernando Mission Cemetery
The San Fernando Mission Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located at 11160 Stranwood Avenue in the Mission Hills community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, near the San Fernando Mission....
in Mission Hills
Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California
Mission Hills is a suburban community in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.It is located near the northern junction of the Golden State Freeway and the San Diego Freeway . The Ronald Reagan Freeway bisects the neighborhood. Mission Hills is the northern...
, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Selected filmography
- The Mandarin MysteryThe Mandarin MysteryThe Mandarin Mystery is a 1936 American film directed by Ralph Staub, loosely based on The Chinese Orange Mystery, a novel featuring detective character Ellery Queen.- Cast :*Eddie Quillan as Ellery Queen*Charlotte Henry as Josephine Temple...
(1936) - Dark Streets of CairoDark Streets of CairoDark Streets of Cario is a 1940 American mystery film directed by László Kardos and starring Sigrid Gurie, Ralph Byrd, Eddie Quillan, George Zucco and Katherine DeMille.-Cast:* Sigrid Gurie - Ellen Stephens* Ralph Byrd - Dennis Martin...
(1940)
External links/Sources
- Eddie Quillan at The International Silent Movie
- Eddie Quillan at The New York Times Movies