William Fawcett (actor)
Encyclopedia
William "Bill" Fawcett was a character actor
in Hollywood B-film
s and in television
. His career extended from 1946 until the early 1970s
. He is probably best remembered for his role as the cantankerous, rusty-voiced Pete Wilkey of the Broken Wheel Ranch
on the NBC
series Fury
, co-starring Peter Graves
, Bobby Diamond
, and Roger Mobley
. He was one of the few actors to have earned a Ph.D.
degree.
in Olmsted County
near Rochester
in southeastern Minnesota
. The name "Fawcett" came from the physician
who delivered him. His father, William Eaton Lawrence Thompson, was a Methodist pastor
who encouraged young Bill to enter the ministry. On September 5, 1916, three days before his twenty-second birthday, Fawcett was licensed to preach by the Hamline Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Minnesota.
During World War I
, Fawcett served as an ambulance
driver. He graduated from Methodist-affiliated Hamline University
in Saint Paul
, Minnesota. Fawcett was decorated by the French
government
with the Légion d'honneur
for his care of the wounded. After his military service, he went into acting, instead of the ministry, first in Canada
and then in the United States
. He had performed in church drama
s and acted so convincingly that his mother would sometimes cry over his characterizations. He performed in repertory theater and stock companies during the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1936, Fawcett procured his Ph.D. in Elizabethan drama
from the University of Nebraska
at Lincoln
. He then became a professor
of theater arts at Michigan State University
in East Lansing, Michigan.
in Hollywood
as an actor
himself. He sought a part as a college professor but was turned down on the false grounds that he did not fit the part. Fawcett was a thin, wiry man and filled the bill for the ornery, cantankerous, but fiercely loyal, old coot
. Fawcett adopted his stage name when he found that there were several other actors already using the name "William Thompson".
His first film credit came at the age of fifty-two, when in 1946, he portrayed Judge Smith in Stars Over Texas
. In 1947, he starred as Nat in Green Dophin Street and as Andre the beachcomber
in The Sea Hound. That same year, he was Uncle Bob in Pioneer Justice. In 1948, Fawcett portrayed Judge Hammond in Check Your Guns and as a news hawker in Superman.
Fawcett's roles continued in 1949 as Professor (He got to portray his previous occupational role.) Hammond, a scientist and inventor, in Batman and Robin
and as Merlin the Magician in Adventures of Sir Galahad
. He played Ezra Fielding that same year in Barbary Pirate and a judge
in Ride, Ryder, Ride!
, as Ezra in "Cody of the Pony Express
", and as Wharton in Pirates of the High Seas
.
In 1951, one of his busiest years, he was Mr. Tuttle in The Mating Season
, Mr. Jackson in Mysterious Island, Old Mountain Man in Comin' Round the Mountain
, Alkalai in Cattle Queen, and Alpha in Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere
. He had a good role as Washoe, a ranch cook in Hills of Utah.
In 1952, Fawcett played Weatherbee in Kansas Territory
, the High Priest in King of the Congo
, Caretaker in Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
, and was Dr. Rolph in Blackhawk
, a serial. He had some excellent scenes as cattle rancher Uncle John in Barbed Wire
.
In 1953, Fawcett continued as Dr. Fairchild in Neanderthal Man and as Orin Hadley in Run for the Hills. In 1954, he was Rocky Ford in Riding with Buffalo Bill
and as Old Pickup Driver in Gang Busters
. In 1955, Fawcett was Cubby Crouch in Seminole Uprising. In 1956, he portrayed Jergens in Canyon River, Matthew Barnes in Dakota Incident
, and "Pa" to Andy Griffith
in No Time for Sergeants
. He was also featured in archival footage on the children's program, The Gabby Hayes Show
. He also appeared in Disney's TV miniseries Davy Crockett
.
In 1958, Fawcett was a farmer
in Good Day for a Hanging
. From 1957-1959, Fawcett appeared as Sam Miller, the hanged publisher of the Wilcox Clarion newspaper
in Willcox
(later spelling), Arizona
, in the premiere episode of the syndicated
western series 26 Men
, stories about the Arizona Rangers
, starring Tristram Coffin. He also appeared in the series in various roles on four other occasions. roles.
's The Music Man
in 1962 and Mike in The Quick Gun in 1964. He appeared as Steinmetz in King Rat
(1965) and as Jensen the Pharmacist
in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
(1966). He was Ollie Jensen in Hostile Guns in 1967. He played Tax Man in Blackbeard's Ghost
in 1968. In 1969 and 1970, Fawcett appeared, respectively, in two Disney
films, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
(starring the teenaged Kurt Russell
) and Menace on the Mountain. In 1969, Fawcett played the key supporting role as Old Man Warner in the film version of Shirley Jackson's famous short story, "The Lottery."
Fawcett guest starred on dozens of television series. He appeared as "Grampa" seven times between 1953 and 1956 in the syndicated series The Cisco Kid
, starring Duncan Renaldo
and Leo Carrillo
. Fawcett also appeared seven times in The Adventures of Kit Carson
and five times on 26 Men
. His other roles were on The Public Defender
, The Lone Ranger
(five times), Annie Oakley
; Leave It to Beaver
, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
; Circus Boy
; "Adam 12", Cheyenne
, I Dream of Jeannie
, The Law and Mr. Jones
, Tammy
; Frontier Justice
, Maverick
; The Investigators, Gunsmoke
(nine times); Daniel Boone
(three times), The Rifleman
(twice); Mr. Lucky; Wagon Train
(five times); Bonanza
(seven times), Harrigan and Son
, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
, The Virginian
(nine times); The Road West
, Rawhide
, 77 Sunset Strip
, a lead
as Jed McNabb in a dramatic episode of Fireside Theatre entitled, To Stand Alone, Perry Mason
, and Robert Conrad
's The Wild Wild West
.
, a suburb
of Minneapolis
in Hennepin County
. The union lasted until his death. The couple was childless. Fawcett died of cardiovascular disease
at the age of seventy-nine in Sherman Oaks, California. He and Helene, who died on June 17, 1997, are interred in Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville
, north of St. Paul.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
in Hollywood B-film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. His career extended from 1946 until the early 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
. He is probably best remembered for his role as the cantankerous, rusty-voiced Pete Wilkey of the Broken Wheel Ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series Fury
Fury (TV series)
Fury is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1955–1960, starring Peter Graves as Jim Newton , Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey...
, co-starring Peter Graves
Peter Graves (actor)
Peter Aurness , known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973...
, Bobby Diamond
Bobby Diamond
Bobby Diamond, also known as Robert Leroy Diamond , is a California civil and criminal law attorney who was a child star and young-adult actor, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s...
, and Roger Mobley
Roger Mobley
Roger L. Mobley in Evansville, Indiana, is a former child actor in film and television, working primarily for Walt Disney Productions during the late 1950s and early 1960s...
. He was one of the few actors to have earned a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree.
Early years, military, education
Fawcett was born as William Fawcett Thompson in High ForestHigh Forest Township, Minnesota
High Forest Township is a township in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,085 at the 2000 census.The American character actor William Fawcett was born in High Forest Township in 1894. He went on to star in dozens of films and television programs in a career from 1946...
in Olmsted County
Olmsted County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 124,277 people, 47,807 households, and 32,317 families residing in the county. The population density was 190 people per square mile . There were 49,422 housing units at an average density of 76 per square mile...
near Rochester
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
in southeastern Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The name "Fawcett" came from the physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
who delivered him. His father, William Eaton Lawrence Thompson, was a Methodist pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
who encouraged young Bill to enter the ministry. On September 5, 1916, three days before his twenty-second birthday, Fawcett was licensed to preach by the Hamline Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Minnesota.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Fawcett served as an ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
driver. He graduated from Methodist-affiliated Hamline University
Hamline University
-Red Wing location :Hamline was named in honor of Leonidas Lent Hamline, a bishop of the Methodist Church whose interest in the frontier led him to donate $25,000 toward the building of an institution of higher learning in what was then the territory of Minnesota. Today, a statue of Bishop Hamline...
in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Minnesota. Fawcett was decorated by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
with the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
for his care of the wounded. After his military service, he went into acting, instead of the ministry, first in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and then in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He had performed in church drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
s and acted so convincingly that his mother would sometimes cry over his characterizations. He performed in repertory theater and stock companies during the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1936, Fawcett procured his Ph.D. in Elizabethan drama
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
from the University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...
at Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
. He then became a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of theater arts at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
in East Lansing, Michigan.
Heading to Hollywood
In 1942, he left Michigan State to auditionAudition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
as an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
himself. He sought a part as a college professor but was turned down on the false grounds that he did not fit the part. Fawcett was a thin, wiry man and filled the bill for the ornery, cantankerous, but fiercely loyal, old coot
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water...
. Fawcett adopted his stage name when he found that there were several other actors already using the name "William Thompson".
His first film credit came at the age of fifty-two, when in 1946, he portrayed Judge Smith in Stars Over Texas
Stars over Texas
"Stars over Texas" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence. It was released in July 1996 as the third single from his 1996 album, Time Marches On. The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and peaked at number 42...
. In 1947, he starred as Nat in Green Dophin Street and as Andre the beachcomber
Beachcomber
Beachcomber may refer to:* Beachcomber * Beachcomber , a nom de plume used by several humor columnists* Beachcomber , the name of multiple characters in the Transformers universe...
in The Sea Hound. That same year, he was Uncle Bob in Pioneer Justice. In 1948, Fawcett portrayed Judge Hammond in Check Your Guns and as a news hawker in Superman.
Fawcett's roles continued in 1949 as Professor (He got to portray his previous occupational role.) Hammond, a scientist and inventor, in Batman and Robin
Batman and Robin (serial)
Batman and Robin is a 15-chapter serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Robert Lowery played Batman, while Johnny Duncan played Robin...
and as Merlin the Magician in Adventures of Sir Galahad
Adventures of Sir Galahad
Adventures of Sir Galahad is the 41st serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on Arthurian legend and, notably, was one of the very few serials of the time with a period setting that was not a western.-Plot:...
. He played Ezra Fielding that same year in Barbary Pirate and a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in Ride, Ryder, Ride!
Films in the 1950s
In 1950, Fawcett was cast as Zeke in Chain GangChain gang
A chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work, such as mining or timber collecting, as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include building roads, digging ditches or chipping stone...
, as Ezra in "Cody of the Pony Express
Cody of the Pony Express
Cody of the Pony Express is the 42nd serial released by Columbia Pictures.-Plot:Widely known as Buffalo Bill, William Cody helped define the image of the Old West and became one of the best-known celebrities of the 19th and early 20th centuries. As a teenager, he herded cattle and rode vast...
", and as Wharton in Pirates of the High Seas
Pirates of the High Seas
Pirates of the High Seas is the 44th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It starred the heroic Buster Crabbe, along with Lois Hall and Tommy Farrell, under the direction of Spencer Gordon Bennet and Thomas Carr...
.
In 1951, one of his busiest years, he was Mr. Tuttle in The Mating Season
The Mating Season (film)
The Mating Season is a 1951 classic farce with elements of screwball comedy. A film made by Paramount Pictures, it was directed by Mitchell Leisen and produced by Charles Brackett from a screenplay by Charles Brackett, Richard Breen and Walter Reisch, based on the play Maggie by Caesar Dunn...
, Mr. Jackson in Mysterious Island, Old Mountain Man in Comin' Round the Mountain
Comin' Round the Mountain
Comin' Round The Mountain is a 1951 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:Theatrical agent Al Stewart has successfully booked his client, Dorothy McCoy , "The Manhattan Hillbilly", at a New York nightclub. Unfortunately, he has also booked an inept escape artist, The Great...
, Alkalai in Cattle Queen, and Alpha in Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere
Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere
Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere is a 15-chapter serial released by Columbia Pictures in 1951. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Wallace A. Grissel with a screenplay by Royal G. Cole, Sherman I. Lowe and Joseph F. Poland, based on a treatment by George H. Plympton...
. He had a good role as Washoe, a ranch cook in Hills of Utah.
In 1952, Fawcett played Weatherbee in Kansas Territory
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
, the High Priest in King of the Congo
King of the Congo
King of the Congo was the 48th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on the comic book character "Thun'da", created by Frank Frazetta.-Plot:...
, Caretaker in Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (film)
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? is a 1952 film comedy film directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, Lynn Bari, and Charles Coburn. Set in the 1920s, the film is named after The California Ramblers jazz tune Has Anybody Seen My Gal?....
, and was Dr. Rolph in Blackhawk
Blackhawk (serial)
Blackhawk is a Columbia movie serial based on the comic book Blackhawk published by Quality Comics at the time. The serial's subtitle was "Fearless Champion of Freedom". It was the studio's 49th serial....
, a serial. He had some excellent scenes as cattle rancher Uncle John in Barbed Wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
.
In 1953, Fawcett continued as Dr. Fairchild in Neanderthal Man and as Orin Hadley in Run for the Hills. In 1954, he was Rocky Ford in Riding with Buffalo Bill
Riding with Buffalo Bill
Riding with Buffalo Bill was the 54th serial released by Columbia Pictures.-Plot:In this serial, the intrepid Buffalo Bill Cody comes to aid miner Rocky Ford and a group of ranchers in their defeat of a local crime lord, King Carney, who is trying to keep the new railroad out of the territory in...
and as Old Pickup Driver in Gang Busters
Gang Busters
Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935.-History:...
. In 1955, Fawcett was Cubby Crouch in Seminole Uprising. In 1956, he portrayed Jergens in Canyon River, Matthew Barnes in Dakota Incident
Dakota Incident
Dakota Incident is a 1956 Western produced by Republic Pictures. The film stars Dale Robertson and Linda Darnell.-Featured cast:...
, and "Pa" to Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
in No Time for Sergeants
No Time for Sergeants
No Time for Sergeants is a 1954 best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, which was later adapted into a teleplay on The United States Steel Hour, a popular Broadway play and 1958 motion picture, as well as a 1964 television series. The book chronicles the misadventures of a country bumpkin named Will...
. He was also featured in archival footage on the children's program, The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
. He also appeared in Disney's TV miniseries Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)
Davy Crockett is a five part serial which aired on ABC in one-hour episodes on the Disneyland series. The series stars Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his fictional best friend, George Russel....
.
In 1958, Fawcett was a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
in Good Day for a Hanging
Good Day for a Hanging
Good Day for a Hanging is a western concerning how a town views the upcoming hanging of a young man accused of murdering the sheriff during a robbery. Directed by Nathan H. Juran, it stars Fred MacMurray as the reluctant new sheriff and Robert Vaughn as the young man accused of the crime....
. From 1957-1959, Fawcett appeared as Sam Miller, the hanged publisher of the Wilcox Clarion newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in Willcox
Willcox, Arizona
Willcox is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,769. Professional wrestler Ted Dibiase lived his formative years in Willcox, as did singer Tanya Tucker.-History:...
(later spelling), Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, in the premiere episode of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western series 26 Men
26 Men
26 Men is a syndicated American western television series about the Arizona Rangers, an elite group commissioned in 1901 by the legislature of the Arizona Territory and limited, for financial reasons, to twenty-six active members. Russell Hayden was the producer of the series and the co-composer of...
, stories about the Arizona Rangers
Arizona Rangers
The Arizona Rangers is an Arizona law enforcement agency modeled on the Texas Rangers. The Arizona Rangers were created by the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1901, disbanded in 1909, and subsequently reformed in 1957. They were created to deal with the infestations of outlaws in the sparsely...
, starring Tristram Coffin. He also appeared in the series in various roles on four other occasions. roles.
Films of the 1960s
In the 1960s, the roles in film grew fewer. He was Lester Lonnergan in Meredith WillsonMeredith Willson
Robert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...
's The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
in 1962 and Mike in The Quick Gun in 1964. He appeared as Steinmetz in King Rat
King Rat
King Rat may mean:* Uromys rex, a species of rat* King Rat , by James Clavell set in World War II* King Rat , released in 1965, based on the James Clavell novel* King Rat , an urban fantasy novel by China Miéville...
(1965) and as Jensen the Pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is a low-budget western/horror hybrid film filmed in 1966, in which a fictionalized version of the real-life western outlaw Jesse James encounters the fictional granddaughter of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. The film was originally released as part of a...
(1966). He was Ollie Jensen in Hostile Guns in 1967. He played Tax Man in Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost
Blackbeard's Ghost is a 1968 live-action fantasy comedy Disney film starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette, directed by Robert Stevenson. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Ben Stahl and was shot in Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Channel aired this film until the...
in 1968. In 1969 and 1970, Fawcett appeared, respectively, in two Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
films, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a Disney film from 1969, starring Alan Hewitt, Kurt Russell, Frank Webb, and Joe Flynn. It is released by Buena Vista Distribution Company....
(starring the teenaged Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
) and Menace on the Mountain. In 1969, Fawcett played the key supporting role as Old Man Warner in the film version of Shirley Jackson's famous short story, "The Lottery."
Guest starring on television
Fury aired on Saturday mornings from 1955-1960. Fawcett played the housekeeper and general ranch hand to Jim Newton (Peter Graves) and Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton (Bobby Diamond).Fawcett guest starred on dozens of television series. He appeared as "Grampa" seven times between 1953 and 1956 in the syndicated series The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, starring Duncan Renaldo
Duncan Renaldo
Renault Renaldo Duncan , better known as Duncan Renaldo, was an American actor who portrayed The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.-Early years:...
and Leo Carrillo
Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo , was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.-Family roots:...
. Fawcett also appeared seven times in The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson...
and five times on 26 Men
26 Men
26 Men is a syndicated American western television series about the Arizona Rangers, an elite group commissioned in 1901 by the legislature of the Arizona Territory and limited, for financial reasons, to twenty-six active members. Russell Hayden was the producer of the series and the co-composer of...
. His other roles were on The Public Defender
The Public Defender (TV series)
The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.-Premise:...
, The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger (TV Series)
The Lone Ranger is an American western television series starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator...
(five times), Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
; Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children's television program which originally aired in 166 episodes on ABC from October 1954 until August 1959. It starred child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, who was being raised by the soldiers at a US Cavalry post known...
; Circus Boy
Circus Boy
Circus Boy is an American action/adventure/drama series that aired in prime time on NBC, and then on ABC, from 1956 to 1958. It was then rerun by NBC on Saturday mornings, from 1958 to 1960...
; "Adam 12", Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
, The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones is a 45-episode half-hour television crime drama starring James Whitmore. The series aired on ABC in two nonconsecutive seasons from October 7, 1960, to September 22, 1961, and again from April 19 to July 5, 1962...
, Tammy
Tammy (TV series)
Tammy is an American sitcom, starring Debbie Watson in the title role. Produced by Universal City Studios, 26 color half-hour episodes were aired on ABC from September 17, 1965 to March 11, 1966....
; Frontier Justice
Frontier Justice (TV series)
For the NBC western anthology, see Frontier .Frontier Justice is a CBS television Western anthology series which had thirty-one telecasts over the summers of 1958, 1959, and 1961. It was a repackaging of episodes from CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and was hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn...
, Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
; The Investigators, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(nine times); Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
(three times), The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
(twice); Mr. Lucky; Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
(five times); Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
(seven times), Harrigan and Son
Harrigan and Son
Harrigan and Son is an ABC sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry as Jim Harrigan, Sr., and Jim, Jr. In supporting roles, as secretaries, are Georgine Darcy as Gypsy and Helen Kleeb as Miss Claridge. The series aired 34 episodes at 8 p.m. Eastern Time...
, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (TV series)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1962-1963 ABC sitcom starring Fess Parker as Eugene Smith, an honest but unsophisticated U.S. senator from an unidentified small-populated state. The half-hour program is based on the 1939 Frank Capra film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring James Stewart in...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
(nine times); The Road West
The Road West
The Road West is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1966 to May 1, 1967 for twenty-nine episodes with rebroadcasts continuing until August 28. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, aired in the 9 p.m...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
, a lead
Leading actor
A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work...
as Jed McNabb in a dramatic episode of Fireside Theatre entitled, To Stand Alone, Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
, and Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
's The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
.
Death of the Fawcetts
On August 18, 1925, Fawcett married the former Helene Krag in MinnetonkaMinnetonka, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile...
, a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
in Hennepin County
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Hennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...
. The union lasted until his death. The couple was childless. Fawcett died of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
at the age of seventy-nine in Sherman Oaks, California. He and Helene, who died on June 17, 1997, are interred in Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville
Roseville, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,690 people, 14,598 households, and 8,598 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,543.9 people per square mile . There were 14,917 housing units at an average density of 1,126.4 per square mile...
, north of St. Paul.