Wally Cassell (born Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano; March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

and businessman.

Early years

Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano. (A 1951 newspaper article gives Cassell's real name as Osvaldo Tripolini Ronaldo Vincennes Castelleno.) The son of Luigi and Luisa Castellano, Castellano was born in

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one o ...

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, and moved with his family to the United States when he was two years of age. (Another source says that his parents brought him to Brooklyn, New York, "when I was a babe in arms.") As a youngster, Cassell was a dancer, but he abandoned dancing to concentrate on acting.

Film

Cassell began his film career in 1942, initially working in small, uncredited roles.

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

, with whom Cassell appears in the 1950

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

'' Quicksand'', is credited with suggesting the change of name to Wally Cassell.Wally Cassell, Gangster in 'White Heat,' Dies at 103
Hollywood Reporter, May 28, 2015 Rooney is also credited with helping Cassell gain a screen test and a contract with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. His films include ''

The Thin Man Goes Home ''The Thin Man Goes Home'' is a 1945 comedy- mystery film directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six '' Thin Man'' films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper ex-private detective Nick Charles and his ...

'' (1945), ''

The Story of G.I. Joe ''The Story of G.I. Joe'', also credited in prints as ''Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe'', is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, in ...

'' (1945), '' The Clock'' (1945), '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1946), '' Guilty'' (1947), ''Loves of Carmen'' (1948), ''

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'' (1948), ''

Sands of Iwo Jima ''Sands of Iwo Jima'' is a 1949 war film starring John Wayne that follows a group of United States Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. The film, which also features John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker, ...

'' (1949), ''

White Heat ''White Heat'' is a 1949 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly and Steve Cochran. Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, ''White Heat'' is based on a story by ...

'' (1949),'' Quicksand'' (1950), '' City That Never Sleeps'' (1953), '' Island in the Sky'' (1953), '' Law and Order'' (1953), ''

Princess of the Nile ''Princess of the Nile'' is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter and Michael Rennie. It was shot in technicolor and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Originally conceived as a more lavish ...

'' (1954), '' Until They Sail'' (1957), and '' I, Madman'' (1989).

Television

Cassell was later cast in two syndicated programs starring Jim Davis: '' Stories of the Century'', in the role of gunman Luke Short, and ''

Rescue 8 ''Rescue 8'' is a syndicated American action adventure crime drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade th ...

'', as Johnny French in "One More Step." Cassell also guest-starred in several television series, including '' The Loretta Young Show'' (1955), as "Oley" in James Arness's TV Western series ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

'' in the 1956 episode "Hack Prine" (S1E26), the 1959 premiere episode of ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

'' ("The Empty Chair"), '' Rawhide'' (1960), and ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family f ...

'' (1963).

Later years

Cassell retired from acting in 1964 and became a successful businessman.

Personal life and death

Cassell was married to actress and singer

Marcy McGuire Marilyn Jeanne McGuire (February 22, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and contralto singer who was active in the 1940s. Life and career McGuire was born on February 22, 1926, to James Joseph McGuire, a film projectionist and Anno ...

(b,1926) from August 30, 1947, until his death. Cassell's daughter, Cindy Cassell, became an actress. At age 13, she had the role of Pony Hutchinson in the Walt Disney Studios film ''

Emil and the Detectives ''Emil and the Detectives'' () is a 1929 novel set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. It was Kästner's first major success and the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship. The ...

'' (1964). Cassell died at his home in

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in 2015 at age 103.

Filmography

References and notes

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassell, Wally 1912 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American male actors Italian emigrants to the United States American male film actors American male television actors Male Western (genre) film actors People from Mississippi Male actors from Los Angeles Businesspeople from California American centenarians Italian centenarians 20th-century American businesspeople Men centenarians