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 Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and Phipps enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, serving as a radio operator on several ships all across the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. He served three years, then settled in Los Angeles to begin his career. He enrolled in the

Actors' Lab The Actors' Laboratory Theatre was a politically active theatre company and acting school founded in January 1941 by Roman Bohnen, Jules Dassin, Dick Flake, Lloyd Bridges, Danny Mann, Jeff Corey, Mary Virginia Farmer and J. Edward Bromberg. Durin ...

in Hollywood, alongside fellow actor

Russell Johnson Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in ''Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in '' Black Saddle''. Early life Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, o ...

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 In the performing arts, film exhibition, and other forms of entertainment, a matinée is a performance or exhibition in the afternoon (or occasionally earlier), as distinguished from the evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at t ...

, 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 A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. S ...

'' (1947). In 1949, Phipps auditioned for the speaking voice of Prince Charming in the upcoming

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

''. 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 Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...

'', 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 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

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 An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the university the following year.

Death

Phipps died on June 1, 2018, in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, at the age of 96 from lung cancer. He is buried in Valley Oaks Memorial Park.William Edward Phipps
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Filmography

References

External links

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William Edward "Bill" Phipps fan page at FacebookInterview with William Phipps in Tom Weaver's book "Double Feature Creature Attack", at Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, William Edward 1922 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American male actors Film producers from California American male film actors American male voice actors United States Navy personnel of World War II Burials at Valley Oaks Memorial Park Eastern Illinois University alumni People from Lawrence County, Illinois People from Vincennes, Indiana People from Malibu, California Male actors from Indiana Military personnel from Indiana United States Navy sailors Deaths from lung cancer in California Film producers from Illinois Film producers from Indiana