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 Mr. and Mrs. Roger V. Wilcox. He was born in De Soto, Missouri, but the family moved to Atchison, Kansas.[1] Wilcox worked in Kansas City as an oil company's sales manager.[2]
Acting career
Wilcox joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse.[1] By December 1924, he headed the Frank Wilcox Company, which produced plays in venues that included the Lyceum in Baltimore.[3] In 1927, he became a member of The Lambs Club.[4]
Wilcox became a contract player for Warner Bros., beginning with the 1939 short film The Monroe Doctrine,[citation needed] in which he was chosen to portray the American statesman Henry Clay during the early 1820s. 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.
During World War II Wilcox served on a destroyer.[1]
In 1951, already at work in television, Wilcox was cast in two episodes of the police drama Racket Squad. From 1952 to 1955, he guest-starred four times in different roles on the television series The Lone Ranger. In 1956, Wilcox portrayed 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. From 1955 to 1958, he appeared three times on the sitcom The People's Choice.
In 1957, Wilcox guest-starred in the episode "Quicksilver" of Sugarfoot, 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 five seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies.
Wilcox appeared in 1957 as Joe Spaulding in "Lucy Wants to Move to the Country," one of the later episodes of the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. He also appeared on the sitcom Private Secretary.
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 and as Jennings is the 1961 episode "Troubleshooter" of Straightaway. Wilcox also appeared in numerous episodes of The Untouchables as Federal District Attorney Beecher Asbury. He appeared in a 1965 episode of Kentucky Jones and in the first episode broadcast of The Munsters. His last television role was as Judge Moon in a 1973 episode of Kung Fu.
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.[citation needed]
Wilcox's work on Broadway began with Yes or No (1917) and ended with Parlor Story (1947).[5]
Personal life and death
Wilcox and his wife Joy had three daughters.[2] On March 3, 1974, Wilcox died at his home 10 days before his 67th birthday[6] in Los Angeles,[7][6]
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