1. Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.
13 Facts About Chill Wills
1. 2.
Chill Wills was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s.
3.
Chill Wills provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West, in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared.
4.
Chill Wills was cast in a number of dramatic roles, including as "the City of Chicago" as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps, and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant, which features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean.
5.
Chill Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Davy Crockett's companion Beekeeper in the film The Alamo.
6.
Chill Wills was the voice of Francis the Talking Mule in a series of films.
7.
Chill Wills was a poker player and a friend of Benny Binion, the founder of the World Series of Poker and former owner of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
8.
Chill Wills participated in the first World Series, held in 1970, and is seated in the center of the picture.
9.
In Rory Calhoun's Western series The Texan, Chill Wills appeared in the lead role in the 1960 episode titled "The Eyes of Captain Wylie".
10.
Chill Wills starred in the series Frontier Circus, which aired for only one season on CBS.
11.
Later, in 1968, Wills refused to support Richard Nixon for the presidency and served as master of ceremonies for George C Wallace, former governor of Alabama, for the California campaign stops in Wallace's presidential campaign.
12.
On December 15,1978, Chill Wills died of cancer in Encino, California, aged 76.
13.
Chill Wills was cremated and interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.