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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Billy Bevan (born William Bevan Harris, 29 September 1887 – 26 November 1957) was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became an American film actor. He appeared in 254 American films between 1916 and 1950. Bevan was born in the country town of Orange, New South Wales, Australia. He went on the stage at an early age, traveled to Sydney and spent eight years in Australian light opera, performing as Willie Bevan. He sailed to America with the Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company in 1912 and later toured Canada. Bevan broke into films with the Sigmund Lubin studio in 1916. When the company disbanded, Bevan became a supporting actor in Mack Sennett movie comedies. An expressive pantomimist, Bevan's quiet scene-stealing attracted attention, and by 1922 Bevan was a Sennett star. He supplemented his income, however, by establishing a citrus and avocado farm at Escondido, California. Usually filmed wearing a derby hat and a drooping mustache, Bevan may not have possessed an indelible screen character like Charlie Chaplin but he had a friendly, funny presence in the frantic Sennett comedies. Much of the comedy depended on Bevan's skilled timing and reactions; the famous "oyster" routine performed on film by Curly Howard, Lou Costello, and Huntz Hall—in which a bowl of "fresh oyster stew" shows alarming signs of life and battles the guy trying to eat it—was originated on film decades earlier by Bevan in the short film Wandering Willies. By the mid-1920s Bevan was often teamed with Andy Clyde; Clyde soon graduated to his own starring series. The late 1920s found Bevan playing in wild marital farces for Sennett. The advent of talking pictures took their toll on the careers of many silent stars, including Billy Bevan. Bevan began a second career in "talkies" as a character actor and bit player in roles such as that of a bus driver in the 1929 film High Voltage, a hotel employee in the Mae Murray film Peacock Alley, and the supporting role of Second Lieutenant Trotter in Journey's End in 1930. His starring roles had come to an end, however, and for the next 20 years he often would play rowdy Cockneys (as in Pack Up Your Troubles with The Ritz Brothers), and affable Englishmen (as in Tin Pan Alley and Terror by Night). He played a friendly bus conductor opposite Greer Garson in one of the opening scenes of Mrs. Miniver. Bevan died in 1957 in Escondido, California, just before new audiences discovered him in Robert Youngson's silent-comedy compilations. (The Youngson films mispronounce his name as "Be-VAN"; Bevan himself offered the proper pronunciation in a Voice of Hollywood reel in 1930.)

30 Years of Fun
as (archive footage)

The Golden Age of Comedy
as archive footage

Hans Christian Andersen
as Town Councilman (uncredited)

The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
as (archive footage)

Three Secrets
as Ed Jackson (uncredited)

Rogues of Sherwood Forest
as Will Scarlet

Fortunes of Captain Blood
as Billy Bragg

Tell It to the Judge
as Winston, Kitty's Butler (uncredited)
The Secret Of St. Ives
as Douglas (uncredited)

The Secret Garden
as Barney

Let's Live a Little
as Morton

The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self

The Black Arrow
as Dungeon Keeper

The Swordsman
as Old Andrew

It Had to Be You
as Evans

Moss Rose
as Harry, Cab Driver (uncredited)

Cluny Brown
as Uncle Arn Porritt

Devotion
as Mr. Ames (uncredited)

Terror by Night
as Conductor Taking Tickets

The Picture of Dorian Gray
as Malvolio Jones

National Velvet
as Constable (uncredited)

Tonight and Every Night
as Cabbie (uncredited)

The Pearl of Death
as Constable With Food Tray (uncredited)

The Invisible Man's Revenge
as Police Sergeant (uncredited)

The Lodger

Jane Eyre
as Bookie (uncredited)

The Return of the Vampire
as Horace (uncredited)

Forever and a Day
as Wartime Cabby

London Blackout Murders
as Air Raid Warden

Happy Times and Jolly Moments
as (archive footage)

I Married a Witch
as Puritan Vendor (uncredited)

Counter-Espionage
as George Barrow

Mrs. Miniver
as Bus Conductor (uncredited)

This Above All
as Farmer

The Man Who Wouldn't Die
as Phillips

Confirm or Deny
as Mr. Bindle

Suspicion
as Ticket Taker (uncredited)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
as Mr. Weller

Shining Victory
as Chivers

Penny Serenade
as McDougal (uncredited)

Tin Pan Alley
as Stage Doorman

The Long Voyage Home
as Joe

Rebecca
as Policeman (uncredited)

The Invisible Man Returns
as Jim (uncredited)

The Earl of Chicago
as Castle Guide

We Are Not Alone
as Mr. Jones

Pack Up Your Troubles
as British Sergeant

Captain Fury
as Duffy

Let Freedom Ring
as Cockney (uncredited)

A Christmas Carol
as Street Watch Leader

Arrest Bulldog Drummond
as Aquarium Guard

Shadows Over Shanghai
as Gallicuddy

Mysterious Mr. Moto
as Customs Official

The Young in Heart
as Kennel Man (uncredited)

Blond Cheat
as Bartender (uncredited)

The Girl of the Golden West
as Nick

Bringing Up Baby
as Joe (uncredited)

The Wrong Road
as McLean

The Sheik Steps Out
as Munson

Another Dawn
as Pvt. Hawkins