Eddie Quillan

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Edward "Eddie" Quillan (born March 31, 1907 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † July 19, 1990 in Burbank , California ) was an American film and stage actor .

Life

Eddie Quillan was one of five children of Joseph and Sarah Quillan, the directors of a vaudeville theater group called The Rising Generation . Eddie was on stage with his siblings from the age of seven and was soon an all-round talent whose repertoire ranged from singing to dancing to stand-up comedy. Soon the Quillans toured all over the United States and performed at the Orpheum Theater , among others . In 1925, the theater group first appeared in Los Angeles , where 18-year-old Eddie Quillan was discovered by film producer Mack Sennett . A year later, in 1926, he made his debut in A Love Sundae , a silent film comedy shot in black and white . It was Sennett who initially made Quillan big. He made over 20 feature films under Sennett's direction.

The 1930s of the 20th century were in which Quillan appeared in numerous major feature films. At the beginning of the decade, Quillan played several leading teenage roles, for example in Night Work (1930) or Girl Crazy (1932). Since he was a bit too small for a classic Hollywood leading actor, Quillan soon had to shift to supporting roles, often of a fearful or tragic nature. His best-known films include the 1935 adventure film Mutiny on the Bounty and the biography Young Mr. Lincoln , with Henry Fonda in the title role, directed by John Ford in 1939. A year later, Quillan worked again with Ford and Fonda on the literary film adaptation of The Fruits of Wrath , here Quillan's character runs away from his pregnant wife in search of better work.

But the Hollywood producers' interest in Quillan was soon exhausted, so that Quillan quickly found himself in B-Movies . Nevertheless, he remained a busy supporting actor in the following decades. From the 1950s on, Quillan appeared almost exclusively in television series such as Smoking Colts and The Streets of San Francisco . He also appeared in seven episodes of Our Little Farm between 1977 and 1983 , always in various guest roles. In 1987, after a guest role in Matlock , Quillan retired from acting. He, who had practically seen the rise and fall of classic Hollywood films, was now interviewed by film historians.

Three years later died Eddie Quillan, who had never married, and had no children, aged 83 years to cancer . He is buried near Los Angeles .

Filmography (selection)

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