Rhys Williams (actor)
Encyclopedia
Rhys Williams was a Welsh
character actor in movies and television, whose career spanned several decades.
He made his film debut in How Green Was My Valley
(1941
). This movie takes place in rural Wales with a large cast of Welsh characters, but was actually filmed in Hollywood with Canadian, American, Irish and English actors. Williams, the only genuine Welshman in the cast, was originally hired solely to coach the actors in their Welsh
accents; ultimately director John Ford
gave Williams a role in the film.
He is recognizable to fans of the TV series Adventures of Superman
as a sadistic character in an early episode called "The Evil Three" (1952). His other television appearances were on such programs as CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
, Peter Gunn, with Steve Allen
in the 1960 episode "Play Acting", and The Lloyd Bridges Show
.
His later appearances were on Temple Houston
, 77 Sunset Strip
, The Wild Wild West
, Twelve O'Clock High
, The F.B.I., Mission: Impossible
, Mannix
, The Donna Reed Show
, Here Come the Brides
, and The Andy Griffith Show
.
Williams died, aged 71, and his remains are interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
character actor in movies and television, whose career spanned several decades.
He made his film debut in How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley (film)
How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama film directed by John Ford. The film, based on the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall...
(1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
). This movie takes place in rural Wales with a large cast of Welsh characters, but was actually filmed in Hollywood with Canadian, American, Irish and English actors. Williams, the only genuine Welshman in the cast, was originally hired solely to coach the actors in their Welsh
Welsh English
Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh...
accents; ultimately director John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
gave Williams a role in the film.
He is recognizable to fans of the TV series Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
as a sadistic character in an early episode called "The Evil Three" (1952). His other television appearances were on such programs as CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
, Peter Gunn, with Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
in the 1960 episode "Play Acting", and The Lloyd Bridges Show
The Lloyd Bridges Show
The Lloyd Bridges Show is an American anthology drama series produced by Aaron Spelling, which aired on CBS from September 11, 1962 to May 28, 1963, starring and hosted by Lloyd Bridges.-Synopsis:...
.
His later appearances were on Temple Houston
Temple Houston (TV series)
Temple Houston is a 1963–64 NBC television series which has been called "the first attempt . . . to produce an hour-long Western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." It was the only show Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at...
, 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ...
, The F.B.I., Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
, The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
, Here Come the Brides
Here Come the Brides
Here Come the Brides is an American comedy Western series from Screen Gems that aired on the ABC television network from September 25, 1968 to April 3, 1970...
, and The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
.
Williams died, aged 71, and his remains are interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
Partial filmography
- How Green Was My ValleyHow Green Was My Valley (film)How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama film directed by John Ford. The film, based on the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall...
(1941) - Mrs. MiniverMrs. Miniver (film)Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright. Based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, the film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture,...
(1942) - Gentleman JimGentleman Jim (1942 film)Gentleman Jim is a 1942 film starring Errol Flynn as heavyweight boxing champion James J. Corbett. The supporting cast includes Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, William Frawley, and Ward Bond. The movie was based upon Corbett's autobiography, The Roar of the Crowd, and directed by Raoul...
(1942) - Random Harvest (1942)
- No Time For LoveNo Time for Love (film)No Time for Love is a 1943 film directed by Mitchell Leisen, and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White . Robert Usher spent the last twenty years of his life as a 'family brother' at New...
(1943) - The Corn Is GreenThe Corn Is Green (1945 film)The Corn Is Green is a 1945 drama film starring Bette Davis as a schoolteacher determined to bring education to a Welsh coal mining town, despite great opposition...
(1945) - Blood on the SunBlood on the SunBlood on the Sun is a film starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney. The film is based on the history behind the Tanaka Memorial document....
(1945) - The Bells of St. Mary'sThe Bells of St. Mary'sThe Bells of St. Mary's is a 1945 American film which tells the story of a priest and a nun at a school who set out, despite their good-natured rivalry, to save the school from being shut down. It stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman...
(1945) - The Spiral Staircase (1945)
- The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
- Hills of HomeHills of Home (film)Hills of Home is a 1948 Technicolor drama film, the fourth in a series of MGM Lassie films. It starred Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, and Tom Drake.-Plot:...
(1948) - The Crooked WayThe Crooked WayThe Crooked Way is a black-and-white film noir directed by Robert Florey. The film was based on a radio play No Blade Too Sharp and features John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew, and others...
(1949) - Tokyo JoeTokyo JoeTokyo Joe is a 1949 film directed by Stuart Heisler from a story by Steve Fisher, adapted by Walter Doniger and starring Humphrey Bogart, Florence Marly and Sessue Hayakawa...
(1949) - The Inspector GeneralThe Inspector General (film)The Inspector General is a 1949 musical comedy film. It stars Danny Kaye and was directed by Henry Koster. The film also stars Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale Sr. and Rhys Williams. Original music by Sylvia Fine and Johnny Green.-Premise:The film is loosely...
(1949) - Kiss Tomorrow GoodbyeKiss Tomorrow GoodbyeKiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a 1950 film noir starring James Cagney, directed by Gordon Douglas and based on the novel by Horace McCoy. The film was banned in Ohio as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission."Supporting Cagney...
(1950) - Devil's DoorwayDevil's DoorwayDevil's Doorway is a 1950 western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring Robert Taylor as an Indian who returns home from the American Civil War a hero awarded the Medal of Honor. However, his hopes for a peaceful life are shattered by bigotry and greed.-Plot:The Civil War may be over back...
(1950)
- Carbine WilliamsCarbine WilliamsCarbine Williams is a 1952 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring James Stewart. The film follows the life of its namesake, David Marshall Williams, who invented the operating principle for the M1 Carbine while in a North Carolina prison...
(1952) - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (1952 film)Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and featured Michael Rennie as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton as Javert, Sylvia Sidney as Fantine, Debra Paget as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell as...
(1952) - The World in His ArmsThe World in His ArmsThe World in His Arms is a 1952 seafaring adventure film made by Universal International Pictures. It was directed by Raoul Walsh and produced byAaron Rosenberg from a screenplay by Borden Chase and Horace McCoy, based on the novel by Rex Beach...
(1952) - Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (1953 film)Julius Caesar is an 1953 MGM film adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the uncredited screenplay, and produced by John Houseman. The original music score is by Miklós Rózsa...
(1953) - Man in the AtticMan in the AtticMan in the Attic is a 1953 mystery film directed by Hugo Fregonese. It was released in the United States on December 23 by Twentieth Century Fox...
(1953) - Johnny GuitarJohnny GuitarJohnny Guitar is a 1954 Republic Pictures Western film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady.The screenplay was based upon a novel by Roy Chanslor. Though credited to Philip Yordan, he was merely a front for the actual screenwriter, blacklistee Ben Maddow. ...
(1954) - The Black Shield of FalworthThe Black Shield of FalworthThe Black Shield of Falworth is a 1954 film made by Universal Studios, produced by Robert Arthur and Melville Tucker and directed by Rudolph Maté...
(1954) - Battle CryBattle Cry (film)Battle Cry is a 1955 CinemaScope film, starring Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, James Whitmore, Tab Hunter, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone, Raymond Massey, and Mona Freeman...
(1955) - The Scarlet CoatThe Scarlet CoatThe Scarlet Coat is an Eastmancolor 1955 American historical drama and swashbuckler directed by John Sturges, based upon the events in the American Revolution in which Benedict Arnold offered to surrender the fort at West Point to the British in exchange for money.The film purports to tell the...
(1955) - The KentuckianThe KentuckianThe Kentuckian is a 1955 adventure film directed by Burt Lancaster, who also starred. It also marked the feature film debut of Walter Matthau. The picture is an adaptation of the novel The Gabriel Horn by Felix Holt...
(1955) - Raintree CountyRaintree County (film)Raintree County is a 1957 Technicolor film drama about the American Civil War. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, and Lee Marvin....
(1957) - Merry AndrewMerry Andrew (film)Merry Andrew is a 1958 American musical film directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the short story "The Romance of Henry Menafee" by Paul Gallico...
(1958) - Midnight LaceMidnight LaceMidnight Lace is a 1960 American mystery-thriller film starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison, directed by David Miller. The screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is based on the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green....
(1960) - The Sons of Katie ElderThe Sons of Katie ElderThe Sons of Katie Elder is a 1965 Technicolor western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne and Dean Martin. The movie was filmed principally in Mexico....
(1965) - Our Man FlintOur Man FlintOur Man Flint is a 1966 action film that parodies of James Bond genre. The film was directed by Daniel Mann, written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr, and starring James Coburn as master spy Derek Flint...
(1966)