Whit Bissell
Encyclopedia
Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909March 5, 1996), better known as Whit Bissell, was an American
actor
.
, Bissell was the son of prominent surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
. He had a number of roles in Broadway theatre
, including the Air Force show Winged Victory
, when he was a private.
with the film Holy Matrimony, Bissell appeared in literally hundreds of film
s and television series episodes, including Sheriff of Cochise
and Rod Cameron
's syndicated
City Detective
(1955), The Brothers Brannagan
(1960), and The DuPont Show with June Allyson
(also 1960).
Viewers of 1950
s low-budget science fiction
, horror
films and B movies know him as one of "those actors" (perhaps the actor) that always shows up somewhere in such movies. Some of the most well-known of these roles were as a mad scientist
in the 1957
film I Was a Teenage Werewolf
, as well as Professor Frankenstein in I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
(1957). He also played the doctor who treats Kevin McCarthy
's character in the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and in the original 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon
. In 1957, Bissell played Larry Sands in the Perry Mason
episode The Case of the Crooked Candle.
In 1960, he appeared in George Pal
's production of The Time Machine
, as Walter Kemp, one of the Time Traveler's dining friends. Thirty-three years later, in 1993 the documentary film Time Machine: The Journey Back
, reunited Bissell with Rod Taylor and Alan Young
from the original, he recreated his role as Walter in the opening sequence. It was Bissell's last acting performance. In 1957, he appeared in "The Man on the 35th Floor" of Fireside Theater
, hosted by Jane Wyman
, with fellow guest stars Macdonald Carey
and Phyllis Avery
.
Bissell was a regular for the third and fourth seasons of the television series Bachelor Father (1959–1961), costarring John Forsythe
, Noreen Corcoran
, and Sammee Tong
. He appeared as a guest star in practically every dramatic television series that aired between the early 1950s and the mid 1970s, with more sporadic appearances after that. In 1959, he appeared on NBC
's science fiction
series The Man and the Challenge
. In 1961, he guest starred in the episode "A Fool for a Client" on James Whitmore
's The Law and Mr. Jones
legal drama
on ABC
. He appeared three times on the long running TV western The Virginian
in the 1960s.
His most prominent television role came when he co-starred as General Heywood Kirk in the 1966-1967 science-fiction television series The Time Tunnel
. He often played silver-haired figures of authority, here as in many other roles (as described by Allmovie), "instantly establishing his standard screen characterization of fussy officiousness," leavened in many instances with a military bearing. Other examples of such authoritative roles as military or police officials, include appearances in The Caine Mutiny
, The Manchurian Candidate
, The Outer Limits
, (1963) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(1966).
Bissell appeared in the classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" of Star Trek
, footage of which was re-used in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
s "Trials and Tribble-ations
".
In 1978 and 1980, Bissell appeared in episodes of The Incredible Hulk, first in the second season episode "Kindred Spirits", and next (and lastly) in the second part of the fourth season two-parter "Prometheus". He played a different professor in both episodes.
Bissell's most-screened motion picture role is as the undertaker (who sees every man, no matter his race, as "just another future customer") in The Magnificent Seven
(1960
).
Bissell received a life career award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 1994. He also served for many years on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild
, as well as representing the actors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
board of governors.
Bissell died in 1996 in Woodland Hills, California from the effects of Parkinson's disease
. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles.
, who was the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family
TV series.
Wives: Jennifer Raine (24 November 1967 - 5 January 1993) (her death); Dilys Mary Shan Jukes (5 December 1954 - 11 January 1958) (her death) 1 child; Adrienne Marden (23 November 1938 - 1954) (divorced) two children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Early life
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Bissell was the son of prominent surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. He had a number of roles in Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, including the Air Force show Winged Victory
Winged Victory (play)
Winged Victory is a play and, later, a film by Moss Hart, originally created and produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a morale booster and as a fundraiser for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Upon recommendation of Lt. Col. Dudley S. Dean, who had been approached with the...
, when he was a private.
Career
In a career that began in 19431943 in film
The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
with the film Holy Matrimony, Bissell appeared in literally hundreds of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and television series episodes, including Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...
and Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....
's syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
City Detective
City Detective (TV series)
City Detective is a half-hour syndicated crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant. The first of three consecutive Rod Cameron series, City Detective aired between January 1, 1953 and May 10, 1955...
(1955), The Brothers Brannagan
The Brothers Brannagan
The Brothers Brannagan is an American crime drama television series that aired in syndication from September 24, 1960, and July 15, 1961.-Synopsis:...
(1960), and 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...
(also 1960).
Viewers of 1950
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...
s low-budget science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
, horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
films and B movies know him as one of "those actors" (perhaps the actor) that always shows up somewhere in such movies. Some of the most well-known of these roles were as a mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
in the 1957
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
film I Was a Teenage Werewolf
I Was a Teenage Werewolf
I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by American International Pictures...
, as well as Professor Frankenstein in I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein is a film starring Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates and Gary Conway released by American International Pictures in November 1957. It is the follow-up to AIP's box-office hit I Was a Teenage Werewolf released less than five months earlier...
(1957). He also played the doctor who treats Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
's character in the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and in the original 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 monster horror film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. The eponymous creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and Ricou Browning in underwater scenes...
. In 1957, Bissell played Larry Sands in the Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
episode The Case of the Crooked Candle.
In 1960, he appeared in George Pal
George Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
's production of The Time Machine
The Time Machine (1960 film)
The Time Machine is a 1960 American science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man in Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future...
, as Walter Kemp, one of the Time Traveler's dining friends. Thirty-three years later, in 1993 the documentary film Time Machine: The Journey Back
Time Machine: The Journey Back
Time Machine: The Journey Back is a documentary film, produced in 1993 for airing on PBS stations. It was hosted by Rod Taylor and produced and directed by Clyde Lucas. The film was made about the Time Machine prop, not the movie, but during filming, Bob Burns surprised director Clyde Lucas by...
, reunited Bissell with Rod Taylor and Alan Young
Alan Young
Alan Young is an English-Canadian actor and voice actor, best known for his role as Wilbur Post in the television series Mister Ed and as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in Disney films, TV series and video games...
from the original, he recreated his role as Walter in the opening sequence. It was Bissell's last acting performance. In 1957, he appeared in "The Man on the 35th Floor" of Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran from on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned...
, hosted by Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
, with fellow guest stars Macdonald Carey
Macdonald Carey
Edward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of our Lives...
and Phyllis Avery
Phyllis Avery
Phyllis Avery was an American television and film actress.-Early life and career:Avery was born in New York City to Evelyn and author Stephen Morehouse Avery. Her father hailed from Webster Groves, Missouri, near St. Louis. Her first role was as Marjorie in the 1951 film Queen for a Day based on...
.
Bissell was a regular for the third and fourth seasons of the television series Bachelor Father (1959–1961), costarring John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
, Noreen Corcoran
Noreen Corcoran
Noreen M. Corcoran is a former actress and dancer best known for her costarring role as the teenager Kelly Gregg, the niece of wealthy attorney Bentley Gregg, played by John Forsythe, in the television sitcom Bachelor Father, the only series to have been carried at one time by all three major...
, and Sammee Tong
Sammee Tong
Sammee Tong was an American film and television character actor.He appeared in more than thirty films and some forty television programs between 1935 and 1965. He first appeared in an uncredited role as a waiter in Charlie Chan in Shanghai , and later as Cheela, the houseboy, in Think Fast, Mr....
. He appeared as a guest star in practically every dramatic television series that aired between the early 1950s and the mid 1970s, with more sporadic appearances after that. In 1959, he appeared on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series The Man and the Challenge
The Man and the Challenge
The Man and the Challenge is a 36-segment half-hour television adventure/science fiction series which ran new episodes on NBC from September 12, 1959, to June 11, 1960. It starred George Nader as Dr. Glenn Barton, a research scientist for the Institute of Human Factors, an agency that conducted...
. In 1961, he guest starred in the episode "A Fool for a Client" on James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
's The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones is a 45-episode half-hour television crime drama starring James Whitmore. The series aired on ABC in two nonconsecutive seasons from October 7, 1960, to September 22, 1961, and again from April 19 to July 5, 1962...
legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. He appeared three times on the long running TV western The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
in the 1960s.
His most prominent television role came when he co-starred as General Heywood Kirk in the 1966-1967 science-fiction television series The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
. He often played silver-haired figures of authority, here as in many other roles (as described by Allmovie), "instantly establishing his standard screen characterization of fussy officiousness," leavened in many instances with a military bearing. Other examples of such authoritative roles as military or police officials, include appearances in The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny (film)
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, and is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny. The film...
, The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate , by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for the Communist Party....
, The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
, (1963) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
(1966).
Bissell appeared in the classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" of Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, footage of which was re-used in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
s "Trials and Tribble-ations
Trials and Tribble-ations (DS9 episode)
"Trials and Tribble-ations" is a fifth season episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It has an average fan rating of 4.7/5 on the official Star Trek website and was written as a tribute to the original series of Star Trek, in the 30th anniversary year of the show; sister...
".
In 1978 and 1980, Bissell appeared in episodes of The Incredible Hulk, first in the second season episode "Kindred Spirits", and next (and lastly) in the second part of the fourth season two-parter "Prometheus". He played a different professor in both episodes.
Bissell's most-screened motion picture role is as the undertaker (who sees every man, no matter his race, as "just another future customer") in The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
(1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
).
Bissell received a life career award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 1994. He also served for many years on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, as well as representing the actors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
board of governors.
Bissell died in 1996 in Woodland Hills, California from the effects of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
in Los Angeles.
Personal life
Bissell was married three times and had three daughters and a stepson, Brian ForsterBrian Forster
Brian Forster was the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family.-Biography:...
, who was the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
TV series.
Wives: Jennifer Raine (24 November 1967 - 5 January 1993) (her death); Dilys Mary Shan Jukes (5 December 1954 - 11 January 1958) (her death) 1 child; Adrienne Marden (23 November 1938 - 1954) (divorced) two children.