Walter Baldwin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walter S. Baldwin Jr. (January 2, 1889 − January 27, 1977) was a prolific character actor whose career spanned five decades and 150 film and television roles, and numerous stage performances.
Baldwin was born in Lima, Ohio from a theatrical family and served in the First World War.
He was probably best known for playing the father of the handicapped sailor in The Best Years of Our Lives. He was the first actor to portray "Floyd the Barber" on The Andy Griffith Show.
Prior to his first film roles in 1939, Baldwin had appeared in more than a dozen Broadway plays. He played Whit in the first Broadway production of Of Mice and Men, and also appeared in the original Grand Hotel in a small role, as well as serving as the production's stage manager. He originated the role of Bensinger, the prissy Chicago Tribune reporter, in the Broadway production of The Front Page.
In the 1960s he had small acting roles in television shows such as Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. He continued to act in motion pictures, and one of his last roles was in Rosemary's Baby.
Baldwin was known for playing solid middle class burghers, although sometimes he gave portrayals of eccentric characters. He played a customer seeking a prostitute in The Lost Weekend and the rebellious prison trusty Orvy in Cry of the City. Walter Baldwin was featured in a lot of John Deere Day Movies from 1949-59 where he played the farmer Tom Gordon. In this series of Deere Day movies over a decade he helped to introduce many new pieces of John Deere farm equipment year-by-year. In each yearly movie he would be shown on his in A Tom Gordon Family Film where he would be buying new John Deere farm equipment or a new green and yellow tractor.A picture of Walter Baldwin playing Tom Gordon can be found on page 108 of Bob Pripp's book John Deere Yesterday & Today
Hal Erickson writes in Allmovie: "With a pinched Midwestern countenance that enabled him to portray taciturn farmers, obsequious grocery store clerks and the occasional sniveling coward, Baldwin was a familiar (if often unbilled) presence in Hollywood films for three decades."
Acted in
Nanny and the Professor
1970
Lancer
1968
Rosemary's Baby
1968
as Mr. Wees
Mannix
1967
as Luther
Green Acres
1965
as Grandpappy Miller
My Mother the Car
1965
Cheyenne Autumn
1964
as Jeremy Wright (uncredited)
Petticoat Junction
1963
as Grandpappy Miller
The Fugitive
1963
as Mr. Weaver
The Dakotas
1963
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
1962
as Conductor (uncredited)
Wild in the Country
1961
as Mr. Spangler (uncredited)
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
as Floyd Lawson
Oklahoma Territory
1960
as Ward Harlan
Lawman
1958
Casey Jones
1957
as Conductor
Wagon Train
1957
as Eddie Blake (uncredited)
You Can't Run Away from It
1956
as 1st Proprietor
The Fastest Gun Alive
1956
as Man Who Warns Vinny (uncredited)
The Harder They Fall
1956
as Boxing fan at Dundee fight (uncredited)
Glory
1956
as Doc Brock
The Desperate Hours
1955
as George Patterson
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955
as Farmer Everett
Frontier
1955
Gunsmoke
1955
as Old Man
Interrupted Melody
1955
as Jim Owens
Stranger on Horseback
1955
as Vince Webb
The Millionaire
1955
as Dr. Frank Kenston
Destry
1954
as Henry Skinner
Lassie
1954
Living It Up
1954
as Isaiah Jackson
The Long, Long Trailer
1954
as Uncle Edgar
Ride, Vaquero!
1953
as Adam Smith
Scandal at Scourie
1953
as Michael Hayward
General Electric Theater
1953
as Spivak
General Electric Theater
1953
as Henry Clayburn
General Electric Theater
1953
as Johnson
Carrie
1952
as Mr. Meeber - Carrie's Father
The Winning Team
1952
as Pa Alexander (uncredited)
I Want You
1951
as George Kress Sr.
The Racket
1951
as Sgt. Sullivan
Storm Warning
1951
as Coroner Bledsoe
Rough Riders of Durango
1951
as Cricket Adams
The Jackpot
1950
as Watch Buyer (uncredited)
Cheaper by the Dozen
1950
as Jim Bracken (uncredited)
Thieves' Highway
1949
as Officer Riley (uncredited)
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
1949
as Doc Purdy
Come to the Stable
1949
as Claude Jarman (uncredited)
Special Agent
1949
as Pop Peters (uncredited)
The Gay Amigo
1949
as Editor Stoneham
Cry of the City
1948
as Orvy
Rachel and the Stranger
1948
as Gallus
The Man from Colorado
1948
as Stagecoach driver
Return of the Bad Men
1948
as Muley Wilson
Hazard
1948
as Superintendent
Winter Meeting
1948
as Mr. Castle
Albuquerque
1948
as Judge Fred Martin
Mourning Becomes Electra
1947
as Amos Ames
The Unsuspected
1947
as Judge Maynard
Framed
1947
as (uncredited)
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
as Mr. Parrish
Sister Kenny
1946
as Mr. Ferguson (uncredited)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1946
as Dempsey (uncredited)
The Bride Wore Boots
1946
as Mr. Hodges (uncredited)
Dragonwyck
1946
as Tom Wilson (uncredited)
Young Widow
1946
as Miller (Uncredited)
The Lost Weekend
1945
as Man from Albany (uncredited)
Why Girls Leave Home
1945
as Wilbur Harris
Rhythm Round-Up
1945
as Jed Morton
Christmas in Connecticut
1945
as Herb, the Sheriff
Murder, He Says
1945
as Vic Hardy (uncredited)
Scared Stiff
1945
as Deputy with Rifle (Uncredited)
Trail to Vengeance
1945
as Bart Jackson
Bring on the Girls
1945
as Henry (uncredited)
Faces in the Fog
1944
as Doan, Jury Foreman
The Missing Juror
1944
as Town Sheriff (Uncredited)
I'm from Arkansas
1944
as Attorney
The Mark of the Whistler
1944
as Fireman (uncredited)
Dark Mountain
1944
as Uncle Sam Bates
Wilson
1944
as Wilson Campaign Orator (uncredited)
Reckless Age
1944
as Music Conductor
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944
as Deputy Sheriff
Happy Land
1943
as Jake Hibbs (uncredited)
The Kansan
1943
as Judge Lorrimer
A Stranger in Town
1943
as Tom Cooney
After Midnight with Boston Blackie
1943
as Diamond Ed Barnaby
Reconnaissance Pilot
1943
as George Newton
Eyes Aloft
1943
as Pa
For Me and My Gal
1942
as Bill (uncredited)
The Incredible Stranger
1942
as Doctor Peabody (uncredited)
Powder Town
1942
as Jerry the Nitrate Technician (uncredited)
Syncopation
1942
Scattergood Rides High
1942
as Martin Knox
In This Our Life
1942
as Worker (uncredited)
The Remarkable Andrew
1942
as Hugo French
The Man Who Returned to Life
1942
Look Who's Laughing
1941
as Bill
They Died with Their Boots On
1941
as Settler (uncredited)
Miss Polly
1941
as Lem Wiggins
All That Money Can Buy
1941
as Hank (uncredited)
The Devil Commands
1941
as Seth Marcy
Arizona
1940
as Man Who Declares for the South
Angels Over Broadway
1940
as Rennick (uncredited)
Cafe Hostess
1940
as Jones
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
1939
as Finch (uncredited)
Those High Grey Walls
1939
as Mr. Mason (uncredited)
Peaceful Relations
1936
as Mr. Brown