Here he is, almost 20 years before teaming up with Vivian Vance (whom he once referred to as "look[ing] like a sack of doorknobs") for I Love Lucy, chatting up Gary Cooper in Frank Borzage's Desire. I suppose this, for Frawley, was pretty much the height of his middle-age sex appeal. As I mention in today's Foreign Region DVD Report, even he can't spoil the utter loveliness of Borzage's sole collaboration with Ernst Lubitsch. But perhaps I'm being unfair to Frawley here. He doesn't look that bad. That's a pretty nice suit. I guess I've just read too much Drew Friedman…
There are far more attractive screen caps awaiting you at The Auteurs. There's quite a bit of kick-ass Berlinale coverage over there too.
Frawley’s character names at IMDB tell it all: Scoop, Snoop, Burnsey, Briney, Hoppy, Hotfoot, Mushy, Dusty, Bruiser, Bright Eyes, Soapy, Sunshine, Shakespeare. All those at Paramount, where he was more ubiquitous (if never as prominent) as the other Bill, the sainted Mr. Demarest, who replaced him on “My Three Sons” after his death.
GLENN!! You wonderful man, you wrote up Desire!
Okay, I am off to read but first I have to hide my credit card …
My friend has a theory that Wilford Brimley was born at 70 years old and no proof of him ever being any younger than that exists. I don’t have the heart to prove him wrong cuz that’s damn funny.
Sorry to correct the esteemed Mr. Lumenick, but Demarest actually replaced Frawley on the show while he was still alive, after he became uninsurable.
According to the book Meet the Mertzes, by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg, Frawley was none too happy, and would often visit the set to criticize Demarest. Eventually he wasn’t allowed back.
He died soon after.
Speaking for the uninsurable…
But seriously—Don, did you know that Mr. Brimley is only a year and change older than former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman? There really is something to the canard about rock keeping you young…
Thanks for the correction, Tony. Frawley criticizing Demarest on the set. Now that I would like to have seen.
Though he’s not connected with the film at all, any time I see William Frawley I think of the “Salute to Doughy Guys” from the “MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000” presentation of TEENAGE CRIME WAVE.
“Doughy guys of the world, we take off our belts to you!”