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."
Photos
Films (91)
Rosemary's Baby
1968 · Mr. Wees (uncredited)
Cheyenne Autumn
1964 · Jeremy Wright (uncredited)
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
1962 · Conductor (uncredited)
Wild in the Country
1961 · Mr. Spangler (uncredited)
Oklahoma Territory
1960 · Ward Harlan
You Can't Run Away from It
1956 · 1st Proprietor
The Fastest Gun Alive
1956 · Man Who Warns Vinny (uncredited)
The Harder They Fall
1956 · Boxing fan at Dundee fight (uncredited)
Glory
1956 · Doc Brock
The Desperate Hours
1955 · George Patterson
Interrupted Melody
1955 · Jim Owens
Stranger on Horseback
1955 · Vince Webb
Destry
1954 · Henry Skinner
Living It Up
1954 · Isaiah Jackson
The Long, Long Trailer
1954 · Uncle Edgar
Ride, Vaquero!
1953 · Adam Smith
Scandal at Scourie
1953 · Michael Hayward
Carrie
1952 · Mr. Meeber - Carrie's Father
The Winning Team
1952 · Pa Alexander (uncredited)
I Want You
1951 · George Kress Sr.
The Racket
1951 · Sullivan
Storm Warning
1951 · Coroner Bledsoe
Rough Riders of Durango
1951 · Cricket Adams
The Jackpot
1950 · Watch Buyer (uncredited)
Cheaper by the Dozen
1950 · Jim Bracken (uncredited)
Thieves' Highway
1949 · Officer Riley (uncredited)
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
1949 · Doc Purdy
Come to the Stable
1949 · Claude Jarman (uncredited)
Special Agent
1949 · Pop Peters (uncredited)
The Gay Amigo
1949 · Editor Stoneham
Cry of the City
1948 · Orvy
Rachel and the Stranger
1948 · Gallus
The Man from Colorado
1948 · Stagecoach driver
Return of the Bad Men
1948 · Muley Wilson
Hazard
1948 · Superintendent
Winter Meeting
1948 · Mr. Castle
Albuquerque
1948 · Judge Fred Martin
Mourning Becomes Electra
1947 · Amos Ames
The Unsuspected
1947 · Judge Maynard
The Millerson Case
1947 · Link Hazen
Framed
1947 · (uncredited)
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 · Mr. Parrish
Sister Kenny
1946 · Mr. Ferguson (uncredited)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1946 · Dempsey (uncredited)
The Bride Wore Boots
1946 · Mr. Hodges (uncredited)
Dragonwyck
1946 · Tom Wilson (uncredited)
Young Widow
1946 · Miller (Uncredited)
The Lost Weekend
1945 · Man from Albany (uncredited)
Why Girls Leave Home
1945 · Wilbur Harris
Rhythm Round-Up
1945 · Jed Morton
Christmas in Connecticut
1945 · Herb, the Sheriff (uncredited)
Murder, He Says
1945 · Vic Hardy (uncredited)
Scared Stiff
1945 · Deputy with Rifle (Uncredited)
Trail to Vengeance
1945 · Bart Jackson
Blonde Ransom
1945 · Sheriff
Bring on the Girls
1945 · Henry (uncredited)
Faces in the Fog
1944 · Doan, Jury Foreman
The Missing Juror
1944 · Town Sheriff (uncredited)
I'm from Arkansas
1944 · Attorney
The Mark of the Whistler
1944 · Fireman (uncredited)
Tall in the Saddle
1944 · Stan - Depot Master (uncredited)
Dark Mountain
1944 · Uncle Sam Bates
Wilson
1944 · Wilson Campaign Orator (uncredited)
Reckless Age
1944 · Music Conductor
Mr. Winkle Goes to War
1944
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944 · Deputy Sheriff
Happy Land
1943 · Jake Hibbs (uncredited)
The Kansan
1943 · Judge Lorrimer
A Stranger in Town
1943 · Tom Cooney
After Midnight with Boston Blackie
1943 · Diamond Ed Barnaby
Reconnaissance Pilot
1943 · George Newton
Eyes Aloft
1943 · Pa
For Me and My Gal
1942 · Bill (uncredited)
The Incredible Stranger
1942 · Doctor Peabody (uncredited)
Powder Town
1942 · Jerry the Nitrate Technician (uncredited)
Syncopation
1942
Scattergood Rides High
1942 · Martin Knox
In This Our Life
1942 · Worker (uncredited)
The Remarkable Andrew
1942 · Hugo French
The Man Who Returned to Life
1942 · Homer-the Barber
Look Who's Laughing
1941 · Bill
They Died with Their Boots On
1941 · Settler (uncredited)
Miss Polly
1941 · Lem Wiggins
All That Money Can Buy
1941 · Hank (uncredited)
The Devil Commands
1941 · Seth Marcy
Arizona
1940 · Man Who Declares for the South
Angels Over Broadway
1940 · Rennick (uncredited)
Cafe Hostess
1940 · Jones
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
1939 · Finch (uncredited)
Those High Grey Walls
1939 · Mr. Mason (uncredited)
Peaceful Relations
1936 · Mr. Brown
Séries (20)
Nanny and the Professor
1970
Lancer
1968
Mannix
1967 · Luther
Green Acres
1965 · Grandpappy Miller
My Mother the Car
1965
Petticoat Junction
1963 · Grandpappy Miller
The Fugitive
1963 · Mr. Weaver
The Dakotas
1963
The Andy Griffith Show
1960 · Floyd Lawson
Lawman
1958
Casey Jones
1957 · Conductor
Wagon Train
1957 · Eddie Blake (uncredited)
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955 · Farmer Everett
Frontier
1955 · Briggs
Gunsmoke
1955 · Old Man
The Millionaire
1955 · Dr. Frank Kenston
Lassie
1954
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
1953 · George
General Electric Theater
1953 · Spivak, Henry Clayburn, Johnson
Lux Video Theatre
1950 · Mr. Brinker