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 G
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."
Born
Jan 01, 1889
Lima, Ohio, USA
Died
Jan 27, 1977
Known For
Acting
Movies
91 acting
0 crew
Popularity
1.0
Known For
The Harder They Fall
1956
as Boxing fan at Dundee fight (uncredited)
Rosemary's Baby
1968
as Mr. Wees (uncredited)
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
as Mr. Parrish
The Lost Weekend
1945
as Man from Albany (uncredited)
They Died with Their Boots On
1941
as Settler (uncredited)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1946
as Dempsey (uncredited)
Cheyenne Autumn
1964
as Jeremy Wright (uncredited)
The Desperate Hours
1955
as George Patterson
All That Money Can Buy
1941
as Hank (uncredited)
Thieves' Highway
1949
as Officer Riley (uncredited)
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