William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957–1959), Death Valley Days... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Green Lantern: First Flight
Test pilot Hal Jordan finds himself recruited as the newest member of the intergalactic police force, The Green Lantern Corps.
Recount
A chronicle of the weeks after the 2000 U.S. presidential election and the subsequent recounts in Florida.
The Second Civil War
When a planeload of Pakistani orphans are shipped to his state for permanent relocation, the governor of Idaho defies the president and closes the state's border.
Shake, Rattle and Rock!
As the rock 'n' roll craze sweeps across America, a rebellious young woman sets out to prove the new fad is here to stay. She and her friend start their own band and open a hoppin' nightclub where the local teens can hang out.
Matinee
A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalises on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.
Beethoven's 2nd
Beethoven is back -- and this time, he has a whole brood with him now that he's met his canine match, Missy, and fathered a family. The only problem is that Missy's owner, Regina, wants to sell the puppies and tear the clan apart. It's up to Beethoven and the Newton kids to save the day and keep everyone together.
Basic Values: Sex, Shock & Censorship in the 90's
Newswoman Fay Sommerfield takes a morally outraged look at excessive violence, bad language and sacrilege that pass for entertainment in the early 90s. She illustrates this with clips from (fake) current hit films and music videos.
House Party 2
When Kid's college money is stolen by a crooked music promoter, Play's solution is to stage the 'mutha' of all pajama parties. Starring Kid 'n Play and Martin Lawrence.
Innerspace
A hapless store clerk must foil criminals to save the life of the man who, miniaturized in a secret experiment, was accidentally injected into him.
'Tis the Season to Be Smurfy
The Smurfs learn the true meaning of Christmas when they put their own plans to the side in order to help out a poor man with a sick wife.
Gidget's Summer Reunion
Former beach bunny/girl surfer Francine “Gidget” Lawrence is an adult and married to her long-term beau Jeff “Moondoggie” Griffin. She deals with a variety of marital spats, as well as running her own travel agency, running interferences with her teenage niece, and trying to arrange a reunion of her husband’s old surfing friends.
Teachers
A well meaning but burned-out high school teacher tries to maintain order against the backdrop of a pending lawsuit against his school district when it comes to light they gave a diploma to an illiterate student.
Gremlins
Gremlins is a horror comedy film from 1984. A tiny furry animal turns into a monster on Christmas Eve causing a small town fear and chaos. This is the first of two very successful Gremlins films.
Twilight Zone: The Movie
An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."
Hangar 18
After a UFO crashes in Arizona, due to a space collision with a NASA satellite launch, the U.S. government tries to cover-up the incident for political reasons.
The Jerk
A complete imbecile struggles to make it through life on his own, until a strange invention makes him unbelievably wealthy.
Legends of the Superheroes
In a two-part all-action, all adventure and part-time comedy special, many of the greatest superheroes of the DC Comics pantheon team up to take down some of their long-running enemies, then stop for a celebrity roast held in honor of Batman.
Tunnelvision
A federal committee reviews the programming of an immensely popular and uncensored network from 1985, including news segments, variety shows, scripted series, public service announcements, and commercials.
The Strongest Man in the World
Medfield College science major Dexter Riley and his classmates have been working on a new vitamin compound when a lab accident creates a supercharged mix that ends up in Dexter's cereal box, giving him superhuman strength.
Charley Varrick
Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.
Colossus: The Forbin Project
The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Some college students manage to persuade the town's big businessman, A. J. Arno, to donate a computer to their college. When the problem- student, Dexter Riley, tries to fix the computer, he gets an electric shock and his brain turns to a computer; now he remembers everything he reads.
Will Penny
Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son.
Speedway
A race car driver tries to outrun the beautiful tax auditor out to settle his account.
In the Heat of the Night
An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town
Hour of the Gun
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.
Philbert (Three's a Crowd)
Pilot for a TV series staring William Schallert as cartoonist Griff and his cartoon Philbert, that comes to life.
Lonely Are the Brave
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
The Beat Generation
A group of beatniks unwittingly harbor a serial rapist. A cop goes after him after his wife is attacked.
Pillow Talk
Playboy songwriter Brad Allen's succession of romances annoys his neighbor, interior designer Jan Morrow, who shares a telephone party line with him and hears all his breezy routines. After Jan unsuccessfully lodges a complaint against him, Brad sets about to seduce her in the guise of a sincere and upstanding Texas rancher.
Torpedo Run
A submarine commander is on a relentless pursuit of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the South Seas during World War II.
Some Came Running
Dave Hirsch, a writer and army veteran, returns to 1948 Parkman, Indiana, his hometown. His prosperous brother introduces him to Gwen French...
The Tattered Dress
After a wild night, wealthy Michael Reston's adulterous wife Charleen comes home with her dress in rags; murder results. Top New York defense lawyer J.G. Blane, whose own marriage exists in name only, arrives in Desert View, Nevada to find the townsfolk and politically powerful Sheriff Hoak distinctly hostile to the Restons.
The Tarnished Angels
Story of a friendship between an eccentric journalist and a daredevil barnstorming pilot.
The Monolith Monsters
Rocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.
The Incredible Shrinking Man
When exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide causes Scott Carey to begin to shrink medical science is powerless to help him.
The Girl in the Kremlin
In Moscow 1953, four terrified women prisoners are brought before Joseph Stalin, who chooses the beautiful Dasha. He punishes her by shaving off her long hair. Moments later, a plastic surgeon leads Stalin into the operating room and transforms his face so that he is unrecognizable.
Man in the Shadow
In a modern cow town, the powerful ranch owner’s henchmen kill a ranch hand, prompting the sheriff to investigate despite facing strong opposition. He finds an unlikely ally in the rancher's overprotected daughter, but their quest for justice puts them both in danger.
Written on the Wind
Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jasper, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp.
The Lone Ranger
The territorial governor enlists the help of the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on white settlers by Native Americans who ride with saddles. Wealthy rancher Reese Kilgore wants to expand his land to include Spirit Mountain sacred to local tribes.
Raw Edge
A Texan arrives in Oregon and seeks justice for his innocently-hanged brother
Massacre at Sand Creek
A fictionalized account of the infamous massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek by a militia unit led by an extremist Colonel.
Friendly Persuasion
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the rules of their religion in everyday life but when Southern troops pass the area they are in real trouble. Should they fight, despite their peaceful attitude?
Smoke Signal
A suspected cavalry deserter proves to be resourceful in helping the surviving members of a fort by fleeing from Indians along a dangerous river.
Bobby Ware Is Missing
This suspense film revolves around the crime of child abduction. The parents of the missing child undertake a feverish search for their son. The police are contacted, and a ransom letter is received.
Tobor the Great
To avoid the life-threatening dangers of manned space exploration, Professor Nordstrom creates highly advanced form of artificial intelligence capable of piloting a starship to other worlds.
Them!
Nuclear tests in the desert result in the growth of gigantic mutant ants who menace cities in the American south-west as a team of investigators and the army search for a way to control their spread in this Cold War-era monster film.
The Raid
A group of confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.
The High and the Mighty
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.
Shield for Murder
A crooked detective masterminds a robbery then fights to keep his money.
Riot in Cell Block 11
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Gog
A security agent investigates sabotage and murder at a secret underground laboratory, home of two experimental robots.
Down Three Dark Streets
An FBI Agent takes on the three unrelated cases of a dead agent to track down his killer.
Black Tuesday
Vicious gangster Vincent Canelli pulls off a daring prison escape just moments before going to the electric chair, taking with him Peter Manning – a bank robber and cop killer who was to die right after him. Taking several hostages along, they try to get their hands on the loot from Manning’s robbery to finance their escape from the country.
The Jazz Singer
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.
Singin' in the Rain
Hollywood's attempts to move from the 'silent' era to the 'Talkies' are not going as planned.
Hoodlum Empire
It's a deadly play for power when a Mafia chieftain's top gun goes straight and threatens to testify against the big boss and his cruel, nationwide network of crime. The picture, which was shot in a semi-documentary style, was inspired by the Kefauver investigations of 1950-51.
Flat Top
A rock hard commander trains Navy Carrier Pilots during the Second World War
The Red Badge of Courage
Truncated adaptation of Stephen Crane's novel about a Civil War Union soldier who stuggles to find the courage to fight in the heat of battle.
The People Against O'Hara
A defense attorney jeopardizes his career to save his client.
The Man from Planet X
While watching for a planet that may collide with earth, scientists stationed in Scotland are approached by a visitor from outer space.
M
Remake of the 1931 original. In the city, someone is murdering children. The Police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
The Reckless Moment
After discovering the dead body of Bea Harper's lover, Bea's mother Lucia hides the body under the assumption that it was her daughter who killed the man.
Mighty Joe Young
After being taken from his home in Africa, Gorilla "Joe" is an instant hit in a Hollywood nightclub. This fun and wonderfully entertaining slant on "King Kong" is much better than Kong's 1934 sequel, "Son of Kong". This all ages adventure has superb special effects from Willis O'Brien and his protege, Ray Harryhausen.