Billy De Wolfe

The mustache that stole scenes from the stars

William Andrew Jones was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1907. Before stepping onto a set, he worked as an usher at a theater in his hometown. It was there that he decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life on the other side of the curtain.

He took his stage name from the surname of a theater manager and began honing his craft in vaudeville. In 1943 he signed a contract with Paramount Pictures that changed his career forever. His debut in Dixie showed producers they had a top-notch supporting actor on their hands.

His on-screen presence was based on a somewhat irritating elegance.

He played stiff, often single men with perfectly trimmed mustaches. But he brought an energy that outshone the leads. In 1946 he appeared in Blue Skies alongside Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby without their talent overshadowing him.

And the formula worked for decades.

Mrs. Murgatroyd's Trick

De Wolfe didn't need great scripts to stand out, because he brought his own resources from home. His most famous bit was Mrs. Murgatroyd, an upper-class woman drinking cocktails. It was pure pantomime, which he repeated in films and TV shows with minimal variations.

In 1947 he shot Dear Ruth and its sequel in 1949. Directors gave him complete freedom to improvise his gestures of disdain. Billy understood physical comedy as a precision tool.

And audiences loved to hate his characters.

During the fifties he focused on musicals produced by Warner Bros. In 1950 he appeared in Tea for Two, and a year later in Lullaby of Broadway. He always carried that air of comic superiority that made him indispensable in the ensemble casts of the era.

The voice of a holiday villain

In the mid-sixties his career found a new home on the small screen. He became a regular on The Doris Day Show between 1970 and 1973. There he played the neighbor or the fussy boss who always found fault with the star's plans.

But his work most remembered by later generations doesn't feature his face. In 1969 he voiced Professor Hinkle in the animated special Frosty the Snowman. His portrayal of the failed magician is a staple of American pop culture.

So his voice still rings out every December in millions of homes.

His final years were marked by health problems stemming from his tobacco addiction. In 1974 he died of lung cancer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. He was 67 years old and had just finished his professional commitments in Los Angeles.