Frank Faylen

The Face Everyone Knew

Frank Faylen was born in St. Louis in 1905 and grew up behind the scenes because his parents were vaudeville performers. He didn't have a normal childhood, but he learned the acting craft out of sheer survival before turning ten.

He made his film debut in 1936 with roles so small he wasn't even listed in the movie credits. But his face had something special. It was a mix of street toughness and a vulnerability that casting directors knew how to exploit for decades.

Faylen was the kind of actor who could make a scene feel real without saying a single word.

In 1945, his luck changed when Billy Wilder gave him the role of Bim in Dark Passage. He played a cynical, somewhat sadistic orderly on the alcoholics ward of a New York hospital. That job earned him the unanimous respect of the industry and pulled him out of anonymity as an extra.

The taxi in Bedford Falls and success on television

Frank Capra called him a year later to join It's a Wonderful Life, where he played Ernie Bishop. The Bedford Falls cab driver is probably his most remembered role by general audiences, even if he was just one more piece in the film's emotional machinery.

But Faylen wasn't content to be the friendly sidekick in family comedies.

In 1951, he appeared in Detective Story under William Wyler's direction. There, he showed he could move through film noir with overwhelming solidity. He knew his look fit perfectly into the smoke-filled settings and trench-coated tough guys.

Toward the late 1950s, he made the leap to television with a hit few expected.

He played Herbert T. Gillis in the series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis between 1959 and 1963. He was the grumpy but tender father of the lead character, and appeared in all 147 episodes of the series. That role gave him financial stability that film sometimes denied him.

A Quiet Retirement in California

Unlike many stars of his era, he never chased headlines or scandals in the tabloids. He married actress Carol Hughes in 1928, and they stayed together until death did them part.

That personal stability was reflected in a work ethic that allowed him to rack up more than 400 credits on his filmography.

Throughout the seventies, he worked sporadically in television series and small productions. But the pace of the industry was changing, and he preferred the quiet of his home in the San Fernando Valley.

Faylen died in 1985 from complications of pneumonia. He was 79 years old and was buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles. His last on-screen appearance was an uncredited role in a 1978 production.