Will Stanton (actor)


William Sidney "Will" Stanton was an American character actor, whose career spanned the first twenty-five years of the sound film era. Born in London, England, Stanton broke into the film industry at the very tail end of the silent film era in 1927, appearing in several film shorts for Hal Roach Studios. He would debut in a feature film with a small role in Raoul Walsh's 1928 silent film, Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, and Walsh. During the following 20 years he would appear in another 70 films, mostly in small and supporting roles.
Notable films in which he appeared include: the 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland, whose ensemble cast included Cary Grant, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper and Edward Everett Horton; the classic Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable; the 1936 film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's classic, Last of the Mohicans, directed by George B. Seitz, and starring Randolph Scott; The Prince and the Pauper, starring Errol Flynn and Claude Rains; Howard Hawks' 1941 classic, Sergeant York, with Gary Cooper; and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, and George Sanders. His final big screen appearance would be as a cab driver in the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy, Adam's Rib, directed by George Cukor. Stanton would make one last acting performance, appearing on an episode of television's Schlitz Playhouse in 1954. Stanton died on December 18, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

Filmography

Per AFI database