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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1957
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 Griffith Show.
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."
Gender
Male
Birthday
January 1, 1889
Died
January 27, 1977
Birthplace
Lima, Ohio, USA
Also Known As
Reckless Age
1944
The Fastest Gun Alive
1956
Cheaper by the Dozen
1950
Stranger on Horseback
1955
Come to the Stable
1949
Tall in the Saddle
1944
Cheyenne Autumn
1964
The Winning Team
1952
Wilson
1944
Trail to Vengeance
1945
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
1949
Scattergood Rides High
1942
The Incredible Stranger
1942
Rosemary's Baby
1968
Winter Meeting
1948
The Unsuspected
1947
Thieves' Highway
1949
The Long, Long Trailer
1954
Dragonwyck
1946
Special Agent
1949
+ 68 more movies
The Fugitive
1963
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
Wagon Train
1957
Lassie
1954
Mannix
1967
Petticoat Junction
1963
Gunsmoke
1955
Lawman
1958
Nanny and the Professor
1970
Green Acres
1965
Lancer
1968
The Millionaire
1955
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse
1953
Lux Video Theatre
1950
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955
Frontier
1955
The Dakotas
1963
My Mother the Car
1965
Casey Jones
1957
General Electric Theater
1953
+ 3 more TV shows