William Redfield

Actor

About

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Birth Place

New York City, New York, USA

Born

January 26, 1927

Died

August 17, 1976

Biography

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William Redfield was a prolific stage actor over the middle part of the 20th century, though he is most known for his role as Harding, the bespectacled, professorial mental patient in the multiple Oscar-winning drama "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Redfield made his Broadway debut as a child of just nine, and a few years later, he made his first on-screen appearance with a supporting ...

Filmography

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Mr. Billion (1977)

Fear on Trial (1975)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Death Wish (1974)

For Pete's Sake (1974)

The Hot Rock (1972)

Photos & Videos

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Connection, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Who Killed Cock Robin?

Fantastic Voyage (1966) -- (Movie Clip) There Should Be A Tremendous Surge

Bibliography

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"Letter From an Actor"

William Redfield

"Mr. Peepers"

William Redfield

Biography

William Redfield was a prolific stage actor over the middle part of the 20th century, though he is most known for his role as Harding, the bespectacled, professorial mental patient in the multiple Oscar-winning drama "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Redfield made his Broadway debut as a child of just nine, and a few years later, he made his first on-screen appearance with a supporting part in the 1939 crime drama "Back Door to Heaven." He then returned to the theater for a decade before making his television debut, appearing on three episodes of "Actor's Studio," a pioneering ABC series in which plays were performed for TV. Redfield proceeded to appear on at least an episode of most of the major TV playhouse programs throughout the '50s and into the '60s, among them "Kraft Theatre" and "The United States Steel Hour." In 1964, Redfield had the proud and memorable experience of playing Guildenstern to Richard Burton's title character "Hamlet" in a televised version of the Broadway production, which was co-directed by acting legend John Gielgud. In the '70s, Redfield had key supporting roles in the film comedies "A New Leaf" (with Walter Matthau and Elaine May), "The Hot Rock," with Robert Redford and George Segal and "For Pete's Sake," starring Barbra Streisand. A year after making his small but memorable appearance in "Cuckoo's Nest," which starred Jack Nicholson, Redfield died from leukemia at age 49.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Mr. Billion (1977)

Fear on Trial (1975)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Death Wish (1974)

For Pete's Sake (1974)

The Hot Rock (1972)

A New Leaf (1971)

Such Good Friends (1971)

Barney [Halstead]

The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (1970)

Jonathan's father

All Woman (1967)

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Capt. Bill Owens

Duel at Diablo (1966)

Sergeant Ferguson

Morituri (1965)

Instant Love (1964)

The Connection (1962)

I Married a Woman (1958)

All Woman (1958)

The Proud and Profane (1956)

Chaplain--Lt. J. G. Holmes

Conquest of Space (1955)

[Sgt. Roy] Cooper

Back Door to Heaven (1939)

Charley Smith, as a boy

Cast (Special)

Androcles and the Lion (1967)

The Million Dollar Incident (1961)

Mr. O'Malley (1959)

George Baxter; Barnaby'S Father

Adventures of a Model (1958)

Life Events

Photo Collections

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Premiere Brochure

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Premiere Brochure

Videos

Connection, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Who Killed Cock Robin? First of many performances which alone justify making the film, pianist Freddie Redd’s composition, with alto sax hero Jackie McLean, Mike Mattos and Larry Ritchie, bass and drums, William Redfield the filmmaker, Shirley Clarke actually directing, from Jack Gelber’s play and screenplay, in The Connection 1962.

Fantastic Voyage (1966) -- (Movie Clip) There Should Be A Tremendous Surge Knocked off course by an undetected medical condition, supervised by military brass Arthur O’Connell and Edmond O’Brien, the crew of the miniaturized submarine (Arthur Kennedy, Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasence, Raquel Welch, William Redfield) attempt to shoot through the temporarily stopped heart of their Cold War defector patient in Fantastic Voyage, 1966.

Fantastic Voyage (1966) -- (Movie Clip) About The Size Of A Microbe Colonel Arthur O’Connell tangles with doctors Arthur Kennedy and Donald Pleasence, as General Edmond O’Brien introduces spy Grant (Stephen Boyd), to the crew, including Raquel Welch and William Redfield, all planning to miniaturize a submarine to perform emergency surgery on a valuable defector, in Fantastic Voyage, 1966.

Connection, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Feel Like Getting Busted It’s now clear that Leach (Warren Finnerty) and his fellow heroin-addict guests are being directed by a barely-seen documentarian, musicians Mike Mattos, Freddie Redd, Jackie McLean and Larry Ritchie as themselves, Jerome Raphel as Sully, Garry Goodrow as Ernie, in Shirley Clarke’s The Connection, 1962.

Connection, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) In A Drug Addict's Apartment Challenging from the start, Shirley Clarke directs from Jack Gelber’s experimental play and screenplay, Roscoe Lee Browne the voice of cameraman character, Burden, the opening address to camera by Leach (Warren Finnerty) the de facto host of the junkies waiting to score, in The Connection, 1962.

Connection, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Let's Not Get Hostile! The director character (William Redfield as Dunn) all-but giving up, addressing his cameraman JJ (unseen Roscoe Lee Browne), Warren Finnerty as host heroin-addict Leach, musician Jackie McLean as himself, and the documentary premise explained, in director Shirley Clarke’s The Connection, 1962.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) -- (Movie Clip) Getting Things Off Your Chest McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) joins group session on the psych ward, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) leading, Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, William Redfield, Christopher Lloyd and Sydney Lassick as “Cheswick” among the inmates, in Milos Forman’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) -- (Movie Clip) You All Crazy? With assist from the Chief (Will Sampson), McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) grabs a bus and leads fellow mental patients (Danny DeVito, Brad Dourif, William Redfield, Vincent Schiavelli et al) on a breakout, picking up Candy (Marya Small), in Milos Forman’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.

New Leaf, A (1971) -- (Movie Clip) Your Financial Downfall New York playboy heir Henry (Walter Matthau) is more concerned about his bounced check for his club dues than with the bigger message from his financial adviser (William Redfield), early in writer, director and lead actress Elaine May's A New Leaf, 1971.

For Pete's Sake - (Original Trailer) Barbra Streisand tries everything to make her husband rich in the screwball comedy For Pete's Sake (1974).

Bibliography

"Letter From an Actor"

William Redfield

"Mr. Peepers"

William Redfield

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