Bert Wheeler

Dancer. Married on April 27, 1915; appeared together as dance act Bert & Betty Wheeler; appeared with Ziegfeld Follies from 1923-25; divorced in November 1926; later married Clarence Stroud; died in 1954.

Bernice Wheeler

Wife

Mother of Wheeler's daughter; divorced c. 1936.

Sally Haines

Wife

Married c. 1936-1938.

Patsy Ore

Wife

Together from the mid-1940s; married in 1952; divorced.

Bibliography

"Wheeler & Woolsey: The Vaudeville Comic Duo and Their Films, 1929-1937"

Edward Watz, McFarland

Biography

Filmography

Life Events

Photo Collections

On Again - Off Again - Movie Poster

Videos

Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Keep Romance Alive Some parody and invention in the opening from director Mark Sandrich (and writers Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Edward Kaufman), plus RKO ingenues, but mostly a quick route to singing star Ruth Etting, with a tune also by Kalmar and Ruby, opening the Bert Wheeler-Robert Woolsey comedy team vehicle Hips, Hips, Hooray!, 1934.

Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) -- (Movie Clip) You Can Eat The Lipstick Fetching window model Daisy (Dorothy Lee) is getting no traction with cosmetic sales, with some neat shooting by director Mark Sandrich, when we meet stars Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey (“Dr. Dudley” and sidekick) stealing her audience, early in RKO’s Hips, Hips, Hooray!, 1934.

Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Meet That Man And Merge Shady lipstick salesmen Dr. Dudley and Andy (the RKO comedy team, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey) have hijacked an office hoping they, with ally Daisy (Dorothy Lee), can trick her better-financed boss (Thelma Todd as Miss Frisby) into a merger, in Hips, Hips, Hooray!, 1934.

Nitwits, The (1935) -- (Movie Clip) You Opened My Eyes George Stevens with a clever opening, directing his third feature and his second Wheeler & Woolsey vehicle, with a song introduced by Joey Ray, Joan Andrews also singing, the tune by Felix Bernard and L. Wolfe Gilbert, Donald Kerr the lackey, Hale Hamilton the music company boss, and the stars, Bert and Robert, running the cigar shop (Betty Grable in the photo!), in The Nitwits, 1935.

Nitwits, The (1935) -- (Movie Clip) Music In My Heart If Betty Grable looks like she’s 18 it’s because she was, in one of her earliest credited features, as Mary, secretary to the boss upstairs at the music publishing company, who needs a murder song, so she can’t wait to tell her songwriting beau Johnnie (Bert Wheeler) down at the cigar shop, launching into a Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Fields original, in the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy The Nitwits, 1935.

Nitwits, The (1935) -- (Movie Clip) The Black Widow's Going To Get You! Having by chance written a song about the “Black Widow,” not knowing that music publishing company boss Lake (Hale Hamilton), to whom they’re pitching the song, is being tormented by a blackmailer by that very name, Bert hesitates but Robert manages to perform, in the Wheeler & Woolsey vehicle The Nitwits, 1935.

Half Shot At Sunrise (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Have You Ever Tried Perfume? Just the supporting ladies here, savvy Parisian Olga (Leni Stengel) is advising soldier-crazy Annette (Dorothy Lee), daughter of an American officer in WWI Paris, when her mother (Edna May Oliver) and sister (Roberta Robinson) happen by, in the RKO Wheeler & Woolsey comedy hit Half Shot At Sunrise, 1930.

Half Shot At Sunrise (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Nothing But Love French Olga (Leni Stengel) is actually plotting to save AWOL American soldier Gilbert (Robert Woolsey) from the firing squad, though he still thinks he’s fooling her, all of which prompts another cute original tune by Harry Tierney and Anne Caldwell, in the RKO (Bert) Wheeler & Woolsey comedy, Half Shot At Sunrise, 1930.

Half Shot At Sunrise (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Love, Honor And Oh Baby! Frustrated American MP’s in Paris (Jack Rutherford and Charles Sullivan) set up the first scene for the AWOL buck privates they can’t find, the stars Bert Wheeler and (bespectacled) Robert Woolsey as Tommy and Gilbert, scamming the cops and chasing girls, early in RKO’s Half Shot At Sunrise, 1930.

Half Shot At Sunrise (1930) -- (Movie Clip) Whistling The Blues Away Frisky daughter of an American colonel in WWI Paris, Dorothy Lee as Annette has just met AWOL private Tommy (Bert Wheeler), leading to an original, music by Harry Tierney and lyrics by Anne Caldwell, the co-screenwriter and famed librettist, in the RKO Wheeler & Woolsey comedy, Half Shot At Sunrise, 1930.

Kentucky Kernels (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Nothing But Nets George Stevens directs this unusually warm opening to a comedy-team formula picture, Paul Page as a rich guy ending it all, then the partners, dreamy Bert Wheeler and grouchy Bert Wheeler, passively fishing, in RKO's Kentucky Kernels, 1934.

Kentucky Kernels (1934) -- (Movie Clip) One Silly Little Habit Comedy teammates Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey (specs and cigar, playing a magician) are adopting, from Margaret Dumont, an orphan, for the depressed rich guy they've befriended, and it's troublesome Spanky McFarland, so they meet a cop (Edgar Dearing) too, early in Kentucky Kernels, 1934.

On Again--Off Again - (Original Trailer) Wheeler and Woolsey settle their differences in a wrestling match, with the loser becoming the winner's slave in On Again--Off Again (1937).

Family

Kathleen Wheeler

Mother

Died at age 17 when Wheeler was an infant.

James Wheeler

Father

Remarried and had two other sons.

Margaret

Aunt

Helped to raise Wheeler; gave him money to travel to NYC.

Patricia Wheeler Walters

Daughter

Died of a brain tumor in January 1968;.

Michael Walters

Grandson

Bonita Walters

Granddaughter

Companions

Betty Wheeler

Wife

Bernice Wheeler

Wife

Mother of Wheeler's daughter; divorced c. 1936.

Sally Haines

Wife

Married c. 1936-1938.

Patsy Ore

Wife

Together from the mid-1940s; married in 1952; divorced.

Bibliography

"Wheeler & Woolsey: The Vaudeville Comic Duo and Their Films, 1929-1937"

Edward Watz, McFarland

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