The Avalon Boys

Actor

About

Also Known As

Chill Wills

Birth Place

Seagonville, Texas, USA

Born

July 18, 1902

Died

December 15, 1978

Cause of Death

Cancer

Biography

Filmography

That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Mr. Billion (1977)

Guns of a Stranger (1973)

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

The Steagle (1971)

Tall Guy McCoy

The Liberation of L. B. Jones (1970)

Mr. Ike

Photos & Videos

View All

City That Never Sleeps (1953) -- (Movie Clip) I Am The City

Boom Town (1940) -- (Movie Clip) You're On My Land!

Biography

No classic Western fan could mistake character actor Chill Wills for anyone else. First there was the name, then his unforgettable foghorn bellow of a voice. Starting out as a leader of the singing cowboy group the Avalon Boys Quartet, he appeared with the quartet in a number of oaters in the 1930s, most memorably the Laurel and Hardy Western comedy "Way Out West." When he left the group, he focused solely on working in film, landing bit parts in the shadow of bigger stars like John Wayne in "Allegheny Uprising" and Gary Cooper in "The Westerner." His most notable part was voicing the sardonic Francis the mule in six movies from 1950 to 1955. When not playing the mule, Wills frequently worked with one of the true greats of classic Hollywood, John Wayne, and when Wayne finally saddled into the director's chair to make the 1960 epic "The Alamo," Wills was cast in a juicy role. When award season swung around, Wills mounted a notoriously gauche Oscar campaign after he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, much to the horror of Wayne and almost everyone else in Hollywood. He didn't win, though several comedians (including Groucho Marx) made sure to use Wills as their comedic punching bag. Some of his other memorable parts are in the star-studded "Giant"; the roaring Western comedy "McLintock!," with Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; and as a drunken, sweaty saloon keeper in Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid."

Filmography

Life Events

1935

Debuted with his band "Chill Wills and the Avalon Boys"

1975

Released his first album

Photo Collections

The Deadly Companions - Movie Poster

Cattle Drive - Publicity Stills

Here are a few publicity stills from Cattle Drive (1951), starring Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell and Chill Wills.

Cattle Drive - Movie Posters

Here are a few original movie posters from Cattle Drive (1951), starring Joel McCrea and Dean Stockwell.

Tumbleweed - Movie Poster

Here is a movie poster from Tumbleweed (1953), starring Audie Murphy and Lori Nelson.

Videos

Movie Clip

City That Never Sleeps (1953) -- (Movie Clip) I Am The City Opening projecting the extraordinary tone which will permeate the piece, narration by Chill Wills who will appear as a character, introducing the automated Wally Cassell, cynical and bitter Gig Young and Mala Powers, and sparky Bunny Kacher as Agnes, John H. Auer directing from Steve Fisher’s original screenplay, in City That Never Sleeps, 1953.

Boom Town (1940) -- (Movie Clip) You're On My Land! Giant fire at the well appears to parallel raging tensions between partners Big John (Clark Gable) and Square John (Spencer Tracy), in a famous sequence from director Jack Conway's Boom Town, 1940.

Deadly Companions, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Hatin' And Wantin' Revenge Complex tension as Billy and Turk (Steve Cochran, Chill Wills) follow maybe-partner "Yellow Leg," (Brian Keith) who's trying to make amends with Kit (Maureen O'Hara), escorting her to a desert town to bury her son, whom he accidentally killed in a gunfight, in Sam Peckinpah's The Deadly Companions, 1961.

Deadly Companions, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) That's What I Call Pretty In his first feature, presaging things to come, director Sam Peckinpah stages a church service in a saloon, new-in-town "Yellow-Leg" (Brian Keith) and Billy (Steve Cochran) await their third (Chill Wills) as Maureen O'Hara is introduced, mocked by others in Strother Martin's congregation, early in The Deadly Companions, 1961.

Deadly Companions, The (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Five Ace Card Player Strong stuff in director Sam Peckinpah's opening to his first feature, a title song recorded by leading lady Maureen O'Hara, co-written by her brother the producer, then Brian Keith, with Chill Wills and Steve Cochran in post-Civil War Arizona, in The Deadly Companions, 1961.

I'll Be Seeing You (1944) -- (Movie Clip) What The War's Like New friends Zach (Joseph Cotten) and Mary (Ginger Rogers), neither knowing that he's being treated for shell-shock, and she's on furlough from prison, after a war movie, then meeting overzealous host Swanson (Chill Wills), in David Selznick's I'll Be Seeing You, 1944.

Rounders, The (1965) -- (Movie Clip) Nobody Drinks Anymore Central Arizona for north-central New Mexico, aging cowhands Howdy and Ben (Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford) drop in not accidentally on sisters Agatha and Meg (Kathleen and Joan no-relation Freeman) and their moonshiner dad (Edgar Buchanan), in The Rounders, 1965.

Harvey Girls, The (1946) -- (Movie Clip) There's A Lady Singing Proof there are good scenes not featuring Judy Garland, the judge (Preston Foster) enters the Alhambra where Em (Angela Lansbury) offers a Harry Warren-Johnny Mercer tune, and his partner Trent (John Hodiak) opines that the reputable new restaurant is no threat, in The Harvey Girls, 1946.

Harvey Girls, The (1946) -- (Movie Clip) Stick 'Em Up An eternal favorite non-musical scene for Judy Garland enthusiasts, as virtuous Harvey waitress Susan, packing heat as she attacks the decadent Alhambra club to retrieve stolen beef, Angela Lansbury, Chill Wills and others standing back, George Sidney directing, in The Harvey Girls, 1946.

Francis (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Be An Ass Stirling (Donald O'Connor), back on the job at the base in WWII Burma, is pretty well convinced he just had some sort of episode, when he gets a note and rushes off to see the mule (voice of Chill Wills), who talks again, in the first film of seven in the series, Francis, 1950.

Nobody's Baby (1937) -- (Movie Clip) You Put Me On The Radio? Chill Wills sings bass and also seems to lead the Hal Roach group the "Avalon Boys," on air at the radio station where principals Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti make noisy entrances and butt heads for the first time, opening the girl-buddy comedy Nobody's Baby, 1937.

Allegheny Uprising (1939) -- (Movie Clip) You Ain't Bad To Look At Serenaded by Chill Wills, top-billed Claire Trevor as Janie spars with dad (Wilfrid Lawson), Jim (John Wayne) and "Professor" (John F. Hamilton), just home from war, when Calhoun (Moroni Olsen) brings news of Indians, in Allegheny Uprising, 1939, released eight months after Stagecoach.