William Edward "Bill" Phipps (born February 4, 1922 in Vincennes, Indiana) is a retired American actor and producer, perhaps best known for his roles in dozens of classic sci-fi and westerns, both film and television, from the late 1940s through the mid 1960s. From then, until his retirement in 2000, his work was mainly in television.
Contents |
Phipps grew up in St. Francisville, Illinois, and by high school he was using his stepfather's last name of Couch. He developed a love of acting at a young age, performing in several plays in grade school and high school. One of the plays he was in, during his junior year of high school in 1937,[1] was "Before Morning", a 1933 play which was made into a movie that same year.[2]
After graduating high school in 1939, he attended Eastern Illinois University as an accounting major. He was voted freshman class president and served as head cheerleader. After two years of college, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting, and went back to his original last name of Phipps.
During that same year, the United States entered into World War II, and Phipps enlisted in the US Navy, serving as a radio operator on several ships all across the Pacific. He served three years, then settled in Los Angeles to begin his career. He enrolled in the Actors Lab in Hollywood, alongside fellow actor Russell Johnson.
Phipps' big break came when he and Johnson were double-cast in a play at the Actors Lab. They drew straws to see which actor would perform in the matinée, and which would take the evening show. Phipps drew the evening show, which was attended that same evening by actor Charles Laughton. Laughton was impressed by Phipps' performance, and came backstage afterwards to ask Phipps to perform in his own play. Phipps' career took off, and he was soon in his first feature film, Crossfire (1947).
After more than 20 years in the business, performing in film and television in a wide variety of roles, Phipps took a break from Hollywood and moved to Hawaii.[3] While there, he hosted a movie presentation program called "Hollywood Oldies", on Maui's Cable 7.[4]
After a little more than five years in Hawaii, he returned to Hollywood to portray President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1976 television movie Eleanor and Franklin.
Phipps' career highlights include the speaking voice of Prince Charming in Disney's Cinderella (1950), the post-apocalyptic Five (1951) (his only leading role), The War of the Worlds (1953), Eleanor and Franklin (1976), narrating the television version of Dune (1984), and Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993).
Phipps' last movie role to date was in the 2000 independent film Sordid Lives, in which he also served as one of the film's producers.
In 2005, several of Phipps' films were the subject of an EIU film festival in his honor.[5] He received an honorary doctorate from the university the following year.[6]
He currently resides in Malibu, California.