Whit Bissell is an American character actor. He played unlucky, nervous and excitable personalities. He became famous for his roles in the films Riot in Prison Block 11, Hours of Despair, Shootout in O. K. Corral, Chained Up, Time Machine, The Magnificent Seven, Bird Lover of Alcatraz, Pete and Tilly, Green Soylent, and I Was a Werewolf Teen.
An artist with Broadway experience, performer of a wide profile Whitner Notting Bissell has played about three hundred roles. He starred both for television films and for motion pictures. He came to the cinema in the early forties. Most glorified by his role as a sinister genius scientist in the film "I was a werewolf teenager."
The beginning of a film career
The biography of the future famous actor began in 1909 in New York. He was born on October 25 in the family of a surgeon. The young man decided to get education at the University of North Carolina. There Whit first appeared on the stage of the student theater on campus. In 1932, the artistic career of a theatrical performer began.
Bissell starred in the Broadway production of Alice in Wonderland. In 1936 he took part in the production of Hamlet. Then there were "Starship", "American Way", "Key to Passion", "Cafe Crown", "Winged Victory". For 12 years on Broadway, Bissell has appeared in 16 productions.
The film debut was the 1940 action adventure Sea Hawk. For three years, the performer did not appear on the set. He returned to Hollywood in 1943. Bissell's comedy The Sacred Ties of Marriage was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. At the same time, a small role was played in the now-military film "Destination - Tokyo".
A year later, Winged Victory followed. The characters offered to the artist were so small that the name of the artist was not indicated in the credits. The directors paid attention to him after the war. In Clooney Brown, Whit got a more significant role. And since 1947, the artist has become in demand in films of the noir genre and psychological crime dramas similar to them.
By the late forties, cinema had become a permanent place of work. Thanks to his type, Whit was entrusted with the execution of inexperienced guys and petty criminals.
Confession
One of the most significant was his work in the film of the prison noir genre "Brute Force" in 1947. The hero of the artist was the modest prisoner Tom Lister. He ended up behind bars because of his forged accounting records. Tom decided on such a scam to give his wife a fur coat. The governor of the prison wanted Lister to be made an informer. When he was refused, he told the poor man that his wife was preparing to divorce him. Tom could not bear such a heavy blow.
More significant work was the irritated prisoner participating in the escape, the hero of the film "Canyon City". The directors appreciated the performer for his ability to show the dishonesty of the sneak and the instability of neurotics. Bissell also appeared in the forties movies Double Life and Somewhere in the Night. His most prominent and most controversial role was the hero of the film "Diary of a Crime Doctor" in 1949.
The character of the actor was the future composer, who found himself at the center of the murder case. The Hubbard family saga, Another Piece of the Forest, also proved the performer's talent. It was a prequel to "Little Chanterelles", which was successfully completed in 1941 project.
By the mid-fifties, in addition to the fidgety clerks, the images of scientists who inspire respect for their activities were added. Whit played at this time in paintings of various genres.
New facets of talent
The audience remembered the artist as a psychiatrist based on the 1954 naval drama "Riot on the Kane". In the classic 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Bissell was the physician who believed the incredible story of cocoons devouring people and alerted the authorities to the threat. Whit played brilliantly in the movie Cafe on 101st Street.
His shell-shocked veteran tried to solve his problems in a completely unfriendly atmosphere. In the fifties, Bissell played in the westerns The Great Missouri Raid, The Proud, The Del Rio Man, The Tall Stranger, The Sheriff.
He became a cult artist after the horror films "Thing from the Black Lagoon" and "I was a werewolf teenager." The villainous images of mad scientists were superbly successful for the performer. In I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Wheat's name opened the cast.
In the sixties, Bissell played supporting roles in action adventure films, prison and psychological dramas, political fiction, and family films. In the seventies, special attention was paid to his work in the thriller "Airport", the fantastic horror "Green Soylent".
The best work was recognized as his cunning governor of New York, running to the polls to hide a terrible conspiracy.
A television
An episode in the series "By the Fireplace" began a television career in the fifties. For 35 years, Bissell has filmed nearly two hundred different multi-part projects. The last in the series, he starred in 1984. In "Code 3" the actor brilliantly coped with the image of an irresponsible accountant, due to constant family troubles, became a criminal.
In the sixties, Whit was invited to star in the hit TV series Time Tunnel. One of the last of his last works was the film 1982 "Aliens from another planet." In it, the audience again saw the artist in the already familiar image of Lieutenant General Haywood Kirk.
For nearly two decades, Bissell served on the Screen Actors Guild's Board of Directors. In 1994 he was awarded the Saturn Award for his contributions to fantasy, horror and science fiction films.
The famous performer has established his personal life three times. His first choice was the actress Adrienne Marden. She became Whit's wife in 1938. The family had two children, daughters. The marriage broke up in 1954. The new marriage lasted until 1958. In it, the actor became the father of one baby.
The last chosen one of the artist was Jennifer Reine, his colleague, in 1967. There were no joint children in this union. The couple raised their son Reine from Brian Foster's previous marriage.
Whit Bussell died in 1996, March 5.
