WILLIAM FRAWLEY: Diamond in the Gruff

Films of the Golden Age
Issue Number 111
Winter 2022/23

​”I don’t give much thought to television as a field of endeavor. It’s a place – an art let’s call it – where I’m making a livelihood. If some-thing happens to television, I’ll tend bar, something I enjoy doing.”

A belovedly balding, pudding-faced character curmudgeon and stalwart Paramount stock player during the 1930s, WILLIAM FRAWLEY (1887-1966) graced many light comedies and musical films before achieving immorality on a single television series classic. His background was in vaudeville as a song-and-dance man and introduced such songs as “My Melancholy Baby” and “Carolina in the Morning” before turning to Broadway. An obsessive sports fan, he played coaches and managers in several sports films although his irascible personality and penchant for booze put a damper on his reputation. He redeemed it considerably on TV as Fred Mertz on I LOVE LUCY and Bub on MY THREE SONS.

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