Willis Bouchey

Biography

Willis Bouchey (born in Clare, Michigan, in 1907; died in Burbank, California, in 1977) was an American character actor who turned up regularly in film and television from the 1950s through the 1970s. He usually played judges, army officers, sheriffs and officials, supporting roles that gave many stories their weight.

After his father died when he was still a baby, he grew up in Seattle. He began acting as a high school student in Bakersfield and joined a local community theatre group. He enrolled at the University of California to study dentistry but left after two years, judging that acting could pay better. He also worked in radio, where he took lead roles in several serials.

On screen he appeared in From Here to Eternity and The Bridges at Toko-Ri, but his best-known work is with John Ford, who used him in twelve productions as one of his regular players. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance he delivers the film's closing line. On television he was part of the Dragnet company and appeared in 23 episodes of Perry Mason.

His legacy is that of a dependable working actor, especially familiar from westerns and from 1950s and 1960s studio films, whose supporting performances added solidity to many pictures.

Key films

• From Here to Eternity (1953): an army lieutenant colonel, uncredited.
• The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954): Captain Evans, in the Korean War aviation drama.
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): a train conductor who delivers the film's final line.
• How the West Was Won (1962): a surgeon, uncredited, in the multi-director epic western.