William Benedict
William Benedict (April 16, 1917 – November 25, 1999) was an American actor, perhaps best known for playing "Whitey" in Monogram Pictures' The Bowery Boys series.
Born in Haskell, Oklahoma, he took part in school theatricals, and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood. His first film was $10 Raise (1935) starring Edward Everett Horton, which launched Benedict on a busy career. The blond-haired Benedict almost always played juvenile roles, such as newsboys, messengers, office boys, and farmhands.
In 1939, when Universal Pictures began its Little Tough Guys series to compete with the popular Dead End Kids features, Billy Benedict was recruited into the cast. These films led him into the similar East Side Kids movies (usually playing a member of the East Side gang, but occasionally in villainous roles). The East Side Kids became The Bowery Boys in 1946, and Benedict stayed with the series (as "Whitey") through the end of 1951.
Other films included My Little Chickadee (1940) starring W. C. Fields and Mae West, The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster (1955), The Sting (1973) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). Benedict never shook his juvenile image completely, and continued to play messengers and news vendors well into his sixties. He also worked often in television commercials.
Filmography (233 Appearances)
The Bowery Boys: Legends of Laughter
Bonanza: The Next Generation
Highway to Heaven
Computercide
Hill Street Blues
Goldie and the Boxer
Born Again
The Incredible Hulk
Sherlock Holmes in New York
Quincy, M.E.
Charlie's Angels
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Matt Helm
Ellery Queen
Cop on the Beat
The Dead Don't Die
Little House on the Prairie
The Sting
Police Story
The Secret Sharer
The Dirt Gang
The Streets of San Francisco
The Adventures of Nick Carter
Call Her Mom
Emergency!
All in the Family
Alias Smith and Jones
The Immortal
Hello, Dolly!
The Brady Bunch
Then Came Bronson
The Over the Hill Gang
Big Daddy
The Lottery
Mayberry R.F.D.
Here's Lucy
Land of the Giants
Adam-12
Funny Girl
Rogue's Gallery
Mannix
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Hondo
Ironside
What Am I Bid?
Mission: Impossible
Felony Squad
The Monkees
Frankie and Johnny
I Dream of Jeannie
Honey West
The Hallelujah Trail
Dear Heart
Branded
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Petticoat Junction
Lover Come Back
Route 66
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Dennis the Menace
The Twilight Zone
The Hanging Tree
The Rifleman
Wagon Train
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
The Killing
Mobs, Inc.
Navy Log
Gunsmoke
Bride of the Monster
Lassie
The Magnetic Monster
I'm the Law
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Dragnet
The Red Skelton Show
Crazy Over Horses
Let's Go Navy!
Ghost Chasers
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Bowery Battalion
Blues Busters
Triple Trouble
Lucky Losers
Blonde Dynamite
Master Minds
Angels in Disguise
Hold That Baby!
Riders of the Pony Express
Fighting Fools
Trouble Makers
Smuggler's Cove
Night Wind
Jinx Money
Secret Service Investigator
Angels' Alley
Bowery Buckaroos
Merton of the Movies
News Hounds
The Hucksters
Fun on a Weekend
Hard Boiled Mahoney
The Pilgrim Lady
Never Say Goodbye
Mr. Hex
Spook Busters
Bowery Bombshell
In Fast Company
One More Tomorrow
Do You Love Me
Without Reservations
The Kid from Brooklyn
The Gentleman Misbehaves
Road to Utopia
Gay Blades
Live Wires
People Are Funny
Come Out Fighting
Mr. Muggs Rides Again
Story of G.I. Joe
Hollywood and Vine
Docks of New York
Brenda Starr, Reporter
Bowery Champs
I Won't Play
They Live in Fear
That's My Baby!
Janie
Block Busters
Follow the Leader
Follow the Boys
The Whistler
Million Dollar Kid
Whispering Footsteps
Moonlight in Vermont
Mr. Muggs Steps Out
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
Nobody's Darling
Ghosts on the Loose
All by Myself
Clancy Street Boys
Aerial Gunner
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Powers Girl
A Night to Remember
Heart of the Golden West
Get Hep to Love
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
The Glass Key
Wildcat
The Talk of the Town
Junior G-Men of the Air
Perils of Nyoka
Lady in a Jam
I Live on Danger
Home in Wyomin'
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
Two Yanks in Trinidad
Rings on Her Fingers
On the Sunny Side
Confessions of Boston Blackie
Cadet Girl
Tuxedo Junction
Jesse James at Bay
Great Guns
Dressed to Kill
Time Out for Rhythm
She Knew All the Answers
In Old Cheyenne
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Mr. District Attorney
The Man Who Lost Himself
Scattergood Baines
The Great Mr. Nobody
Second Chorus
Bowery Boy
The Mad Doctor
Give Us Wings
Melody Ranch
Young People
Rhythm on the River
Lucky Partners
The Great McGinty
Stage to Chino
Adventures of Red Ryder
Grand Ole Opry
And One Was Beautiful
My Little Chickadee
Legion of the Lawless
Pack Up Your Troubles
Hollywood Hobbies
Code of the Streets
Newsboys' Home
Say It in French
Little Tough Guys in Society
Hold That Co-ed
Young Fugitives
Hold That Kiss
There's Always a Woman
King of the Newsboys
Walking Down Broadway
Bringing Up Baby
I Met My Love Again
Tim Tyler's Luck
The Last Gangster
That I May Live
Tramp Trouble
Flying Fists
Rhythm in the Clouds
Jim Hanvey, Detective
They Wanted to Marry
After the Thin Man
Crack-Up
Laughing at Trouble
Can This Be Dixie?
Theodora Goes Wild
Libeled Lady
Ramona
M'Liss
The Witness Chair
Captain January
The Country Doctor
Your Uncle Dudley
Show Them No Mercy!
Way Down East
Bad Boy
3 Kids and a Queen
Steamboat Round the Bend
Doubting Thomas
The Farmer Takes a Wife
College Scandal
$10 Raise