[From JR: You'll know him the moment you see his photo at the link.]
William Duell, a diminutive character actor whose puckishness and understated comic flair enlivened Broadway shows, television series and Hollywood films, died at his home in Manhattan on Dec. 22. He was 88.
The cause was respiratory failure, his wife, Mary Barto, said. Mr. Duell, who was less than five and a half feet tall and weighed not quite 140 pounds, was never a star, but he had a slyly roguish and perpetually boyish mug that always added spice to the roles of cabdrivers, shoeshine men, butlers and desk clerks he often played. He brought a kind of perky oddity even to serious roles.
In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975), Milos Forman's adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel set in a mental institution (starring Jack Nicholson), Mr. Duell played Sefelt, an epileptic inmate who fears his medication. In the early 1980s, he had a regular role as Johnny, a snitch, in "Police Squad!," the spoof of police dramas, starring Leslie Nielsen, created in the mold of the hit film "Airplane!" ...
More (w/photo):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/theater/william-duell-puckish-character-actor-dies-at-88.html
Blog, a searchable database of obituaries
back to 2001:
http://DeadCelebrityAlert.com
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