Walter Smith Lawrence

Actor. He was best known for playing the character roles of hucksters, newsboys, pedestrians, spectators, henchmen, townsmen, clerks, miners, barflies, detectives, and gamblers, usually in classic western films and television series. He will be best remembered for playing the role of 'Finn' in the crime film drama, "The Deep Purple" (1920). The film which was directed by Raoul Walsh, which was written for the screen by Paul Armstrong, Earle Browne, and Wilson Mizner, and which also starred Miriam Cooper, Helen Ware, and Vincent Serrano, tells the story of two con men, Pop Clark and Harry Leland, who take rooms in a small town boardinghouse, where Leland makes love to Doris Moore, a young woman restless to leave her village. Leland convinces Doris to follow the con men to New York City, where she stays in a boardinghouse run by Kate Fallon, a woman with a disreputable past who poses as Leland's aunt. Clark and Leland plan to use Doris to lure young engineer William Lake into a compromising situation, but Kate, who has befriended Doris, tells Lake of the con men's plan, and Lake removes Doris from the clutches of Clark and Leland. Meanwhile, Laylock, a reformed crook and a friend of Kate's, is freed from jail, where he was placed through the contrivance of Clark and Leland, and kills Leland in a pistol duel. Lake persuades his friend, Inspector Bruce, that Leland has committed suicide, and Laylock goes free. Finally, Doris and Lake become engaged. He is also best known for playing the role of the 'Circus Patron' in the episode entitled, "The Case Of The Clumsy Clown," of the classic crime mystery television drama series, "Perry Mason," which originally aired on November 5, 1960. He was born one of four children as Walter Smith Lawrence in Carrolton, Kentucky, to Elliott Lawrence (1858-1931), and his wife Kathryn Dunaway "Katie" Lawrence (1862-), on September 3, 1901. He later moved to Craig, Indiana, and then to Madison, Indiana, where he worked as a farm laborer. During World War I, he served his country. He later moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue an acting career. He made his actual film debut playing the role of 'Emperor William II' in the biographical war film drama, "The Prussian Cur" (1918), which also starred Miriam Cooper, Sidney Mason, Pat O'Malley, and Ralph Faulkner. Besides, "The Prussian Cur" (1918), and "The Deep Purple" (1920), his many other film credits include, 'Headin' Home" (1920), "The Spider" (1931), "Hynotized" (1932), "No More Women" (1934), "Blind Date" (1934), "The Gay Deception" (1935), "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1936), "The Crime Of Dr. Forbes" (1936), "High Tension" (1936), "Alcatraz Island" (1937), "Paid To Dance" (1937), "Rackey Busters" (1938), "Mysterious Mr. Moto" (1938), "Zenobia" (1939), "Code Of The Secret Service" (1939), "The Courageous Dr. Christian" (1940), "Saps At Sea" (1940), "Waterloo Bridge" (1940), "Millionaires In Prison" (1940), "The Howards Of Virginia" (1940), "So You Won't Talk" (1940), "The Trial Of Mary Dugan" (1941), "Citizen Kane" (1941), "Honky Tonk" (1941), "Niagara Falls" (1941), "The Remarkable Andrew" (1942), "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), "Juke Girl" (1942), "Cairo" (1942), "Carson City Cyclone" (1943), "Taxi, Mister" (1943), "Dark Waters" (1944), "The Runaround" (1946), "Canyon Passage" (1946), "The Last Crooked Mile" (1946), "Heldorado" (1946), "Brute Force" (1947), "The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap" (1947), "Are You With It?" (1948), "The Hunted" (1948), "Feudin', Fussin And A-Fightin" (1948), "An Act Of Murder" (1948), "The Paleface" (1948), "House Of Strangers" (1949), "Francis" (1950), "Frenchie" (1950), "Gasoline Alley" (1951), "Steel Town" (1952), "The Raiders" (1952), "It Happens Every Thursday" (1953), "Law And Order" (1953), "The Man From The Alamo" (1953), "Three Young Texans" (1954), "Rails Into Laramie" (1954), "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" (1954), "The Far Country" (1954), "Four Guns Go To The Border" (1954), "The Yellow Mountain" (1954), "Man Without A Star" (1955), "Cult Of The Cobra" (1955), "The Kettles In The Ozarks" (1956), "Star In The Dust" (1956), "The Rawhide Years" (1956), "Man Of A Thousand Faces" (1957), "Ride Out For Revenge" (1957), "The Perfect Furlough" (1958), "The Wild And The Innocent" (1959), "Curse Of The Undead" (1959), and "Seven Ways From Sundown" (1960). Besides, the 'Circus Patron' in the episode entitled, "The Case Of The Clumsy Clown," of the classic crime mystery television drama series, "Perry Mason," which originally aired on November 5, 1960, his many other television credits include, "Gunsmoke," "Cimarron City," "Rawhide," "Peter Gunn," "Tales Of Wells Fargo," "Johnny Staccato," "The Rifleman," "Overland Trail," "Wagon Train," "Have Gun-Will Travel," "Bat Masterson," "Bonanza," "Riverboat," "The Deputy," "Dante," "Laramie," "Coronado 9," and "Whispering Smith." His last role was playing a 'Gubernatorial Convention Attendee' in the film drama, "A Fever In The Blood" (1961), which was directed by Vincent Sherman, and which also starred Efrem Zimbalist, Angie Dickinson, and Jack Kelly. He passed away unexpectedly while filming an episode of the classic western television series, "Wagon Train" in Palmdale, California, on January 19, 1961. His funeral service was held at the Chapel of the Good Mortuary in North Hollywood, California, and he was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Beeville, Texas. A resident of Hollywood, California, for forty-one years, he was a Member of the Church and Masonic Lodge in Hollywood, California, and a Charter Member of the Screen Actors Guild for many years. He never married nor had any children.