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Chill Wills

Chill Wills

Chill Theodore Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.

He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career.

One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Mule in a series of popular films. Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, Francis Joins the WACS. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West (1937), in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared.

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Movies Starring Chill Wills (110)

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)

An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western genre forever. ...

Drive-In Movie Memories (2001)

A nostalgic, informative history of drive-in movie theaters, featuring extensive archival photographs and interviews with Leonard Maltin, John Bloom, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Barry Corbin and many others... Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of America ...

That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. ...

John Wayne's 'The Alamo' (1992)

John Wayne's 'The Alamo' (1992)

Documentary about the making of the John Wayne film The Alamo (1960). Included are behind-the-scenes photos and footage of the actual production of the film, clips from it and interviews with members of the cast, crew and local residents in Brackettville, ...

Stubby Pringle's Christmas (1978)

Ranch hand Stubby Pringle journeys to a Christmas dance, hoping to find his true love, and learns a valuable lesson about the spirit of the holiday along the way. ...

Poco… Little Dog Lost (1977)

It looks like the end of the line for Poco and Kim when they are separated following a car accident. Poco's relentless search takes him through the desert. Bravely facing the odds, Poco encounters many dangers, and makes some new friends. ...

Mr. Billion (1977)

An Italian mechanic finds that he has inherited a billion-dollar company from his dead uncle, but he needs to be in San Francisco in 20 days to sign over the will. In the meantime, he is chased by kidnappers and the affected corporation's president. ...

It's Showtime (1976)

A collection of film clips profiling animal actors. ...

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid. ...

Guns of a Stranger (1973)

Forced to kill a young Abilene gunman in the line of duty, Sheriff Matthew Roberts, torn by anguish takes off his badge and leaves Kansas. Roberts becomes known as 'The Drifter', wandering restlessly through the west. In Arizona, he aids elderly rancher, T ...

The Steagle (1971)

In the midst of the Cuban missile crisis, a mild-mannered professor decides to live out all of his daydreams, travelling across the country and adopting a different persona in each city. ...

The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again (1970)

Walter Brennan is back as the clever and funny over the hill Texas Ranger Nash Crawford. This time the gang must face corruption in their own home town. The gang put their heads together to clean up their town, take back the rule of law and rehabilitate th ...

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

A successful African American businessman has a quarrel with a white policeman, suspecting that he is having an affair with his wife. The policeman's colleagues are seeking to avoid publicity. ...

The Over the Hill Gang (1969)

A retired Texas Ranger and three aged pals help to clean up a town run by a crooked mayor, a drunken judge and a trigger-happy sheriff. ...

Big Daddy (1969)

A visitor to the Everglades swamps in Florida encounters and falls in love with an uneducated girl. But he finds competition for her affections from the unlikely and mysterious A. Beauregard Lincoln. He also discovers danger from nature in the form of vici ...

Fireball 500 (1966)

Stock car racer Dave Owens plays into the hands of whiskey runners by agreeing to drive in a cross-country road race. ...

The Rounders (1965)

Ben (Glenn Ford) and Marion (Henry Fonda) are two cowboys who make a meager living breaking wild horses. Their frequent employer Jim (Chill Wills), who always gets the better of them, talks them into taking a nondescript horse in lieu of some of their wage ...

The Cardinal (1963)

A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal. ...

The Wheeler Dealers (1963)

Henry J. Tyroon leaves Texas, where his oil wells are drying up, and arrives in New York with a lot of oil money to play with in the stock market. He meets stock analyst Molly Thatcher, who tries to ignore the lavish attention he spends on her but, in the ...

McLintock! (1963)

Ageing, wealthy, rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men and nearby Native ...

Young Guns of Texas (1962)

A man searching for a stolen army payroll is joined by several men after the reward money. One of the pursuers, after killing a ranch foreman, elopes with the ranchers' daughter. Enraged at the shooting of his foreman and convinced that his daughter was ki ...

The Deadly Companions (1961)

Ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son, tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory. ...

The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come (1961)

Director Andrew V. McLaglen's 1961 drama, based on John William Fox's novel, is the tale of a young man returning home after fighting in the Civil War. The cast includes Jimmie Rodgers, Luana Patten, Chill Wills, George Kennedy, Neil Hamilton and Morris An ...

Gold of the Seven Saints (1961)

Fur-trapping partners stumble across a cache of gold, but their discovery quickly attracts every greedy villain in the territory. ...

Where the Boys Are (1960)

Good girls Merritt, Melanie, Tuggle and Angie - all students at mid-western Penmore University - are planning on going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break to get away from the mid-western snow despite not having much money to spend once there. On ...

The Alamo (1960)

The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas. ...

Disneyland '59 (1959)

Walt Disney and Art Linkletter co-host a live celebration of Disneyland's 1959 expansion that consisted of the debuts of Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage, a project so massive that it was called "The Second Openi ...

The Sad Horse (1959)

A lonely boy finds companionship with a horse. ...

From Hell to Texas (1958)

The naive cowboy Tod Lohman accidentally kills the son of the powerful land baron Hunter Boyd. Tod runs for his life, pursued by the dead man's vengeful brothers. Tod shelters on the ranch of Amos Bradley and he falls in love with his daughter Juanita. How ...

Gun Glory (1957)

An ex-gunslinger shunned by townsfolk is the only one who knows how to stop a ruthless cattleman. ...

Gun for a Coward (1956)

A young cowboy, whose dedication to the principles of peace and reason has earned him a reputation for cowardice, overcomes his psychological aversion to violence after his elder brother unjustly censures him for not joining in a foolhardy gunfight in whic ...

Giant (1956)

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of ...

New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant' (1956)

Star-studded charity New York City premiere of the film Giant. ...

Santiago (1956)

Two American gun runners at odds with each other and looking to sell guns to the rebels during the Cuban War of Independence navigate a boat to Cuba. Along for the ride is a beautiful Cuban rebel in who both men are interested. ...

Kentucky Rifle (1956)

A man escorts a wagon load of Kentucky rifles through Indian territory and must find a way to get through without losing the rifles to the Indians. Unfortunately the Indians know about it, and give the occupants an ultimatum: either the rifles or their liv ...

Francis in the Navy (1955)

In the U. S. Army intelligence office, bumbling lieutenant Peter Stirling receives a coded message from his friend, Francis, a talking mule. The note urges Pete to hurry to the Coronado, California naval base, where Francis is about to be sold as surplus. ...

Timberjack (1955)

A young man seeks his father's killers among lumberjacks, and discovers that they are actually timber barons who also seek to control lumber mills. Based on the novel of the same name. ...

Hell's Outpost (1954)

A returning Korean War vet becomes embroiled in a fight over possession of a tungsten mine. ...

Ricochet Romance (1954)

Marjorie Main is the whole show in the Universal programmer Ricochet Romance. Playing the outspoken new cook at a rundown dude ranch, Marjorie forces everyone around her to pitch in and bring some life back into the place. She also sets her sights on old l ...

Francis Joins the WACS (1954)

Peter Stirling (with his old friend the talking mule) is recalled to active duty...in the WACs! ...

Tumbleweed (1953)

Jim Harvey is hired to guard a small wagon train as it makes its way west. The train is attacked by Indians and Harvey, hoping to persuade Aguila, the chief, to call off the attack due to Harvey's having saved his son's life, leaves the train to negotiate. ...

The Man from the Alamo (1953)

During the war for Texas independence, one man leaves the Alamo before the end (chosen by lot to help others' families) but is too late to accomplish his mission, and is branded a coward. Since he cannot now expose a gang of turncoats, he infiltrates them ...

City That Never Sleeps (1953)

Chicago cop Johnny Kelly, dissatisfied with his job and marriage, would like to run away with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face, but keeps getting cold feet. During one crowded night, Angel Face decides she's had enough vacillation, and crooked lawyer Bid ...

Francis Covers the Big Town (1953)

A man who has a talking mule gets a job on a newspaper, and both get mixed up in a murder trial. ...

Ride the Man Down (1952)

After Celia's father dies, a war erupts over control of his land. ...

Francis Goes to West Point (1952)

Francis the talking mule gets his owner in and out of trouble while he is taking basic training at West Point. ...

Bronco Buster (1952)

A veteran rodeo rider takes on a young apprentice in order to "teach him the ropes", and winds up competing against him. ...

The Sea Hornet (1951)

"The Sea Hornet" was a merchant ship sunk, supposedly by a torpedo, less than a mile off the California Coast during World War Two. Six years later when his buddy is killed, attempting to blow up the sunken ship, on the orders of Suntan Radford and Tony Su ...

Cattle Drive (1951)

The spoilt young son of a wealthy railroad owner manages to get himself lost in the middle of nowhere. He is found by a cowboy on a cattle drive and the lad must start learning the hard lessons of working in a team if he wants to make it to San Diego. ...

Francis Goes to the Races (1951)

In this funny sequel to the popular Francis the Talking Mule, the talkative Mule and his pal Peter get a job working on a horse-breeder's ranch. They end up saving it from financial ruin when Francis, who has the inside track with the racehorses, provides ...

Oh! Susanna (1951)

Unable to keep peace between frontier Indians and the US Cavalry, a heroic Captain risks court-martial to prevent bloodshed. ...

Rio Grande (1950)

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against depredations of marauding Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress by a serious shortage of troops of his command. Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't see ...

High Lonesome (1950)

When a sudden spurt of murders occurs in the Big Bend country, suspicion immediately falls on a young drifter who just moved to the area. ...

Stella (1950)

Screwball black comedy about a wacky family that forgets where they've buried a corpse. ...

Rock Island Trail (1950)

A greedy businessman tries to block the building of a new railroad in his area. ...

Francis (1950)

The truthful soldier Stirling didn't know how to lie about his source of information, the talking army Mule, Francis, so he was treated as a lunatic and led to one after another hilarious situations, where the mule was the only one that appeared in his rig ...

The Sundowners (1950)

Brother is pitted against brother in this tale of fueding ranchers in the old west. ...

The Grass Is Always Greener (1950)

Oscar nominated short Western film. Ranch-hands get their ideas challenged when a stranger shows up, telling them how good they have things. ...

Red Canyon (1949)

A former outlaw goes straight and is determined to catch and tame a wild stallion. Western. ...

Tulsa (1949)

It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee plans revenge by bringing in her own wells with the help of oil expert Brad Brady and childhood friend Jim Re ...

Loaded Pistols (1948)

A singing cowboy clears a boy accused of murder by finding the real killer. ...

Family Honeymoon (1948)

Grant Jordan, bachelor botany professor, marries Katie, a widow with three kids, despite the machinations of Grant's former girlfriend Minna. But on the wedding day, Aunt Jo, who was to babysit, breaks a leg; so the kids come along on the honeymoon. ...

That Wonderful Urge (1948)

When an heiress finds out that the friendly young man she's met at Sun Valley is really an investigative reporter, she ruins his career by falsely claiming they're married. ...

The Saxon Charm (1948)

In order to get his way, New York producer Matt Saxon manipulates and controls everyone around him but his latest protégé, novelist Eric Busch, finally stands-up to him. ...

Northwest Stampede (1948)

In this romantic western, the real stars are a mustang and a police dog. The human aspect of the story centers on a rodeo rider whose late father bequeathed him a ranch in Calgary, Canada. The rider really tries to settle down to ranching, but finds himsel ...

The Sainted Sisters (1948)

Two female con artists from New York City, fleeing the law with money from their latest scam, hide out in a small town in Maine, near the Canadian border. However, this small town's residents aren't quite as unsophisticated as the girls think they are. ...

Heartaches (1947)

Up-and-coming Hollywood actor/crooner, Vic Morton, has a secret. He starts receiving death threats in the mail and an attempt on his life is made. Soon after, two of his associates are murdered. Who is behind it all? ...

High Barbaree (1947)

After his plane is downed in the South Pacific, a Navy flier recounts his life to a co-pilot while awaiting rescue. ...

The Yearling (1946)

Jody convinces his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves? ...

Gallant Bess (1946)

Marshall Thompson stars in this MGM drama about a young soldier's devotion to a horse he rescues during WWII. (Not to be confused with "Adventures of Gallant Bess", another film released two years later. ...

The Harvey Girls (1946)

On a train trip out west to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young women traveling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop. ...

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her. ...

What Next, Corporal Hargrove? (1945)

An Army corporal and his con-man sidekick take a shortcut to heroism in World War II France. ...

I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

Mary Marshall, serving a six year term for accidental manslaughter, is given a Christmas furlough from prison to visit her closest relatives, her uncle and his family in a small Midwestern town. On the train she meets Zach Morgan, a troubled army sergeant ...

Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)

A poor family in Florida saves all the money they can in order to plan something special for the soldier they've invited to Sunday dinner. They don't realize that their request to invite the soldier never got mailed. On the day of the scheduled dinner, ano ...

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. ...

Barbary Coast Gent (1944)

Honest Plush Brannon is a con-man thrown out of the Barbary Coast in San Francisco in the 1880s and headed for the gold rush region of Nevada. He discovers a real mine which lead to several complications. ...

See Here, Private Hargrove (1944)

Journalist Marion Hargrove enters the Army intending to supplement his income by writing about his training experiences. He muddles through basic training at Fort Bragg with the self-serving help of a couple of buddies intent on cutting themselves in on th ...

Best Foot Forward (1943)

Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to come to Winsocki's big dance. Ball's publicity-hungry agent convinces her to go in order to boost her career. Complications arise when Bud's girlfriend Hele ...

A Stranger in Town (1943)

In the small town of Crownport local attorney Bill Adams is trying to break up the ring of corrupt town officials by running for mayor. The cards seemed stacked against him when he gets help from a visiting hunter who, unknown to Adams and the rest of the ...

Stand by for Action (1942)

U. S. Navy Lieutenant Gregg Masterman, of The Harvard and Boston Back Bay Mastermans, learned about the sea while winning silver cups sailing his yacht. He climbs swiftly in rank, and is now Junior Aide to Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas. ...

Apache Trail (1942)

The brother of a notorious outlaw is put in a charge of a stagecoach line way station in dangerous Apache territory. A stagecoach arrives at the station with a valuable box of cargo, and the outlaw brother soon shows up, though denying that he's planning t ...

The Omaha Trail (1942)

The coming of the railroad to the West triggers an Indian war. ...

Her Cardboard Lover (1942)

A flirt tries to make her fiancée jealous by hiring a gigolo. ...

Mr. Gardenia Jones (1942)

Documentary short film depicting the work of the United Service Organizations (USO) in providing recreational and morale-boosting services for American troops. ...

Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)

Circus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and his animal trainer out of the jungle. Tarzan and Jane follow them to New York. ...

The Bugle Sounds (1942)

An old-time cavalry sergeant's resistance to change could cost him his post. ...

Honky Tonk (1941)

Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right. ...

Belle Starr (1941)

After her family's mansion is burned down by Yankee soldiers for hiding the rebel leader Captain Sam Starr Belle Shirley vows to take revenge. Breaking Starr out of prison, she joins his small guerrilla group for a series of raids on banks and railroads, c ...

Billy the Kid (1941)

Billy Bonney is a hot-headed gunslinger who narrowly skirts a life of crime by being befriended and hired by a peaceful rancher, Eric Keating. When Keating is killed, Billy seeks revenge on the men who killed him, even if it means opposing his friend, Mars ...

The Bad Man (1941)

Lopez is a bandit who has stolen the herd at Gil's ranch, so Hardy is about to foreclose. But Lucia has come back from New York and Gil is happy until he meets her husband, Morgan. ...

Western Union (1941)

When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporati ...

Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)

Two rival tugboat captains compete for local business. ...

Sky Murder (1940)

This final Carter film is a lot of fun, with Nick (unwillingly, at first) taking on a ring of Fifth Columnists (since this was filmed before the US entered the war, we're not told the villains are Nazis, but it's pretty clear anyway). Of course, the helpfu ...

The Westerner (1940)

Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has ...

Wyoming (1940)

With the army after him and his partner deserting, Reb decides that a change of scenery would be nice so he heads for Wyoming with Dave. ...

Boom Town (1940)

Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and ...

Allegheny Uprising (1939)

South western Pennsylvania area of colonial America, 1760s. Colonial distaste and disapproval of the British government is starting to surface. Many local colonists have been killed by American Indians who are armed with rifles supplied by white traders. ...

The Day the Bookies Wept (1939)

A pigeon breeder is hired to train a racehorse that wins only when it drinks beer. ...

Timber Stampede (1939)

Cattlemen fight corrupt railroad men out to destroy the forest. ...

Racketeers of the Range (1939)

A large packing company is trying to obtain a monopoly by taking over the last small independent meat packer. Barney O'Dell, owner of the largest ranch, is trying to stop them. When the owner agrees to sell, Barney get a delay by forcing the small company ...

Sorority House (1939)

A young girl begins to wonder if she really fits into the upper-class sorority she's trying to join. ...

Trouble in Sundown (1939)

The bank has been robbed, the night watchman killed and the safe opened. The townspeople want John as he was the only one with the combination. Clint gets John out of town but before the mob turns ugly but the deputy is shot when he and Clint go to get Joh ...

Arizona Legion (1939)

A federal agent infiltrates an outlaw band that's taken over a western town. ...

Lawless Valley (1938)

After doing time for a crime he didn't commit, a cowboy tries to find the men who framed him. ...

Nobody's Baby (1937)

Kitty Reily (Patsy Kelly) and Lena Marchetti (Lyda Roberti) meet each other at an amateur Radio Show. Kitty quickly learns to greatly dislike incompetent Lena. They keep running into each other until Kitty resigns to being friends with Lena when they beco ...

Way Out West (1937)

Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife. ...

At Sea Ashore (1936)

Patsy's working at Rumplemeyer's Donut Shop in Brooklyn. By accident she catches Mr. Rumplemeyer's trousers in the donut machine as he's leaving to pick his niece who's arriving from the old country, so he gives Patsy cab fare and sends her. She forgets he ...

Call of the Prairie (1936)

Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda. He takes a liking to her only to learn her father Shanghai is one of Porter's gang. Going after Shanghai ...

Bar 20 Rides Again (1935)

Cattle rustler Nevada dreams of living like an emperor in the West. Hoppy and the Bar 20 boys aim to put an end to his dream. ...

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