Billy De Wolfe

At 67 years old, Billy De Wolfe has this physical status:

William Andrew Jones, born February 18, 1907 – March 5, 1974), better known as Billy De Wolfe, was an American character actor.

He appeared in films from the mid-1940s to his death in 1974.

Personal life and death

De Wolfe never married, and personal aspects of his life were rarely discussed publicly during his career. However, his "closed" homosexuality is mentioned or alluded to in various publications, including in the 2010 biography of actress Doris Day by author David Kaufman, and in a 1998 study titled "America's favorite fruit" that was featured in The Advocate.

De Wolfe, who was suffering from an advanced case of lung cancer, was admitted to the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center on February 26, 1974. He died a week later, on March 5, just two weeks after his 67th birthday.

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Early life and early stage career

Born William Andrew Jones in Quincy, Massachusetts, De Wolfe's uncle, a Welsh bookbinder, who urged him to become a Baptist minister. Rather, Billy took an interest in the theatre. He began working as an usher before becoming a dancer with the Jimmy O'Connor Band. It was at this time that he changed his last name to "De Wolf" (the e was added later), the last name of the manager of the Massachusetts theatre where he worked. De Wolfe appeared in the Broadway musicals Artists and Models and The Cocoanuts in 1925. He then went on to tour Europe with a dance crew for the majority of the 1930s, appearing in a London revue called "Revels in Rhythm" and "danced before royalty on nine continents." He served in the United States Navy during World War II until he was dismissed in 1944 for medical reasons due to a reported arthritic disease.

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