Wally Cassell

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Wally Cassell bigraphy, stories - Italian-American actor and businessman

Wally Cassell : biography

March 3, 1915 –

Wally Cassell (born Oswaldo Castellano, March 3, 1915) is an American character actor.

Biography

Castellano was born in Agrigento, Sicily, and moved with his family to the United States when he was two years of age.

He began his film career in 1942, having frequently appeared in small, uncredited roles. Mickey Rooney, with whom Cassell appeared in the film noir Quicksand (1950), is credited with suggesting the change of name to Wally Cassell.

His films include The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Clock (1945), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Guilty (1947), Loves of Carmen (1948), Saigon (1948), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), White Heat (1949),Quicksand (1950), City That Never Sleeps (1953), Island in the Sky (1953), Law and Order (1953), Princess of the Nile (1954), Until They Sail (1957), and I, Madman (1989).

He later appeared in two syndicated programs starring Jim Davis: Stories of the Century, in the role of gunman Luke Short, and Rescue 8, as Johnny French in "One More Step". Cassell also guest starred in several television series, including The Loretta Young Show (1955), Gunsmoke (1956), the 1959 premier episode of The Untouchables’ "The Empty Chair", Rawhide (1960), and The Beverly Hillbillies (1963).

He retired from acting in 1964 and became a successful businessman.