William Benedict

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia William Benedict April 16 1917 November 25 1999 was an American actor perhaps best known for playing Whitey in Monogram Pictures The Bowery Boys series Born in Haskell Oklahoma he took part in school theatricals and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood His first film was 10 Raise 1935 starring Edward Everett Horton which launched Benedict on a busy career The blondhaired Benedict almost always played juvenile roles such as newsboys messengers office boys and farmhands In 1939 when Universal Pictures began its Little Tough Guys series to compete with the popular Dead End Kids features Billy Benedict was recruited into the cast These films led him into the similar East Side Kids movies usually playing a member of the East Side gang but occasionally in villainous roles The East Side Kids became The Bowery Boys in 1946 and Benedict stayed with the series as Whitey through the end of 1951 Other films included My Little Chickadee 1940 starring W C Fields and Mae West The OxBow Incident 1943 Ed Woods Bride of the Monster 1955 The Sting 1973 and Farewell My Lovely 1975 Benedict never shook his juvenile image completely and continued to play messengers and news vendors well into his sixties He also worked often in television commercials