William Austin
Also Known As: William Crosby Piercy Austin
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. William Austin (12 June 1884 – 15 June 1975) was a British character actor who was born on a sugar plantation in Georgetown in British Guiana (now Guyana). On the death of his father he was brought to England to complete his education. He later filled a business post in Shanghai and on being sent to San Francisco by the company he worked for, he decided to stay in America and take up acting on the stage and later in films. He appeared in many American films and serials between the 1920s and the 1940s, though the vast majority of his roles were small and uncredited. He was the brother of actor Albert Austin. He died in Newport Beach, California. Of the numerous silent films Austin appeared in, he is best remembered as the sidekick friend of Clara Bow in Bow's best known film It (1927). Mr. Austin's portrayal in the 1943 Batman serial of Batman's butler Alfred is the iconic portrayal still used in the comics. Previous to being played by Mr. Austin, the character was fat and had no facial hair. Performed by Mr. Austin, the character was thin with a mustache. Shortly after the serial was released, Alfred in the comics was changed to match the look of the serial; this representation of the character has for the most part continued to this day except for the live action films, the Birds of Prey series, and the Deadshot short in Batman: Gotham Knight where he has no moustache. Description above from the Wikipedia article William Austin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Georgetown, British Guiana [now Guyana]
Adult: No
Birthday: June 10, 1884
Age: 140 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: June 15, 1975
Popularity:
Known For:
Alice in Wonderland
Overview: In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland, populated by even more fantastic characters.
Genres: Family Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-12-18
Popularity:
The Gay Divorcee
Overview: Seeking a divorce from her absentee husband, Mimi Glossop travels to an English seaside resort. There she falls in love with dancer Guy Holden, whom she later mistakes for the corespondent her lawyer hired.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-10-12
Popularity:
The Private Life of Henry VIII
Overview: Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second wife, executed on charges of treason, King Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that marriage also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the king picks German-born Anne of Cleves as his bride, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and King Henry continues his string of spouses.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-08-17
Popularity:
Alias Mr. Twilight
Overview: Geoffrey Holden (Lloyd Corrigan) is an elderly con-man who is a lovable old man when providing his beloved granddaughter (Gigi Perreau) with the simple luxuries of life, yet has no qualms when working a racket devised to relieve his victims of their property. Trudy Marshall is the governess of the granddaughter, and is in love with a detective (Michael Duane) who is about to expose the old man's unsuspected activities.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-12-24
Popularity:
The Garden of Weeds
Overview: The title refers to the estate owned by Flagg, a man of great wealth and few morals. He installs chorus girls there until he grows tired of them
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-11-02
Popularity:
The World At Her Feet
Overview: In a reversal of the usual situation, it is the wife, not the husband, who is the neglectful one. As hubby sits at home twiddling his thumbs, Jane starts her own prosperous business, becoming so absorbed that she has no time for anything else. Not unexpectedly, her husband begins keeping time with a gorgeous blonde, whereupon Jane wins back her mate by simultaneously inaugurating an affair with the blonde's husband.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-05-14
Popularity:
The Best People
Overview: Bertie and Marian Lenox are children of a wealthy family, and their mother intends that they marry "within their class". They, however, have different plans--Bertie is in love with chorus girl Sally O'Neil and Marian loves Henry Morgan, the family chauffeur. The family finds out about the impending marriages and determines to stop them. Complications ensue.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-11-09
Popularity:
County Hospital
Overview: Ollie is in the hospital with a broken leg. When Stan comes to visit him, total chaos ensues.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-06-25
Popularity:
The Ghost Goes Wild
Overview: Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disguises himself as a mystic, only to conjure up a genuine ghost during a seance. Things come to a head during his trial, where the invisible ghost takes the witness stand on Our Hero's behalf.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy Romance Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-08-08
Popularity:
It
Overview: A flapper shopgirl woos her rich boss with animal magnetism, the capitvating personal quality otherwise known as "it."
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-02-05
Popularity:
Corsair
Overview: A stock market broker plans to liven up his boring life by taking up piracy on the high seas.
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1931-11-28
Popularity:
Seven Days
Overview: Jim Wilson is separated from his wife Bella, so when his maiden Aunt Selina -- who thoroughly disapproves of divorce -- comes to visit, Wilson is compelled to locate a temporary wife. His friend, Kit Eclair, is happy to fill in, but during a party, his home is quarantined for smallpox. To complicate matters, a burglar is hiding from a cop in Wilson's home, and wacky Anne Brown is busy trying to hold a seance.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-09-20
Popularity:
Batman
Overview: Japanese master spy Daka operates a covert espionage-sabotage organization located in Gotham City's now-deserted Little Tokyo, which turns American scientists into pliable zombies. The great crime-fighters Batman and Robin, with the help of their allies, are in pursuit.
Genres: Action Adventure Crime Science Fiction Thriller War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-07-16
Popularity:
Renfrew of the Royal Mounted
Overview: Counterfeit bills are being printed in Canada and shipped across the border hidden in blocks of ice. When the counterfeiters force engraver Bronson to make a new plate, he inscribes a tiny help message on it. Renfrew catches a henchman who has one of the new bills. A magnifying glass lets him read the message and he heads out alone to round up the counterfeiters.
Genres: Western
Original Language: nl
Release Date: 1937-09-29
Popularity:
Ruggles of Red Gap
Overview: An English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.
Genres: Comedy Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-10-07
Popularity:
Embarrassing Moments
Overview: A couple meet, fall in love and get married in a 24-hour period.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-01-17
Popularity:
Three Men in a Boat
Overview: An adaptation of Jerome K. Jerome’s classic story charting the comic misadventures of three friends – and a dog – as they take a boating holiday on the Thames.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-04-30
Popularity:
Handle with Care
Overview: Handle with Care is a 1922 silent comedy of marital complications and mix-ups.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-01-22
Popularity:
Sweetie
Overview: Chorus girl Barbara Pell (Nancy Carroll) inherits a school for boys, and uses her position to sabotage the football career of the boy who jilted her.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-10-25
Popularity:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Overview: Having once again avoided criminal conviction, Professor Moriarity develops a murderous plan to “finish off” his last major nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, by making him fail to prevent the perfect crime. Does it involve a family curse, the crown jewels of England, or something else…
Genres: Crime Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-09-01
Popularity:
The Goose and the Gander
Overview: When Georgiana Summers learns that the woman who stole and married her husband is planning a romantic tryst with a new love, she hatches a giddy plot to expose the rendezvous and pay her back.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-09-21
Popularity:
The Cowboy King
Overview: "Hadley, owner of a nearby ranch, had fenced off a water hole belonging to Miss Dunlap, thus depriving her stock of water. Undaunted, the young Eastern woman and her two-fisted fighting foreman fought back...
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-05-01
Popularity:
Live, Love and Learn
Overview: A starving, uncompromising artist and an heiress fall in love on first sight and immediately get married. She loves his outrageous behaviour, his strange room-mate and the best apartment poverty can buy.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-10-29
Popularity:
Doctor Rhythm
Overview: Dr. Bill Remsen pretends to be a policeman, and ends up being assigned to guard Judy Marlowe. Amazingly, he falls in love with her.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-05-06
Popularity:
What Happened to Jones
Overview: On the night before his wedding, a young man plays poker with friends. When the game is raided by the police, he escapes into a Turkish bath on ladies night, ending up disguised in drag and with difficult explanations to make.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-02-08
Popularity:
Drums of Love
Overview: A princess is betrothed to a deformed monarch, but falls hard for his handsome brother.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-01-24
Popularity:
The Flirting Widow
Overview: An older daughter invents a fiancé so that her father will allow her younger sister to marry. However, the lie comes back to haunt her.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-05-11
Popularity:
Oil for the Lamps of China
Overview: An American oil company representative almost sacrifices his marriage for his career.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-06-08
Popularity:
Fig Leaves
Overview: Adam, a plumber, is happily married to Eve, a wardrobe-obsessed housewife, until she accidentally meets a supercilious fashion designer. At the prompting of her neighbor, who has secret designs on Adam, Eve secretly becomes a fashion model by day, knowing that her husband would disapprove.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-08-22
Popularity:
Let's Go Native
Overview: The company of a musical comedy gets shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by a "king" from Brooklyn and his coterie of wild native girls.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-08-15
Popularity:
$1,000 a Minute
Overview: Two rich and wealthy millionaires who have a lot of money bet that reporter Wally Jones can't spend $720,000 in twelve hours.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-10-21
Popularity:
Duck Soup
Overview: Fleeing a group of forest rangers, who are rounding up tramps to serve as firefighters, they take refuge in a mansion. The owner has gone on vacation and the servants are away, so Hardy pretends to be the owner and offers to rent the house to an English couple. Hardy gets Laurel to pose as the maid. Unfortunately, the owner returns and tells the would-be renters that he owns the house; Laurel and Hardy then flee again and are caught by the rangers and forced to fight wildfires.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-03-13
Popularity:
Rule 'Em and Weep
Overview: King Bool returns to Bulvania to claim his throne and his girl.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-05-02
Popularity:
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Overview: A Chinese doctor vows revenge against the allied troops who killed his wife and child during the Boxer Rebellion.
Genres: Crime Romance Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-08-10
Popularity:
Common Sense
Overview: Dan Bowers, embittered and disillusioned by an unhappy marriage, seeks solitude in the Maine woods, with a lame dog as his only companion. One day he meets Violet Manners who, with her invalid mother Marion, is visiting in a nearby village. Marion is haunted by memories of the past, and one day when Violet takes Dan to meet her mother, she discovers that he is the husband who deserted her years ago. The shock causes Marion's death, but before she dies, she justifies her past behavior toward Dan. -From the AFI Catalog of Feature FIlms.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1920-06-01
Popularity:
The Fifty-Fifty Girl
Overview: Strong-willed Kathleen O'Hara, believes in equality of sexes, makes a pact with her sweetheart, Jim Donahue, when they become joint owners of a California gold mine. According to the agreement, Donahue will do the housekeeping while Kathleen runs the mine; the first to call for help loses his share of the mine.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-05-12
Popularity:
Swim Girl, Swim
Overview: Serious university co-ed Alice Smith, is wholly engrossed, it would appear, in chasing butterflies and rare insects under the guidance of her friend, Mr. Spangle, Ph. D., though she secretly yearns to be an athlete and thus win the admiration of Jerry Marvin, a popular schoolmate. She takes up swimming, making herself the campus joke because of her ideas on the subject.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-09-03
Popularity:
Head Winds
Overview: Peter kidnaps Patricia to prevent her from marrying the wrong man.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-03-29
Popularity:
Red Hair
Overview: A free-spirited young girl has three middle-aged admirers, each of whom sees her from a completely different perspective. Unknown to her, they also happen to be the guardians of a wealthy young man to whom she is attracted. Only a small fragment of this film survives.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1928-03-10
Popularity:
The Night Club
Overview: After having been stood up at his own wedding, a young man vows that he will have nothing more to ever do with women. However, he soon discovers that he has been left a fortune--on condition that he gets married. Deciding that being rich and married would be preferable to being broke and single, he goes in search of a wife, but things don't turn out quite the way he planned.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-04-26
Popularity:
The Return of the Vampire
Overview: In 1918, an English family is terrorized by a vampire, until they learn how to deal with it. They think their troubles are over, but German bombs in WWII free the monster. He reclaims the soul of his wolfman ex-servant, and assuming the identity of a scientist who has just escaped from a concentration camp, he starts out on a plan to get revenge upon the family.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-11-11
Popularity:
A Tailor-Made Man
Overview: John Paul Bart is just a pants-presser in a tailor's shop, but he has big ambitions. One night, he borrows the clothes of a wealthy client and bluffs his way into a high society party. After meeting wealthy businessman Abraham Nathan, John Paul quickly rises to the top of Nathan's company. Suffering during The Depression, John Paul helps Nathan save his company with a radical program of cooperative ownership between workers and management. Meanwhile, John Paul makes an enemy of Gustav, who is engaged to Tanya - the daughter of Mr. Huber, owner of the tailor shop. John Paul maintains a friendship with Tanya, provoking jealousy in Gustav. Gustav threatens to reveal John Paul's plain origins to Nathan, and John Paul briefly resigns from Nathan's company. However, John Paul's plan is a success, and Nathan hires him back immediately. Tanya leaves Gustav and ends up with John Paul.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1931-03-28
Popularity:
High Society
Overview: A British comedy film directed by John Rawlins
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-07-27
Popularity:
National Velvet
Overview: Mi Taylor is a young wanderer and opportunist who finds himself in the quiet English countryside home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-01-26
Popularity:
Redheads on Parade
Overview: A film star finds herself in trouble with her co-star when she has to flirt with the backer to prevent him from withdrawing his support.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-09-07
Popularity:
Just Married
Overview: After many outrageous moments, a young girl marries her former acquaintance, not with her fiancee.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-08-18
Popularity:
Illusion
Overview: A vaudeville magician team is broken up when Carlee, an ex--circus performer, becomes infatuated with socialite Hilda Schmittlap. Meanwhile his vaudeville partner, Claire, has chosen a new partner, but her "heart isn't in it" because she is disconsolate over Carlee. Curious about her new act, Carlee attends a performance and sees Claire nearly killed when she fails to substitute fake bullets for real ones. Rushing to her aid, Carlee realizes how much Claire means to him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-09-21
Popularity:
What a Night!
Overview: The daughter of an industrialist, Dorothy Winston, arranges to work on a newspaper in which her father places a substantial amount of advertising, Joe Madison, the reporter son of the paper's editor, offers to show her the ropes. A gunman employed by Mike Corney lands in jail, and Dorothy succeeds in interviewing him, getting him to divulge the whereabouts of a canceled check that will link Corney to Patterson, a corrupt political boss. Dorothy and Joe get the check, and Joe telephones his father to urge him to print an exposé of Patterson. Corney recovers the check, however, and Patterson institutes a damaging libel suit against the paper. Dorothy gets the check back and obtains photographic evidence to further incriminate Patterson and Corney. Dorothy and Joe decide to write the story of their life with each another. A lost film.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-12-22
Popularity:
The Reckless Age
Overview: Lord Harrowby takes out an $100,000 insurance policy to be paid if his wedding to Cecilia Meyrick is cancelled. The insurance company sends Dick Minot to make sure the wedding takes place, but he falls in love with the bride.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-08-16
Popularity:
The Flaming Forest
Overview: North-West Mounted Police Sgt. David Carrigan takes a breather from fighting as he brings a convict to trial and woos the lovely Jeanne-Marie.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-11-21
Popularity:
Along Came Youth
Overview: Broke and stranded in England, American sportsman Larry Brooks and his pal Ambrose take increasingly odd jobs to remain in proximity to the aristocratic lady that Larry would woo.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-12-20
Popularity:
Imitation of Life
Overview: A struggling widow and her daughter take in a black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter. The two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-11-23
Popularity:
Swingin' on a Rainbow
Overview: A young girl goes to New York to find a band leader who has stolen all the songs she wrote and is passing them off as his own.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-01
Popularity:
Charley's Aunt
Overview: In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-08-01
Popularity:
The Garden Murder Case
Overview: Two people with ties to rich murdered socialite Lowe Hammle die from unusual suicides—but Vance suspects foul play.
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-02-21
Popularity:
The Man from Blankley's
Overview: When a nobleman loses his way in the fog and enters a house where there's a party going on, he's mistaken for a hired butler.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-03-28
Popularity:
The Marriage Playground
Overview: A delightful pre-code cocktail recipe. Take three couples (add gin and tonic), their several divorces and the seven children/stepchildren of their intermarriages and blend thoroughly, and you have a mixture a too-young-to-believe Frederic March will try to straighten out.
Genres: Comedy Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-12-12
Popularity:
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Overview: The sinister Dr. Fu Manchu returns to destroy the people he holds responsible for the death of his family.
Genres: Adventure Mystery Romance Thriller Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-05-02
Popularity:
Who Cares
Overview: Who Cares is a 1925 silent film produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures and starring Dorothy Devore. It is preserved in the Library of Congress's collection. It is based upon a novel by Cosmo Hamilton which had been previously filmed in 1919 as Who Cares? Real-life husband and wife, actors Vera and Ralph Lewis, play grandparents.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-02-01
Popularity:
Someone to Love
Overview: Misunderstanding separates a poor but honest sheet-music salesman from his wealthy fiancée. But circumstance places him on the board of an exclusive girls’ school, where he can prove his integrity, as well as his love.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-12-01
Popularity:
Her Big Night
Overview: Tom Barrett, a motion picture press agent, noting Frances Norcross' resemblance to film star Daphne Dix, offers her passes to the star's personal appearance. While waiting for her fiancé, Johnny Young, Frances is offered $1,000 to impersonate Daphne and successfully appears in her place, assuaging the fears of Myers, a producer, who knows Daphne is with millionaire Harmon on a yacht. Reporter J. Q. Adams has his suspicions aroused and sends a cub reporter to impersonate Daphne's husband.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-10-12
Popularity: