Woodrow Parfrey (October 5, 1922 – July 29, 1984) was an American film and television actor from the 1950s to the early 1980s.
Described as "one of the most interesting character actors to emerge on American film and television in the 1960s", Parfrey was noted for bringing "a quirky charisma to every role he played, from shopkeepers to space-age simians." His noted turn as the unbalanced informer in Broadway's "Advise and Consent" (1961) set the standard for his offbeat, conspiratorial persona in dozens of TV and movie appearances into the 1980s.
Biography
Born Sydney Woodrow Parfrey on October 5, 1922 in New York City, he was orphaned as a teenager and lived in abject poverty during the Depression era. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and was wounded and captured by the Germans. Those experiences were credited with helping to inspire many of his curiously eccentric character portrayals. He married Rosa Ellovich and trained under renowned acting teacher Erwin Piscator at the New School for Social Research.
Career
Parfrey acted almost entirely on Broadway or regional stage in the late 1940s and 50s, turning to TV and film substantially in the 60s. Though usually a supporting player, he played many focal TV guest-star roles, mainly in the late 60s when fantasy and spy shows relied heavily on distinctive guest players. (He appeared five times on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., more than any other guest star.)
Parfrey also scored a few big A-movie parts, most notably as one of the wretched prisoners in Papillon (1973). Parfrey's frequent association with that film's director, Franklin Schaffner, also included a bit as Maximus, one of the three "See No Evil" orangutan judges in Planet of the Apes (1968). (He would don the prosthetics again a few years later for the pilot of the spinoff TV series.) He also turned up in the unofficial repertory companies of both Clint Eastwood (including small parts in Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Bronco Billy) and Don Siegel (including a significant role in Charley Varrick).
Parfrey died of a heart attack on July 29, 1984 in Los Angeles. His determination to bring that edgy "something extra" to his profession lives on in his son, the "underground" publisher Adam Parfrey.
External links
Woodrow Parfrey at the Internet Movie Database
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Parfrey"
Categories: 1922 births | 1984 deaths | American film actors | American television actors | People from New York City | American military personnel of World War II | American screen actor, 1920s birth stubsHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since April 2008
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