Larry Wheat

Laurence Wheat (October 10, 1876 – August 7, 1963) was an American character actor of the silent and sound film eras. Born on October 20, 1876, in Wheeling, West Virginia, Wheat entered the film industry in 1921 with a supporting role in the film, The Land of Hope, which starred Jason Robards Sr. During his 27-year career he would appear in over 70 films, in small and supporting roles, many of which were unbilled. Some of the more notable films in which Wheat appeared include: Peck's Bad Boy (1934), starring Jackie Cooper; Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur; 1936's The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy; arguably one of the greatest films ever made, Citizen Kane (1941), directed, starring and co-written by Orson Welles; the classic film noir, Murder, My Sweet (1944), directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley; and 1946's The Spiral Staircase, with Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, and Ethel Barrymore. Wheat's final film role would be in a small unbilled role in the 1947 film, Killer McCoy, starring Mickey Rooney, Brian Donlevy and Ann Blyth. Wheat died on August 7, 1963, in Los Angeles, California, and was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.Wheat's older sister was opera singer Kate Rolla.