Walter Woolf King

Walter Woolf King (2 November 1899 – 24 October 1984) was an American film, television and stage actor and singer.

Born in San Francisco, California, King started singing for a living at a young age and performed mostly in churches. He made his Broadway debut in 1919, and became a well-known baritone in operettas and musical comedies. King billed himself as Walter Woolf and Walter King early in his career, eventually settling on a combination of all three names, Walter Woolf King, in the mid 1930s.


King began his film career in musicals but quickly moved into supporting roles. He is probably best known today for his villainous roles in two films starring the Marx Brothers, A Night At The Opera and Go West. He also appeared on radio and later became an actors agent. He made numerous appearances in bit parts and supporting roles in television and films throughout the 1950s and '60s. His final appearance was in the 1977 TV movie One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story.

King died in Beverly Hills, California in 1984.

Famous quotes containing the words walter, woolf and/or king:

    “Mother” has always been a generic term synonymous with love, devotion, and sacrifice. There’s always been something mystical and reverent about them. They’re the Walter Cronkites of the human race . . . infallible, virtuous, without flaws and conceived without original sin, with no room for ambivalence.
    Erma Bombeck (20th century)

    Knew her own mind. But the mind radically commonplace, only its inherited force, & cumulative sense of power, making it remarkable.
    —Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

    When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)