BURBANK, Calif. -- Actor Eddie Quillan, whose six-decade career included roles as idealistic young heroes and boys next door in some of Hollywood's most notable early pictures, has died. He was 83.
The longtime North Hollywood resident died Thursday of cancer, his sister, Roseanne Quillan, said.
Quillan was the lovesick mutineer in 'Mutiny on the Bounty' (1935), a boy accused of murder in 'Young Mr. Lincoln' (1939), the young radio mechanic in 'The Grapes of Wrath' (1940), and the candyman in 'Brigadoon' (1954).
He appeared in two silent two-reel Mack Sennett slapstick comedies as well as more than 150 films and dozens of television shows in 60 years of acting. He was known for his saucy light air and flair for the double-take.
Born into a family of vaudevillians in Philadelphia, Quillan spent his youth traveling the country performing in the family's variety act.
His break into film came when he stopped to help a disabled car on Santa Monica Boulevard, not knowing that the man with the flat tire was an assistant to film director Cecil B. DeMille.
Quillan signed a contract with DeMille's Pathe Film Corp. and, in 1929, appeared in his first feature film 'The Godless Girl.'
Quillan's television credits include the police melodramas 'Police Woman' and 'Baretta' and the 1968-71 situation comedy 'Julia,' in which he played Diahann Carroll's mailman.
