William John Challee (April 6, 1904 – March 11, 1989) was an American actor.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2017)

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

William Challee
William Challee in The Texan (1958)
Born	William John Challe (1904-04-06)April 6, 1904 Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died	March 11, 1989(1989-03-11) (aged 84) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1926–1979
Spouses	Ruth Nelson ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1937)​ Ella Franklin Crawford ​ ​ (m. 1944, divorced)​ Joan Wheeler Ankrum ​ (m. 1984)​

Close

Challee was born in Chicago and was a student at Lake View High School.^[1]

Challee appeared on Broadway by 1926 and by 1931 in early Group Theatre productions. He married actress Ruth Nelson on August 2, 1931; they divorced on August 13, 1937.^[2] The two appeared in the 1947 film The Sea of Grass, in supporting roles, after they were divorced.

In 1937, Challee staged a suite of one-act plays at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, under the heading Plays of the Sea. The suite consisted of the Eugene O'Neill plays Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home, and Moon of the Caribbees. They were produced by the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration, running for 68 performances from October 29, 1937.^[3]

Challee was living in Chicago by 1940. By the middle 1940s, Challee was working in films in California, mainly in supporting and uncredited roles. Challee married dancer Ella Franklin Crawford on April 19, 1944, in Santa Monica.^[4]

Challee appeared in episodes of numerous television series, including a 1953 episode ("Stage for Mademoiselle") of The Lone Ranger and a 1957 episode ("The Case of the Runaway Corpse") of Perry Mason. In 1960, Challee appeared as Saunders on Laramie in the episode titled "Duel at Parkinson Town".^{[citation needed]} In 1961, he appeared as Eli in the series finale of The Investigators, "The Dead End Man",^{[citation needed]} as well as the 1961 episode "Meeting at the Mimbres" in the Western series Bat Masterson.

In 1962, Challee appeared (uncredited) as a prisoner on the TV Western The Virginian in the episode titled "The Brazen Bell". That same year, he appeared on Gunsmoke as Feist, a crazed pioneer who lost his faculties and tries to kill Marshal Dillon in the episode “The Gallows”. Challee played the incapacitated family patriarch in the 1970 film Five Easy Pieces, whose illness brings his son (Jack Nicholson) home to the family estate.

In 1984, he married his long-time partner Joan Wheeler Ankrum. Together, in 1960, they opened the Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles.^[5][6]

Challee was buried in Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto.^{[citation needed]}