# Frank Faylen
**Frank Faylen** (born Francis Charles Ruf; December 8, 1905 – August 2, 1985) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film, and in television, best remembered as the male nurse Bim in *The Lost Weekend* (1945), the taxi driver Ernie in *It's a Wonderful Life* (1946), and the grocer Herbert T. Gillis on the sitcom *The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis* (1959–1963).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | December 8, 1905, St. Louis, Missouri, as Francis Charles Ruf[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) |
| Died | August 2, 1985, Burbank, California, of a respiratory ailment and pneumonia, aged 79[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) |
| Signature film roles | Bim, the vicious male nurse, in *The Lost Weekend* (1945); Ernie the cabdriver in *It's a Wonderful Life* (1946)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) |
| Signature television role | Herbert T. Gillis, Dobie's grocer father, in *The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis*, 1959–1963[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) |
| Film career span | Screen work from 1936 to 1968; he retired after *Funny Girl* (1968)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) |
| Marriage | Married actress Carol Hughes on May 29, 1928; the marriage lasted until his death and produced two daughters[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) |
| Recognition | Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard, awarded February 8, 1960[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) |
## Early life and stage career
Faylen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Otto Ruf and Maryann Madeline Cusik, who performed in vaudeville as the team of Ruf and Cusik.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) According to a Los Angeles Times obituary, the family lived on a [Mississippi River](https://www.edgepedia.org/mississippi-river) showboat, and Faylen joined the troupe as an infant, rolled onto the stage in a baby buggy to serve as a straight man for the showboat's comics; a cow was kept on board to fill his baby bottle.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html)
He attended St. Joseph's Preparatory College in Kirkwood, Missouri, then returned to vaudeville as a comic pantomimist, touring the country through the late 1920s and early 1930s first as a clown and later as a song-and-dance man with acrobatic agility.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) A tour stop in Los Angeles brought a screen test, and he turned to the movies in 1936.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html)
## Film career, 1936–1968
Faylen spent three decades in Hollywood as one of its familiar character players, specializing in average-guy parts in which he was equally effective in sympathetic or unlikeable roles.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) Under contract to Paramount, he portrayed scores of gangsters, policemen, and bartenders.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) His earliest credits were small ones in Warner Bros. programmers of 1936 and 1937, including a reporter in *The Golden Arrow*, Jimmie in *Border Flight*, Swede in *King of Hockey*, Gatley in *Bullets or Ballots*, and Barney in *Kid Galahad*.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/53382-Frank-Faylen) One database of his credits counts 187 films in a career spanning 1936 to 1968, with heavy representation in drama, comedy, and crime and film noir pictures.[4](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031166211/)
**The two signature roles.** In Billy Wilder's *The Lost Weekend* (1945), Faylen played Bim Nolan, the sadistic male nurse who torments the alcoholic writer played by [Ray Milland](https://www.edgepedia.org/ray-milland); the Los Angeles Times called it his most-acclaimed role.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) • [5](https://www.fandango.com/people/frank-faylen-200303/film-credits) The next year, in [Frank Capra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-capra)'s *It's a Wonderful Life*, he played Ernie Bishop, the friendly cabdriver, and by one trivia note he had also played a taxi driver in [Preston Sturges](https://www.edgepedia.org/preston-sturges)' *The Palm Beach Story* (1942).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) • [5](https://www.fandango.com/people/frank-faylen-200303/film-credits)
Other credited roles tracked the tough-guy range of the type: Whitey Du Sang, the white-wigged hired gun killed by [Alan Ladd](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-ladd) in *[Whispering Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/whispering-smith)* (1948); Det. Gallagher in *Detective Story* (1951); Commissioner Haskell in *Riot in Cell Block 11* (1954); Sheriff Cotton Wilson in *Gunfight at the O.K. Corral* (1957); and Keeney in *Funny Girl* (1968), his last film before retirement.[5](https://www.fandango.com/people/frank-faylen-200303/film-credits) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) He appeared in two films that won the [Academy Award for Best Picture](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-picture), *Gone with the Wind* (1939) and *The Lost Weekend* (1945), and in eight other Best Picture nominees, including *The Grapes of Wrath* (1940), *It's a Wonderful Life* (1946), and *Funny Girl* (1968).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/)
## Television and Dobie Gillis
From the 1950s onward Faylen worked extensively in television, with appearances on Western series such as *[Maverick](https://www.edgepedia.org/maverick-tv-series)* and *Zane Grey Theatre* alongside sitcoms and anthology programs.[6](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/frank-faylen/credits/3030235931/) His widest fame came as Herbert T. Gillis, the long-suffering grocer father of the title character, in *The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis*, which ran from 1959 to 1963; one compilation credits him with 118 episodes in the part.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031166211/) He reprised the role in a subsequent Dobie Gillis television movie, *Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis?* (1977).[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) • [7](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17759-frank-faylen) Later credits included *That Girl* in 1970 and an episode of *Quincy, M.E.* in 1978.[7](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17759-frank-faylen)
## Personal life and death
Faylen married the actress Carol Hughes (born Catherine Mabel Hukill) on May 29, 1928; the marriage lasted until his death and produced two daughters.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) He was the former father-in-law of the television host [Regis Philbin](https://www.edgepedia.org/regis-philbin).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) He retired from acting after *Funny Girl* (1968).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/)
He died on August 2, 1985, at a Burbank hospital, aged 79, after a lengthy respiratory illness; his death was attributed to a respiratory ailment and pneumonia.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) He was buried at [San Fernando Mission Cemetery](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-fernando-mission-cemetery) in Mission Hills, California.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html)
## How the record counts his films differ
Estimates of Faylen's output vary with the counting method: the AFI Catalog lists 172 titles in his filmography,[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/53382-Frank-Faylen) a compiled IMDb list counts 187 films,[4](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031166211/) and his obituary in the Los Angeles Times called him a veteran of more than 400 films, a figure that would include many uncredited bit parts and shorts of the kind that fill his early credits.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html) All sources agree on the shape of the career: small, often uncredited parts through the 1930s and 1940s, steady supporting roles in the 1950s, and a turn toward television in his later decades.
## References
1. [Frank Faylen – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0269709/bio/)
2. [Bob Pool, "Actor Frank Faylen Dies; Noted for Film, TV Roles," Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1985](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-05-me-3571-story.html)
3. [Frank Faylen filmography, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/53382-Frank-Faylen)
4. [187 Films of Frank Faylen (1905–1985), IMDb list](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031166211/)
5. [Frank Faylen Filmography and Movies, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/frank-faylen-200303/film-credits)
6. [Frank Faylen List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/frank-faylen/credits/3030235931/)
7. [Frank Faylen, The Movie Database (TMDB)](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/17759-frank-faylen)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, early era*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license