Willard Waterman

Waterman’s radio career began in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was born in 1914, and he later moved to Chicago where he became fast friends with Harold Peary. Peary and Waterman looked and sounded enough alike to be brothers, and when Peary left The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters, Waterman was said to have replaced him.

Whether or not Waterman was ever a part of the cast of The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters, became a disagreement later on. Supposedly, Waterman played the part of Sheriff Mike Shaw and switched out with Harold Peary. Peary and Waterman often switched roles, but Waterman denied he was ever included in the cast.

In the world of radio, Willard Waterman, pictured with co-stars Mary Lee Robb and Walter Tetley, was known as one of the best character actors. The role he’ll be remembered for was the starring role of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve in the NBC broadcast of The Great Gildersleeve. He starred in that role from 1950 to 1957.

Waterman succeeded Harold Peary in the role of Gildersleeve when the sponsor and owner, Kraft Cheese, refused to move the show to CBS. During the late 1940s, CBS participated in what was known as "talent raids," where they offered performers better deals on capital-gains. When Peary left for greener pastures, Kraft quickly signed Waterman in the starring role.

Peary had incorporated a unique laugh that helped make the part of Gildersleeve extremely popular, but rumor has it that Waterman refused to develop that laugh for himself, even though the two sounded so much alike.

When The Great Gildersleeve moved to TV in 1955 Willard Waterman played the leading role. You can watch a wonderful clip on youtube by clicking on the link.

At the same time Willard Waterman was playing the part of Throckmorton Gildersleeve, he was also part of the cast of The Halls of Ivy, playing Mr. Merriweather. Ronald Colman and his wife, Benita Hume were cast in starring roles of this short-lived radio comedy.

Early in his career, Willard Waterman joined the cast of The Chicago Theater of the Air, an operetta that also starred James Melton, Marion Claire and Morton Bowe. This program aired in 1940 after a survey that revealed there was a large audience for opera and the "drama of escapism."

In 1948, the Damon Runyon Theater also enlisted Waterman to join the cast of John Brown, Anne Whitfield and Gerald Mohr. This show was a dramatic anthology of the stories of Damon Runyon and ran from 1948 into the mid-1950s.

During the years of his busy career on radio, Waterman also had roles in The Whistler, Screen Directors Playhouse, First Nighter Program, Escape, The Amos and Andy Show, Harold Teen, Girl Alone (a soap opera), The Guiding Light and The Road of Life, among others.

Willard Waterman passed away at age 80 in 1995 in Burlingame, California.

Happy listening my friends,