Moviegoers can be forgiven if they thought that stocky, jaunty Rhys
Williams was a jovial Irishman, as he often played that type of
character, but his role as a Welsh miner in
John Ford's classic
So grün war mein Tal (1941)
(his film debut) was much closer to home for him, as he was born and
raised in Wales. In fact, he served as a technical advisor and Welsh
language consultant on the film. He began his career on the British
stage, and traveled the country as a member of various Shakespearean
stock companies, even joining the famed Globe Theater company for a
spell. Once he began his career in Hollywood, though, he became one of
the busiest supporting actors in the business. He appeared in
everything from action pictures to mysteries to westerns to musicals.
One of his few villainous roles was as a weaselly American reporter in
Tokyo on the payroll of the Japanese government just prior to World War
II in Spionage in Fernost (1945).
In addition to his prolific film work, he did much television over the
years, appearing in everything from
Maverick (1957) to
Kobra, übernehmen Sie (1966).
He died in Santa Monica, California, in 1969, shortly before his last
film, Abenteuer in Neuguinea (1970), was
released.
