An amateur inventor, William held the patent for the first lawn vacuum, a device which became commonplace with landscapers decades after his death.
He had no children.
His wife died several months after he did.
Served in the US Army in France during WW I.
Starred as investigator John Francis O'Connell on the syndicated radio program "Strange Wills" (1946).
Superb, unequaled villain from pre-Code pictures who lusted after every young lady (among them the impossibly young and beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan and Loretta Young, among others) he came across. Memorable as the stuffy, wealthy lawyer who, against his better judgment, falls for Joan Blondell in Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933).
With The Case of the Howling Dog (1934), he became the first actor ever to play the hallowed film and television detective character Perry Mason.