I’m watching the colorized version of Miracle on 34th Street (sort of my Christmas Eve Tradition while helping Santa fill the stockings) and I’ve always wondered who the uncredited actor that plays the drunken santa was. His voice is very distinctive and I was sure that I had heard it before. I looked it on IMDB and it turns out that the actor who played that role in 1947, Percy A. Helton, was the same uncredited actor who played the train conductor in another Christmas movie classic, the 1954, White Christmas. He also played character roles on many of the shows I watched as a kid on syndicated reruns.
I bet he never thought that he’d end up being in two of the most loved classic Christmas movies when he played those bit parts. I wonder if there are any other well travelled character actors that are so situated?
Merry Christmas One and All!
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