Birthday
1878/01/23
Day of death
1949/11/03 (71 years old)
Gender
Male
Place of Birth
Horseheads, New York, USA
Also know as
William Mannion, The King of the Silent Serials, Bill Desmond
Starting out in dramatic parts, Desmond soon switched to westerns and action serials, and became a major western star. When the sound era began Desmond was almost 50 years old, and was soon relegated to supporting roles.
(1919) The Prince and Betty
as John Maude
(1928) The Vanishing Rider
as Jim Davis / The Vanishing Rider
(1915) Peer Gynt
as The Parson
(1918) Captain of His Soul
as Horace
(1933) The Rustler's Roundup
as San Dimas Sheriff Holden
(1934) When Lightning Strikes
as Marshal Jack Stevens
(1943) Phantom of the Opera
as Stagehand (uncredited)
(1944) The Mummy's Ghost
as Museum Tourist (uncredited)
(1921) The Policeman and the Baby
as The Policeman
(1917) Master of His Home
as Carson Stewart
(1945) The Return of the Durango Kid
as Street Ambusher (uncredited)
(1933) Mr. Broadway
as 1st Suitor (archive footage)
(1931) The Lightning Warrior
as Townsman (uncredited)
(1936) Song of the Gringo
as Bailiff
(1944) Phantom Lady
as Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
(1935) Wild Waters
as Sheriff Manning
(1923) The Extra Girl
as Himself
(1932) The Last Frontier
as General Custer
(1934) Crack-Up
as Police Chief
(1936) The Broken Coin
as ---
(1935) Frisco Kid
as Vigilante Hangman (uncredited)
(1931) The Vanishing Legion
as Milesburg Sheriff
(1934) The Vanishing Shadow
as MacDonald
(1946) Desert Command
as Capt. Boncour
(1925) The Burning Trail
as Smiling Bill Flannigan
(1925) Straight Through
as Good Deed O'Day
(1925) The Meddler
as Richard Gilmore
(1935) Born to Battle
as John Brownell
(1934) I Can't Escape
as Parole Officer Donovan
(1936) The Vigilantes Are Coming
as Anderson, Vigilante Member
(1934) Pirate Treasure
as Capt. Jim Carson
(1926) The Strings of Steel
as Ned Brown
(1935) Courage of the North
as Gene Travis
(1933) The Three Musketeers
as Capt. Boncour
(1940) Winners of the West
as Bill Brine
(1919) Her Code of Honor
as Eugene La Salle
(1934) Frontier Days
as Sheriff Barnes
(1934) The Rawhide Terror
as Tom Blake
(1933) Laughing at Life
as Military Cabinet Officer
(1922) Perils of the Yukon
as Jack Merrill Sr. / Jack Merrill Jr.
(1933) Strawberry Roan
as Colonel Brownlee
(1933) Fargo Express
as Sheriff Joe Thompson
(1917) Paws of the Bear
as Ray Bourke
(1934) Border Guns
as Dr. Jim Wilson
(1929) No Children
as Self
(1923) Shadows of the North
as Ben 'Wolf' Darby
(1931) Battling with Buffalo Bill
as John Mills
(1923) The Extra Girl
as Himself - Actor
(1935) The Cowboy and the Bandit
as Sheriff Pete
(1936) Custer's Last Stand
as Wagon Master
(1935) Cyclone of the Saddle
as Wagon Master
(1936) Treachery Rides the Range
as Bill
(1932) Heroes of the West
as John Blaine
(1933) Gordon of Ghost City
as John Mulford
(1935) The Call of the Savage
as Allen
(1936) Headin' for the Rio Grande
as Mr. Mack (cattle buyer)
(1932) A Scarlet Week-End
as ---
(1935) The Ghost Rider
as Guard
(1935) Social Error
as Policeman
(1936) Hollywood Boulevard
as Pago Pago Patron (uncredited)
(1947) Code of the West
as Settler (uncredited)
(1934) The Red Rider
as Sheriff Campbell
(1936) The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
as Captain of the 'Viking'
(1935) Timber Terrors
as Royce Horter
(1941) Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
as Bartender
(1936) Song of the Saddle
as Tim
(1940) The Boys from Syracuse
as Citizen
(1935) Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery
as Foreman Burke
(1940) Junior G-Men
as Irish Cop (uncredited)
(1943) Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Gower Gulch Cowboy (uncredited)
(1937) Tim Tyler's Luck
as Dock Official
(1933) The Phantom of the Air
as Thomas Edmonds
(1930) The Phantom of the West
as Martin Blair
(1921) Fightin' Mad
as Bud McGraw
(1918) Society for Sale
as Honorable Billy
(1917) The Last of the Ingrams
as Jules Ingram
(1942) Down Rio Grande Way
as Townsman
(1942) The Silver Bullet
as Townsman
(1942) Overland Mail
as Williams - Banker
(1935) Rustlers of Red Dog
as Ira Dale [Chs. 1-4, 6, 10-12]
(1943) The Lone Star Trail
as Bartender Mike
(1943) Cheyenne Roundup
as Pete
(1929) No Defense
as John Harper
(1923) McGuire of the Mounted
as Bob McGuire
(1917) The Iced Bullet
as The Author / Horace Lee
(1921) The Child Thou Gavest Me
as Tom Marshall
(1924) Hello, 'Frisco
as William Desmond
(1956) Savage Fury
as Allen (archive footage)
(1935) Powdersmoke Range
as Happy - Bartender
(1941) Where Did You Get That Girl?
as Tourist
(1925) Outwitted
as Jack Blaisdel
(1925) Ridin' Pretty
as Sky Parker
(1925) Barriers of the Law
as Rex Brandon
(1919) A Sage Brush Hamlet
as Larry Lang
(1916) A Gamble in Souls
as ---
(1945) The Naughty Nineties
as Showboat Customer (uncredited)
(1928) The Mystery Rider
as Winthrop Lane / The Mystery Rider
(1916) Peggy
as Rev. Donald Bruce
(1934) The Way of the West
as 'Cash' Horton (as Wm. Desmond)
(1915) Kilmeny
as Bob Meredith
(1916) The Dawn Maker
as Bruce Smithson
(1935) Naughty Marietta
as Gendarme Chief (uncredited)
(1924) The Sunset Trail
as Happy Hobo
(1915) The Majesty of the Law
as Jackson Morgan Kent
(1944) The Climax
as Backstage Technician (Uncredited)
(1935) The Roaring West
as Jim Parker
(1922) Night Life in Hollywood
as Self
(1945) Strange Confession
as Peanut Vendor (uncredited)
(1933) Perils of Pauline
as Prof. Thompson
(1947) The Egg and I
as Spectator at Country Dance (Uncredited)
(1931) Oklahoma Jim
as Lacy
(1947) Thunder Mountain
as Townsman (uncredited)
(1918) The Marriage Bubble
as The Actor
(1924) The Breathless Moment
as Billy Carson
(1921) Women Men Love
as David Hunter
(1933) Clancy of the Mounted
as Dave Moran
(1917) Flying Colors
as Brent Brewster
(1917) Married in Name Only
as ---
(1925) The Ace of Spades
as Dan Harvey
(1924) The Measure of a Man
as John Fairmeadow
(1919) Bare-Fisted Gallagher
as 'Bare-Fisted' Gallagher
(1916) Bullets and Brown Eyes
as Prince Carl