| Tully Marshall | |
| Birth Name: | William Phillips |
| Birth Date: | 10 April 1864 |
| Birth Place: | Nevada City, California, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Encino, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1883–1943 |
| Alma Mater: | Santa Clara University |
Tully Marshall (born William Phillips;[1] April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning almost three decades.
Marshall was born in Nevada City, California. He attended private schools and Santa Clara College,[2] from which he graduated with an engineering degree.[3]
Marshall began acting on the stage at 18, appearing in Saratoga at the Winter Garden in San Francisco on March 8, 1883.[2] He played a wide variety of roles on Broadway from 1887. His Broadway credits include The Clever Ones (1914).[4]
For several years, Marshall played with a variety of stock theater troupes, including both acting and being stage manager for E. H. Sothern's company.[2]
In 1914, Marshall arrived in Hollywood. His screen debut was in Paid in Full (1914).[2] By the time D. W. Griffith cast him as the High Priest of Bel in Intolerance (1916), he had already appeared in a number of silent films.
His career continued to thrive during the sound era and he remained busy for the remaining three decades of his life. He played a vast array of drunken trail scouts, lovable grandpas, unforgiving fathers, sinister attorneys and lecherous aristocrats. He is arguably most widely known today for his portrayal of John Wayne's sidekick in the lavish widescreen epic Western The Big Trail (1930) directed by Raoul Walsh, shot on location all across the American West, and starring Wayne in his first leading role. In one of Marshall's last films, This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd, he played a treacherously sinister nitrogen industrialist.
Marshall was married to screenwriter, playwright, actress and head of her own studio Marion Fairfax[3] from 1899 to his death in 1943. Fairfax died in 1970 at age 94.
Marshall died on March 10, 1943, age 78, after a heart attack at his home in Encino, California. His grave is located in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[1]