- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWhitner Nutting Bissell
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Whit Bissell came to Hollywood in the 1940s, and by the time he retired he had appeared in more than 200 movies and scores of TV series. He is best known for playing the evil scientist who turned Michael Landon into a half beast in the 1957 cult classic film I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). Bissell specialized in playing doctors, military officers and other authority figures. On television he was a regular on Bachelor Father (1957) and The Time Tunnel (1966). He also served on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors for 18 years and represented the actors branch in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors.- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpousesJennifer Raine(November 24, 1967 - January 5, 1993) (her death)Dilys Mary Shan Jukes(December 5, 1954 - January 11, 1958) (her death, 1 child)Adrienne Marden(November 23, 1938 - September 17, 1953) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenVictoria Lenore BissellKathy Eldridge BissellAmandaVictoriaForster, Brian (I)
- ParentsJames Dougal Bissell
- RelativesBradford Bissell(Sibling)
- Deep mellifluous, yet commanding voice
- Often played high-ranking military officers or others in positions of authority
- The son of Dr. J. (James) Dougal Bissell (1864-1935) and Helen (nee Nutting) Bissell (1878-1977), Bissell's had at least one sibling, a brother, Dr. Bradford Bissell (1907-1949), Whitner Nutting Bissell was an avid yachtsman and fencer in his youth.
He attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and while there began a serious pursuit of acting with the Carolina Playmakers. After a stint on the Broadway stage, Bissell began a career as one of the most recognizable character actors in the history of film and television. - In I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Bissell played scientists killed by their own creations.
- By his marriage to Jennifer Raine, Bissell was the stepfather of Brian Forster.
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