After appearing in the 'Dead End Kids' series as Skinny and the 'Bowery Boys' series as Whitey, he successfully made the transition to character roles. He was sometimes billed as Bill Benedict or William Benedict. Among his film credits are: "Way Down East" (1935) as Amos; "The Farmer Takes a Wife" (1935) uncredited as Boy; "Doubting Thomas" (1935) as Caddy; "Meet Nero Wolfe" (1936) as Johnny, Barstow's Caddy; "The Country Doctor" (1936) with Jean Hersholt, as the Gawker; "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) as a Caddy; "King of the Newsboys" (1938) as Squimpy; "Adventures of Red Ryder" (1940) as Ira Withers; "My Little Chickadee" (1940) with W.C. Fields & Mae West, uncredited as Lem; "Tuxedo Junction" (1941) as Piecrust; "Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941) a serial, as Whitey Murphy; "Junior G-men of the Air" (1942) a serial, as Whitey; "Talk of the Town" (1942) with Cary Grant, uncredited as Western Union Boy; "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943) uncredited as Greene; "Million Dollar Kid" (1944) as Skinny; "Follow the Boys" (1944) as Joe, a Soldier; "Bowery Buckaroos" (1947) as Whitey; "Magnetic Monster" (1953) as Albert; "The Hallelujah Trail" (1965) as Simpson; "The Sting" (1973) as Roulette Dealer; "Homebodies" (1974) as Watchman and "Born Again" (1978) as Leon Jaworski, his final theatrical film. On TV he was a regular on the series: "Petticoat Junction" (1963) as Willie Trankis and guest starred on such series as: "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok"; "Perry Mason"; "Twilight Zone"; "Gunsmoke"; "I Dream of Jeannie"; "The Monkees"; "All in the Family"; "Mission: Impossible"; "Little House on the Prairie" and "Hill Street Blues." He died on November 25, 1999 of complications following heart surgery in Los Angeles, California at age 82.
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