Woody Chambliss

Woody Chambliss was a character actor from the United States whose work spanned feature films and television. Born in Bowie, Texas, in 1914, he studied at Baylor University, where he prompted for the student theater and a dramatics teacher persuaded him to switch his major from law to theater arts. He trained with a stock company in Connecticut and in 1937, went to Bath, England, on a scholarship to study with Michael Chekhov. In 1939, he made his Broadway debut in Chekhov's production of The Possessed. After World War II he helped set up a repertory troupe in Ojai, California. His first screen role came in 1946, in Three Strangers (1946). Later films included Glen and Randa (1971), Greaser's Palace (1972) and The Devil's Rain (1975). On television he was best known as storekeeper Mr. Lathrop on Gunsmoke, with other appearances on Yancy Derringer, Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show and The Waltons. He died in 1981.