Frank Wilcox (March 13, 1907 – March 3, 1974) was a prolific American character actor, a familiar and distinguished face who appeared in hundreds of films and television shows, specializing in portraying authority figures like executives, judges, and military officers.
A veteran of the Broadway stage and a contract player for Warner Bros., Wilcox was a staple in Hollywood for decades. He appeared in numerous A-list classics, often in small but memorable parts, including The Roaring Twenties (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and the epic The Ten Commandments (1956).
He became one of television’s most ubiquitous actors, with a long-running recurring role as the oil executive John Brewster on the classic sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. He was also a favorite of casting directors for legal dramas, appearing multiple times as various judges on Perry Mason and as Federal District Attorney Beecher Asbury on The Untouchables. His role as a general in the sci-fi classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) also made him a familiar face to genre fans.
