Wally Cassell (March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American character actor and businessman.
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Early years
Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano. (A 1951 newspaper article gives Cassell's real name as Osvaldo Tripolini Ronaldo Vincennes Castelleno.)
The son of Luigi and Luisa Castellano, Oswaldo was born in Agrigento, Sicily, and moved with his family to the United States when he was two years of age. (Another source says that his parents brought him to Brooklyn, New York, "when I was a babe in arms.") As a youngster, Cassell was a dancer, but he abandoned dancing to concentrate on acting.
Film
Cassell began his film career in 1942, initially working in small, uncredited roles. Mickey Rooney, with whom Cassell appears in the 1950 film noir Quicksand, is credited with suggesting the change of name to Wally Cassell. Rooney is also credited with helping Cassell gain a screen test and a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
