WILLIAM REDFIELD
William Redfield
- © 1975 N.V. Zwaluw
- (William Redfield in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975)
Biography
BIO
William Redfield was born in New York City in 1927. His father was a conductor/music arranger and his mother once performed in the Ziegfeld Follies.
A child actor, he made his Broadway debut as “Billy” Redfield, at the age of 9, in 1937. He went on to appear in such hits as Junior Miss (1941-1943), A Man for All Seasons (1961-1963), and You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running (1967-1969).
Redfield made his film debut in 1939, at the age of 12, for Paramount Pictures. Although most of his off-stage work was in television, he did appear in 17 movies through 1977, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) with Jack Nicholson.
He married Betsy Meade and the couple raised two children, one of whom is the Tony Award-winning actor Adam Redfield (1959- ).
His second marriage was to Lynda Bright in 1971.
During filming for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the actor Dean R. Brooks, who played the institution’s psychiatrist, but also happened to be a medical doctor, diagnosed Redfield with leukemia, based on his symptoms.
He later died of complications from leukemia in New York City, in 1976, at the age of 49.
Additional Broadway stage history is available at: 
Additional biographical information is available at: 
