I also tried to find out about Mr. Tetley. There is very little about him on the web.I did find a spot that lists movies Mr. Tetley was in us.imbd.com. It lists parts he played in different movies.I know have to rent a few and see what he looks like.I really enjoyed him in the Great Gildersleeves and that made me check into him.Keep me informed on your progress.
Thanks! Ray
Ironically it was my web page partner, Greg Jones, who first told me about THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE radio show. I had never heard of this show before. Greg found some information about this show, when he was designing our web page. The show began roughly in 1941 and ran for about 10 years according to Greg. I did read, elsewhere, that the show lasted as long as 17 years.
My father, who was born late in 1933, remembers this show and really liked it. Walter Tetley played the part of Gildersleeve’s spirited nephew, Leroy. My father also said that he recalled that two Great Gildersleeve movies were made. He said that he thought that Tetley probably appeared in these. I have not been able to find that information on the web however.
I gave Ray a few other pieces of info about Mr. Tetley. In Keith Scott’s book, THE MOOSE THAT ROARED (pages 127-128), he mentioned that Walter Tetley was born with a hormonal condition, which not only stunted his growth, and prevented his voice from cracking, but also prevented him from ever growing facial hair.
Scott went on to say that, in the 1940s, when he was already a grown man, his parents urged him to see a urologist for treatment. Tetley acquiesced and was treated. The outcome was that he grew several inches.
Scott also gave two possible years of birth for Tetley: 1915 and 1921 (I personally have seen 1921 only in Mr. Scott’s book).
He added another interesting fact; that Walter had done a lot of charity work for the handicapped. It did not say whether or not this was before his accident, which ultimately put him in a wheelchair. As he was a very unique man, physically speaking, it would not surprise me, at all, if he had been helping out the handicapped long before…….as he did understand what it was like to be different.
I also told Ray that Keith Scott mentioned that Tetley’s motorcycle accident was in the late 60s. I added, however, since June Foray told me, in her letter near the end of 1973, that the accident had taken place two years earlier, it seemed fairly unlikely that that fact was correct.
One other thing, that I told Ray, was related to what he had mentioned about renting some of the movies, that Tetley was in, to see him on screen. I told him that, probably one of the best movies that he could rent, would be W.C. Field’s 1938 movie, YOU CAN’T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN. Tetley’s filmography lists him as “boy with candy”. Though undoubtedly a bit part, I told Ray that he would probably be pretty easy to spot, given that part!