---
name: "Billy House"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/billy-house"
fi1m_id: "billy-house"
imdb_id: "nm0396633"
tmdb_id: 85737
wikidata_id: "Q15443211"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "6 May 1889"
died: "23 September 1961"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-25T08:12:13.239431+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Billy House

## Identity

Billy House

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/billy-house
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** billy-house
- **IMDb ID:** nm0396633
- **TMDB ID:** 85737
- **Wikidata ID:** Q15443211
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_House, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15443211, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396633/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/85737

Actor. Born 6 May 1889 in Mankato, Minnesota, USA. Died 23 September 1961.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 6 May 1889, Mankato, Minnesota, USA
- **Died:** 23 September 1961
- **Active:** 1946–1959
- **Also known as:** William H. Comstock
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 76 (1), 1950s 86 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_House, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15443211, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396633/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/85737

## Streaming the US now

- **Hulu:** [*The Stranger*](https://film.one/film/the-stranger.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Billy House, born William H. Comstock, was an American actor who worked in vaudeville, on Broadway and in feature films. He began his career as a trumpet player in circuses and vaudeville, later performing in burlesque theatres and radio dramas before moving into film in the 1930s.

House became a supporting actor in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared as Mr. Solomon Potter in *The Stranger* (1946), Lord Mortimer in *Bedlam* (1946) and Billy Reed in *The Egg and I* (1947). He also featured in *Where Danger Lives* (1950), *People Will Talk* (1951), *Touch of Evil* (1958) and *Imitation of Life* (1959). House died in 1961.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Imitation of Life* (1959), Fi1m 86, as Fat Man on Beach — [page](https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life.md)
- *The Stranger* (1946), Fi1m 76, as Mr. Solomon Potter — [page](https://film.one/film/the-stranger.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Imitation of Life* (1959), as Fat Man on Beach — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/imitation-of-life.md)
- *The Fountain of Youth* (1958), as Albert Morgan
- *Colgate Theatre* (1958), series, Actor
- *Touch of Evil* (1958), as Construction Site Foreman (uncredited)
- *Tricks of Our Trade* (1957), Actor
- *Naked Gun* (1956), as Judge Cole
- *Outlaw Women* (1952), as Uncle Barney
- *Aladdin and His Lamp* (1952), as Kafan
- *Silver City* (1951), Actor
- *People Will Talk* (1951), as Coonan (uncredited)
- *Santa Fe* (1951), as Luke Plummer
- *Where Danger Lives* (1950), as Mr. Bogardus
- *Rogues of Sherwood Forest* (1950), as Friar Tuck
- *Inner Sanctum* (1948), as McFee
- *The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap* (1947), as Shotgun Rider (voice) (uncredited)
- *Joe Palooka in the Knockout* (1947), as Sam Wheeler
- *The Egg and I* (1947), as Billy Reed
- *Trail Street* (1947), as Carmody
- *The Stranger* (1946), as Mr. Solomon Potter — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/the-stranger.md)
- *Bedlam* (1946), as Lord Mortimer
- *Thrill of a Romance* (1945), as Dr. Tovve
- *Merry Go Round of 1938* (1937), as Billy
- *Expensive Women* (1931), as George Allison
- *The Reckless Hour* (1931), as Seymour Jennison
- *Smart Money* (1931), as Irontown Salesman-Gambler
- *God's Gift to Women* (1931), as Mons. Cesare

## Gallery

- ![Billy House](https://film.one/media/person/1227487/gallery-210f73475da5.jpg) Billy House — Ray Jones, Universal Photo., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Billy_House_1937.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Orson Welles (left) & Billy House in The Stranger - cropped screenshot (1946)](https://film.one/media/person/1227487/gallery-f4b8a19e7011.jpg) Orson Welles (left) & Billy House in The Stranger - cropped screenshot (1946) — film screenshot (International Pictures / RKO), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/The_Stranger_1946_%284%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![L. to R. : Nana Bryant, Billy House, Lee Patrick & Dale Belding in Inner Sanctum - publicity still (cropped) (1948)](https://film.one/media/person/1227487/gallery-f8386ab3134c.jpg) L. to R. : Nana Bryant, Billy House, Lee Patrick & Dale Belding in Inner Sanctum - publicity still (cropped) (1948) — unknown (M. R. S. Pictures / Film Classics, Inc.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Inner_Sanctum_%281948%29_1.JPG/1280px-Inner_Sanctum_%281948%29_1.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Billy House](https://film.one/media/person/1227487/gallery-5c7c46b13037.jpg) Billy House — Image via TMDB
- ![Billy House](https://film.one/media/person/1227487/gallery-ee6946a17e29.jpg) Billy House — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/billy-house