Biography
William Austin (also credited as William Crosby Piercy Austin) was a British character actor. Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, he moved to England for his education after his father's death and later worked in business in Shanghai before settling in the United States to pursue acting.
He began his film career in the early 1920s and appeared in numerous American films and serials through the 1940s, often in small or uncredited roles. He is noted for his performance as the sidekick to Clara Bow in It (1927) and for playing Alfred, Batman's butler, in the 1943 serial Batman. Austin also appeared as the Duke of Cleves in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and as Cyril Glossop in The Gay Divorcee (1934). He was the brother of actor Albert Austin and worked briefly as a film editor.
