William Bendix January 14 1906 December 14 1964 was an American film radio and television actor best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A Riley in radio and televisions The Life of Riley He also received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island 1942 Description above from the Wikipedia article William Bendix licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia