In Rory Calhoun's CBS western series The Texan, Wills appeared in the lead role in the 1960 episode entitled "The Eyes of Captain Wylie". The Oscar was instead won by Peter Ustinov for his role as Lentulus Batiatus in Spartacus. "Bow-Wow" Wojciechowicz, accepted blame for the ill-advised effort, claiming that Wills had known nothing about it. However, his aggressive campaign for the award was considered tasteless by many, including the film's star/director/producer John Wayne, who publicly apologized for Wills. Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Davy Crockett's companion "Beekeeper" in the film The Alamo (1960). Wills was cast in numerous serious film roles, including as "the city of Chicago" as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant (1956), which also features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West (1937), in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, Francis Joins the WACS.
Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule.
One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Mule in a series of popular films. After appearing in a few westerns he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. He continued to work in films and television, usually in roguishly lovable good-ol'-boy parts, up until his death in 1978.Chill Theodore Wills (J– December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. His wife died in 1971, and he remarried, to Novadeen Googe, in 1973. His delightful portrayal of Beekeeper in The Alamo (1960) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but his blatant and embarrassing campaign for the Oscar cost him the award and subjected him to a great deal of humiliation - and probably cost the film a number of awards as well. After a prominent appearance with The Avalon Boys as both himself and the bass-singing voice of Stan Laurel in Way Out West (1937), Wills disbanded the group and began a solo career as a usually jovial (but occasionally sinister) character actor, primarily in Westerns. During an appearance at the Trocadero in Hollywood, they were spotted by an RKO executive, subsequently appearing as a group in several low-budget Westerns. He formed a musical group, Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys. While performing in vaudeville in Kansas City, he married ballet dancer Betty Chappelle, with whom he had two children. A musician from his youth, he performed from the age of 12 with tent shows, in vaudeville, and with stock companies. Named "Chill" as an ironic comment on his birth date being the hottest day of 1902. Colorful character actor of American Westerns.