{{short description|American actor (1898–1950)}}
{{Infobox person | name = Dink Trout | image = | image_size = | image_caption = | birth_name = Francis Trout | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1898|6|18}} | birth_place = Beardstown, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1950|3|26|1898|6|8}} | death_place = Burbank, California, U.S. | death_cause = | occupation = Film actor<br>radio personality<br>voice actor | years_active = 1926–1950 }} '''Francis "Dink" Trout''' (June 18, 1898 – March 26, 1950) was an American actor, voice artist and radio personality.
== Biography ==
=== Early years === Trout was born in 1898 in Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Felts|first1=David V.|title=Second Thoughts|newspaper=Southern Illinoisan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4233199/southern_illinoisan/|agency=Southern Illinoisan|date=March 31, 1950|location=Illinois, Carbondale|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = February 5, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
=== Radio === In 1927, Trout had his own musical program on WOR in Newark, New Jersey.<ref>{{cite news|title=(radio listing)|newspaper=The Daily Messenger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4233309/the_daily_messenger/|agency=The Daily Messenger|date=February 15, 1927|location=New York, Canandaigua|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = February 5, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Much of his career involved playing characters in American radio shows. He was heard as Waldo Binney on ''The Life of Riley'',{{r|rgy|page1=157-158}} as Mr. Anderson on ''The Dennis Day Show'' and as Luke Spears on ''Lum and Abner''. He was also heard in ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', the ''Cass Daley Show'', ''The Nebbs'',<ref name="sies">Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-5149-4}}. P. 705.</ref> and ''The Jim Backus Show''.<ref name="rgy">{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |title=Radio's Golden Years :The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs, 1930-1960 |date=1981 |publisher=A.S. Barnes |location=San Diego |isbn=0-498-02393-1 |page=137 |edition=1st |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Miscellaneous-Encyclopedias/Radio's-Golden-Years-Encyclopedia-of-Radio-Programs-Terrace.pdf |accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
=== Stage === On Broadway, Trout had the role of Zappo in ''The Wild Rose'' (1926).<ref>{{cite web|title=Dink Trout|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/41824/Dink-Trout|website=Playbill Vault|accessdate=6 February 2016}}</ref>
=== Music === Trout played marimba and trombone for Ben Bernie and his orchestra.<ref>{{cite news|title=Studio Notes|newspaper=The Evening News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4233408/the_evening_news/|agency=The Evening News|date=January 5, 1939|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = February 5, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
=== Film === In 1936 Trout made his first (uncredited) film appearance in ''Under Your Spell''. Later in 1941 he appeared in ''Scattergood Baines'' as Plinky Pickett. Trout reprised this role for the next two films in the ''Scattergood Baines'' chronology. He made several other film appearances throughout his life, though he was generally uncredited. In 1947 he voiced the title character in Disney's ''Bootle Beetle'', a character he continued to voice for the next three years. He also played Phink, the pressure cooker salesman in the unaired Three Stooges TV pilot, ''Jerks of All Trades''.{{Citation needed |date=August 2020}} His final performance was as the voice of the King of Hearts in ''Alice in Wonderland'', which was released over a year after his death.
=== Death === One year before the release of ''Alice in Wonderland'', Trout died after having had major surgery in Hollywood, on March 26, 1950, at the age of 51.<ref name="bt">{{cite news|title=Trout, Radio Player, Dies After Operation|newspaper=The Bismarck Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4233532/the_bismarck_tribune/|agency=The Bismarck Tribune|date=March 28, 1950|location=North Dakota, Bismarck|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = February 5, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles
==Filmography== {{div col|colwidth=26em}} * ''Under Your Spell'' (1936) - Small Man (uncredited) * ''Scattergood Baines'' (1941) - Pliny Pickett * ''Scattergood Baines Pulls the Strings'' (1941) - Pliny Pickett * ''Miss Polly'' (1941) - Postman Wilbur Boggs * ''Cinderella Swings It'' (1943) - Pliny Pickett * ''Gildersleeve's Bad Day'' (1943) - Otis (uncredited) * ''It's a Great Life'' (1943) - Little Man (uncredited) * ''Food and Magic'' (1943, Documentary short) - Meek Butcher Customer (uncredited) * ''Up in Arms'' (1944) - Startled Man in Cable Car (uncredited) * ''The Doughgirls'' (1944) - Young Husband (uncredited) * ''Irish Eyes Are Smiling'' (1944) - Meek Husband (uncredited) * ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1945) - Undetermined (uncredited) * ''Sudan'' (1945) - Bedai the Potter (uncredited) * ''The Horn Blows at Midnight'' (1945) - Trumpet Player (uncredited) * ''Notorious'' (1946) - Court Clerk (uncredited) * ''Bootle Beetle'' (1947, short) - Bootle Beetle (voice) * ''So Dear to My Heart'' (1948) - Bob Peters - Station Agent (uncredited) * ''Sea Salts'' (1949, short) - 'Mac' Bootle Beetle (voice, uncredited) * ''Jerks of All Trades'' (1949, TV pilot) - Mr. Phink * ''The Greener Yard'' (1949, short) - Bootle Beetle (voice) * ''Morris the Midget Moose'' (1950, short) - Old Bootle Beetle / Balsam (voice, posthumous release, uncredited) * ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1951) - King of Hearts (voice, posthumous release, final film role) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0873790}} * {{IBDB name|62681}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trout, Dink}} Category:1898 births Category:1950 deaths Category:American radio personalities Category:American male film actors Category:American male radio actors Category:American male voice actors Category:Male actors from Illinois Category:People from Beardstown, Illinois Category:University of Illinois System alumni Category:20th-century American male actors