Hoosier was prince before Angelina Jolie's "Maleficent"
In Angelina Jolie's new film "Maleficent," a CGI re-imagining of the 1959 Walt Disney classic, "Sleeping Beauty," Prince Phillip is portrayed by Australian actor, Brenton Thwaites.
Born August 9, 1989, Thwaites was less than three weeks old when, 7,200 miles away, a man by the name of Bill Shirley lay dying in the Guardian Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles.
The two would never meet, but would ultimately share a cinematic bond that'd link them together for life.
Reader Dan O'Brien reminded us that the voice of Prince Philip in the animated feature was Indianapolis native Bill Shirley (from the Shirley Brothers mortuary family). Shirley and Mary Costa (Princess Aurora) sang the iconic duet, "Once Upon a Dream," in the original film.
Shirley was a 1939 graduate of Shortridge High School, the class in between "I Love Lucy" writer Madelyn Pugh and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Shirley, Pugh and Davis were on student council together at Shortridge.
Read this story from the "Indianapolis News," Nov. 15, 1932
IRVINGTON BOY, IN HOLLYWOOD, CLIMBS TOWARD MOVIE STARDOM
Billy J. Shirley Registered with Fox, Paramount, Columbia Studios—Had Role in Phantom President --Just "One of Gang" to George W. Julian School Boys
Little Billy J. Shirley, who a few months ago was a school boy in Irvington, is now in Hollywood, climbing toward stardom in the movie world. Billy, age eleven, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Luther J. Shirley, 5377 Washington street, is registered with Fox, Paramount and Columbia studios.
He had an extra part in George M. Cohan's recent picture, "The Phantom President," and is now working on a picture as one of a group of orphan children. Neil Hamilton and Mae Clark have the principal roles. During the Christmas season he will appear with the Meglin Studio Kiddie Revue in a Los Angeles Theater. The Indianapolis youngster may be looked upon as a promising young player in Hollywood, but to the boys in the George W. Julian School, where he was enrolled, he is "just one of the gang."
Regularly they send him letters, telling him of the events that occur "back home." Billy and his father exchange daily bulletins, the chief subject of which is Buddy, Billy's Boston bulldog, now in Mr. Shirley's care. Billy really started making a name for himself before he went to the west coast.
His acquaintances and friends here remember him as the boy soloist with the Ogden Chorale, which sings at Christmas and Easter time on the steps of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. He accompanied members of the Sahara Grotto as soloist on trips to St. Petersburg, Fla. and Davenport, Ia. The roster of Hoosiers who have made or are making a name for themselves in film circles is long. Billy is one of the youngest and latest to have his written on the silver screen. His mother, Mrs. Inez Shirley, a musician in Indianapolis, is with him in Hollywood.
Call Star reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAdams317.