page_title: The Life of Riley
section_title: William Bendix
hierarchical_section_title: The Life of Riley / Television / William Bendix
caption_attribution_description: Cast photo of the Riley family from the television show The Life of Riley. Pictured from left: Lugene Sanders (Riley's daughter, Babs), William Bendix (Chester A. Riley), Marjorie Reynolds (wife Peg), Wesley Morgan (son Junior).
context_page_description: The Life of Riley is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book.
context_section_description: The second TV series ran for six seasons, from January 2, 1953, to May 23, 1958. It was produced by Tom McKnight for NBC and featured William Bendix. He was supported by Marjorie Reynolds, replacing both Paula Winslowe and Rosemary DeCamp, as wife Peg; Tom D'Andrea as schemer buddy Jim Gillis; Gloria Blondell (sister of Joan Blondell) as Gillis' wife, Honeybee; Lugene Sanders as daughter Babs; and Wesley Morgan as son Junior. This Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at #16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. It then went into syndicated reruns. The latter portion of the fifth season, broadcast between April and June 1957, was filmed and originally broadcast in color, although only black-and-white film prints of those episodes were syndicated. For the final season, filming reverted to black-and-white. Sponsors of the TV show included Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer (1949–50), Gulf Oil (1953–58) and Lever Brothers (1957–58).
  In all of the show's incarnations, the comedic plotlines centered around Riley himself, a gullible and occasionally clumsy (but big-hearted) man, and the doings and undoings of his family. Riley's penchant for turning mere trouble into near-disaster through his well-intentioned bumbling was often aided or instigated by his arch best friend/next-door neighbor, Gillis.
  Bendix and Rosemary DeCamp reprised the roles in an hour-long radio adaptation of the feature film that was presented on Lux Radio Theater on May 8, 1950.
  A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots.
caption: The Riley family. From left: Lugene Sanders (Babs), William Bendix (Chester A. Riley), Marjorie Reynolds (Peg), and Wesley Morgan (Junior).
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