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Prior to entering the theatrical profession, American supporting actor William Burress was, according to his official bio, an operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad. A leading actor for Klaw and Erlanger and Charles Frohman in the late 1890s, Burress made his Broadway debut in a 1900 musical extravaganza entitled Little Red Riding Hood and later appeared in such shows as The Girl From Rectors (1909) and Miss Millions (1919). He moonlighted in films from 1913 onwards, portraying Father Le Jeune opposite William Farnum's Le Clerq in The End of the Trail (1916) and Chauvelin to Dustin Farnum's The Red Pimpernel (1917). Reduced to mostly unbilled bits in talkies, Burress turned up as a judge in Scarface (1932), a minister in Jane Eyre (1934), the toymaker in Babes in Toyland (1934), and a justice of the peace in Shall We Dance? (1937).