Edwin Rochelle

Biography

Edwin Rochelle started out in films in the 1930s as a stand-in for smaller actors. Like many actors of the 1930s, he had an affiliation with a studio and a majority of his work came from that studio. Rochelle was the go-to stand-in for Barry Fitzgerald and other stars at RKO, and sometimes this led to upgrades where he was paid more because he would deliver dialog. He would have to be paid as a day player for every day that he was on set as an actor's stand-in. By the late 1950s, Rochelle was one of the guys that was regularly used as a stand-in for various guest stars in productions filmed at Universal Studios. He would regularly be seen in westerns and dramas filmed there throughout the early 1960s. It was during one of these productions where Rochelle's life would change forever when he stood-in for actor Robert Lansing. After he stood in for Robert Lansing, a friendship was forged that lasted until Rochelle's death. Lansing would use Rochelle whenever Lansing was working, and he would usually make sure Rochelle was upgraded to a silent bit on set. Lansing would regularly take Rochelle on location with him as his assistant and would occasionally give him a credited role like in Namu, the Killer Whale (1966). This provided regular work and a steady income for Rochelle for more than a decade. When Lansing's career started to slow down, so did Rochelle's. Rochelle decided to retire, but he still would come back for an occasional role until he passed away in 1977.