William Baker Rock (August 5, 1872 – June 27, 1922) was a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

. He was a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

with

Maude Fulton Maude Fulton (May 14, 1881 – November 9, 1950) was an American actress, playwright, stage director, theater manager, and later a Hollywood screenwriter. Early life Born in 1881 in El Dorado, Kansas, she was the daughter of newspaperman Titu ...

in the vaudeville act of Rock and Fulton. He later was a partner with Frances White (1898–1969) as Rock and White.

Biography

He was born on August 5, 1872 in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

to William Beverly Rock and Matilda Baker. He married Jane Ryder on October 5, 1905 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He married Gladys Tilbury of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. On July 6, 1921 he married Helen Eby of Altoona, Pennsylvania. She appeared with him in '' Hitchy-Koo''. On July 13, 1921 he was

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

ized and had one-third of his stomach removed. He died on June 27, 1922 at the National Stomach Hospital in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

of cancer of the stomach. He was buried in Fairview Cemetery in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, William 1872 births 1922 deaths 19th-century American dancers Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania Comedians from Indiana Vaudeville performers 20th-century American dancers American male dancers 20th-century American comedians