84
Age
105
Movies
39
TV Shows
9.8
Rating
William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993), also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
84
Died at
105
Movies
39
TV Shows
9.8
Avg Rating
William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993), also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
1962
William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993), also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Bakewell, educated at Los Angeles Harvard Military School, began his film career as an extra in the silent movie Fighting Blood (1924), and went on to appear in some 170 films and television shows. He had supporting roles at the end of the silent era and reached the peak of his career around 1930. He is perhaps best remembered for playing German soldier Albert Kropp in the film classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), and Rodney Jordan, Joan Crawford's brother, in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931). He also co-starred in Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) with Winnie Lightner and Lilyan Tashman. In 1933, he contributed to the founding of the Screen Actors Guild, and was member 44 of the original 50. He never achieved stardom after the Depression years, although he became familiar in dozens of films, including his short appearance as a mounted soldier in Gone with the Wind (1939) whom Scarlett O'Hara asks when the Yankee soldiers are coming to Atlanta.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army with the rank of second lieutenant. He was stationed at the 73rd Evacuation Hospital and at the Radio Section of the Special Service Division as the Post Intelligence Officer. He also worked under the department that handled distribution of recorded programs to overseas station circuits.
He starred in the Columbia Pictures serial Hop Harrigan (1946), where he played a top Air Corps pilot. He also portrayed Major Tobias Norton and a Keelboat Race Master of Ceremonies in the phenomenally popular Disney series Davy Crockett (1954-1955).
In the 1960s, he guest starred in numerous situation comedy television series, including Guestward, Ho!, Pete and Gladys, Bringing Up Buddy, The Tab Hunter Show, Mister Ed, Leave It to Beaver, The Jack Benny Program, Petticoat Junction , and Hazel. He also was cast in episodes of Peter Gunn, Sea Hunt, Wagon Train, The Roaring 20s, The Virginian, Arrest and Trial, and 87th Precinct He played the Virginia statesman George Wythe in the episode "George Mason" in the 1965 NBC documentary series, Profiles in Courage. He made his last film in 1975.
For four decades, Bakewell served on the board of Motion Picture and Television Fund. He died on April 15, 1993 of leukemia at the age of 84.
Gender
Male
Birthday
May 2, 1908
Died
April 15, 1993
Birthplace
Los Angeles, California, USA
Also Known As
Gone with the Wind
1939
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930
Quality Street
1937
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
1956
Romance on the High Seas
1948
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
1947
Seven Sinners
1940
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
1955
The Show of Shows
1929
The Strongest Man in the World
1975
Lucky Me
1954
Not With My Wife, You Don't!
1966
Beyond Tomorrow
1940
Zenobia
1939
Guilty Hands
1931
The Trespasser
1947
Come Fill the Cup
1951
The Capture
1950
The Iron Mask
1929
Paid
1930
+ 85 more movies
Love, American Style
1969
Maverick
1957
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
The Virginian
1962
The Virginian
1962
I Dream of Jeannie
1965
Petticoat Junction
1963
Petticoat Junction
1963
Petticoat Junction
1963
Leave It to Beaver
1957
Green Acres
1965
That Girl
1966
Run for Your Life
1965
Sea Hunt
1958
Peter Gunn
1958
M Squad
1957
Hazel
1961
Highway Patrol
1955
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Mister Ed
1961
+ 19 more TV shows