William Bakewell

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.

Life and career

Bakewell, educated at Page Military Academy, began his film career as an extra in the movie Fighting Blood, and went on to appear in some 170 films and TV shows. He is most remembered for playing Albert in the 1930 All Quiet on the Western Front, and Roddy, Joan Crawford's brother in Dance, Fools, Dance. 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 significant status past the Depression years, although he became familiar in dozens of films, from Gone with the Wind to the phenomenally popular Disney television miniseries, Davy Crockett, in which he played Major Tobias Norton. In 1946, Bakewell starred in the Columbia serial Hop Harrigan, where he played a top Air Corps pilot.

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 The Radio Section of the Special Service Division as the Post Intelligence Officer and, also worked under the department that handled distribution of recorded programs to overseas station circuits.

For four decades Bakewell served on the board of Motion Picture and Television Fund.

Further reading

• William Bakewell (1991), Hollywood Be Thy Name: Random Recollections of a Movie Veteran From Silents to Talkies to TV (ISBN 0-8108-2388-8)

External links

• William Bakewell at the Internet Movie Database
• William Bakewell at Allmovie

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