Cast

William Bakewell

Acting

Cast

William Bakewell

Known for

Acting

Born

1908-05-02

From

Los Angeles, California, USA

Died

1993-04-15

Also known as Billy Bakewell, William Bakewell Jr., Bill Bakewell

Biography

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.

William Bakewell

William Bakewell

Biography

Gone with the Wind

All Quiet on the Western Front

Quality Street

The Show of Shows

Zenobia

Radar Men from the Moon

Speed Wings

Harold Teen

Romance on the High Seas

The Strongest Man in the World

So This Is New York

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

Straightaway

The Farmer's Daughter

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Call Her Mom

Dance, Fools, Dance

King of the Mounties

Down Liberty Road

King of the Bandits

Seven Sinners

The Devil's Trademark

The Fabulous Dorseys

Beyond Tomorrow

Not With My Wife, You Don't!

The Iron Mask

You Gotta Stay Happy

Cheaters at Play

The Capture

The Spirit of Notre Dame

Set This Town on Fire

I Live on Danger

Three Cornered Moon

Back Street

Exiled to Shanghai

Lucky Me

On With the Show!

Messenger of Peace

Dr. Kildare's Victory

So This Is Love

West Point

The Trespasser

The Saint Takes Over

Strangers All

The Bat Whispers

Come Fill the Cup

Night Wind

Guilty Hands

Lucky Devils

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

Old Ironsides

Daybreak

Hotel Imperial

A Woman of Experience

The Postman Didn't Ring

Politics

Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter

A Man of Sentiment

Dangerous Holiday

Reducing

Lady Luck

Sea Spoilers

While Paris Sleeps

When the Redskins Rode

Crimson Romance

The Curtain Falls

Laddie

The Last Edition

Lady of the Pavements

Hot Stuff

On Probation

Trapped by G-Men

Paid

The Latest from Paris

Together We Live

Hop Harrigan: America's Ace of the Airways