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.

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.

Gone with the Wind

7.9

All Quiet on the Western Front

7.8

I Dream of Jeannie

7.8

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

6.9

The Beverly Hillbillies

6.8

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

6.4

Leave It to Beaver

6.9

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

6.3

The Strongest Man in the World

6.1

Green Acres

7.3

Mister Ed

6.7

Petticoat Junction

5.8

The Farmer's Daughter

6.9

Maverick

6.8

Beyond Tomorrow

6.0

Seven Sinners

6.0

Alias Smith and Jones

6.9

Romance on the High Seas

6.7

The Virginian

6.4

The Iron Mask

6.7

The Bat Whispers

6.4

That Girl

6.2

Dance, Fools, Dance

6.4

Radar Men from the Moon

4.4

Hazel

6.9

Peter Gunn

6.5

The Capture

6.1

Love, American Style

6.0

Quality Street

5.9

Sea Hunt

6.5

Old Ironsides

6.2

Paid

6.8

You Gotta Stay Happy

6.5

Zenobia

4.6

The Fabulous Dorseys

6.0

Back Street

6.1

Guilty Hands

6.0

The Saint Takes Over

6.3

The Battle of the Sexes

5.2

Lucky Me

6.7

West Point

7.4

Not With My Wife, You Don't

6.0

Nanny and the Professor

6.0

Highway Patrol

5.8

Dr. Kildare's Victory

5.8

Lady of the Pavements

4.6

I Live on Danger

5.7

Playing Around

4.7

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

5.7

M Squad

5.2

Three-Cornered Moon

5.2

The Dawn Express

4.0

Politics

6.3

Reducing

3.8

Come Fill the Cup

7.0

So This Is New York

6.0

Lux Video Theatre

6.0

Green Eyes

5.0

The Trespasser

5.0

Exiled to Shanghai

4.9

While Paris Sleeps

5.8

Daybreak

4.0

Sea Spoilers

4.5

So This Is Love

4.5

The Duke of West Point

3.8

87th Precinct

7.5

On With the Show!

5.0

The Last Edition

5.0

A Woman of Experience

5.2

Lucky Devils

6.3

The Shield of Honor

4.3

When the Redskins Rode

4.7

Hop Harrigan: America's Ace of the Airways

3.7

Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter

6.5

The Spirit of Notre Dame

6.3

I'm the Law

5.7

Straight Is the Way

5.5

Show of Shows

5.5

Hotel Imperial

6.0

Pete and Gladys

6.5

The Adventures of Boston Blackie

4.0

Gold Diggers of Broadway

7.0

Davy Crockett Goes to Congress

10.0

Strangers All

5.5

You Can't Buy Everything

7.0

Lady Luck

5.0

Happiness C.O.D.

6.0

King of the Bandits

4.0

Jungle Menace

5.0

Crimson Romance

6.0

Sons of Steel

5.0

Harold Teen

7.0

The Curtain Falls

5.0

Mile a Minute Love

6.0

Annapolis

3.0

King of the Turf

7.0

The Party's Over

3.0

Arthur Takes Over

2.0

Call Her Mom

4.0

Profiles in Courage

5.0

Guestward, Ho!

4.0

Harbor Command

4.0

Laddie

0.0

Together We Live

0.0

Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl

0.0

Trapped by G-Men

0.0

On Probation

0.0

Dangerous Holiday

0.0

Straightaway

0.0

Speed Wings

0.0

A Man of Sentiment

0.0

Set This Town on Fire

0.0

Bruised Celluloid

0.0

Cheaters at Play

0.0

Jungle Terror

0.0

The Quitter

0.0

The Higgins Family

0.0

The Postman Didn't Ring

0.0

Messenger of Peace

0.0

King of the Mounties

0.0

Wells Fargo Gunmaster

0.0

Hot Stuff

0.0

The Latest from Paris

0.0

Night Wind

0.0

Mother

0.0

The Heart Thief

0.0

Whispering Wires

0.0

Bringing Up Buddy

0.0

Official Detective

0.0

The Roaring 20's

0.0

The Great Gildersleeve

0.0