Billy Gray | |
|---|---|
 Gray in 1977 | |
| Born | William Thomas Gray January 13, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, businessman |
| Years active | 1943–1980 |
| Spouses | |
| Website | www |
William Thomas Gray (born January 13, 1938) [1] is an American actor, competitive motorcycle racer and inventor, known for his role as Bud on the television series Father Knows Best (1954-1960). [2]
Gray was born in Los Angeles, to William H. and Beatrice Gray. His mother was an actress, and both had appeared in Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (in separated scenes), a 1949 horror comedy. [3] He acted in more than 200 movies. He acted with stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Doris Day, Bob Hope, William Holden, Michael Rennie, Judith Anderson, Pat O'Brien and Barbara Stanwyck. [4] He did not attend school and was educated by teachers hired by the film studios, often having class in tents set up on studio lots. [5] He portrayed a young Jim Thorpe in Jim Thorpe – All-American and starred in the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still . He portrayed Tagg "Bull's Eye" Oakley, younger brother of Annie Oakley in the pilot episode of Annie Oakley . [6] He starred in the television series Father Knows Best and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. His father died when he was 16, while he was working on the show. [7] He was cast as Plato in Rebel Without a Cause but because a delay in shooting interfered with his commitment to Father Knows Best he had to give up the role. He was arrested for marijuana possession in 1962 and served 45 days in jail, which effectively ended his acting career. [8] From 1970 to 1995 he was a Class A motorcycle speedway racer and race promoter. [9] [10] He then turned to inventing and entrepreneurship, having invented the F-1 guitar pick. He is also a motorcycle collector and businessman. [11] Gray was married to and divorced from Helena Kallianiotes (1967–1969) and Donna Wilkes (1977–1981).[ citation needed ]As of July 2020 [update] , Gray lives in Topanga, California in the same house he bought in 1957 while working on Father Knows Best. [12]
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| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Fighting Father Dunne | Chip | |
| 1950 | Father Is a Bachelor | Feb Chalotte | |
| 1950 | Singing Guns | Albert | |
| 1950 | In a Lonely Place | Boy seeking autograph | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Mister 880 | Mickey | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Jim Thorpe – All-American | Jim Thorpe (young) | |
| 1951 | On Moonlight Bay | Wesley Winfield | |
| 1951 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Bobby Benson | |
| 1952 | Talk About a Stranger | Robert 'Bud' Fontaine Jr. | |
| 1953 | All I Desire | Ted Murdoch | |
| 1953 | [[By the Light of the Silvery Moon | Wesley Winfield | |
| 1953 | The Girl Next Door | Joe | |
| 1954 | The Outlaw Stallion | Danny Saunders | |
| 1955 | The Seven Little Foys | Bryan Lincoln Foy | |
| 1961 | The Explosive Generation | Bobby Herman Jr. | |
| 1966 | The Navy vs. the Night Monsters | CPO Fred Twining | |
| 1971 | Dusty and Sweets McGee | City Life | |
| 1971 | Werewolves on Wheels | Pill | |
| 1980 | Porklips Now | Dullard |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | The Gene Autry Show (TV series) | Jimmy Foster | Episode: "The Star Toter" |
| 1953 | Adventures of Superman | Young Alan Harper | Episode: "Shot in the Dark" |
| 1954-1960 | Father Knows Best | James "Bud" Anderson Jr. | 200 episodes |
| 1957 | The Thin Man | Mike Edwards | Episode: "Come Back Darling Asta" |
| 1960 | Stagecoach West | 'Frankie Niles' | Episode: "Dark Return" |
| 1960 | Peter Gunn | 'Eric Thorwald' | Episode: "S2 E34 The Semi-Private Eye" |
| 1961 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Perry Hatch | Season 7 Episode 1: “The Hat Box” |
| 1965 | Rawhide | Lindsay McCullers | Episode: "Moment in the Sun" |
| 1977 | The Father Knows Best Reunion | James "Bud" Anderson Jr. | Television film |
| 1977 | Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas | James "Bud" Anderson Jr. | Television film |
Robert George Young was an American film, television, and radio actor best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father character, in Father Knows Best and the physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. (ABC). In 1978, Young produced a documentary that "stressed the importance of motorcycle training for teenagers." This film earned him the 1979 BAFTA Award for Best Specialised Film.
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series that fictionalizes the life of the famous Annie Oakley. Featuring actress Gail Davis in the title role, the weekly program ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. A total of 81 black-and-white episodes were produced, with each installment running 25 minutes in length. ABC aired daytime reruns of the series on Saturdays and Sundays from 1959 to 1960 and then again from 1964 to 1965.
Tommy Ivo, also known as "TV Tommy" and "Instant Ivo" is an actor and drag racer, who was active in the 1960s racing community.
Father Knows Best is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons and 203 episodes. Created by Ed James, Father Knows Best follows the lives of the Andersons, a middle-class family living in the town of Springfield. The state in which Springfield is located is never specified, but it is generally accepted to be located in the Midwestern United States.
Elinor Donahue is a retired American actress, best known today for playing the role of Betty Anderson, the eldest child of Jim and Margaret Anderson on the 1950s American sitcom Father Knows Best.
Mary Badham is an American actress who portrayed Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the time, Badham was the youngest actress ever nominated in this category.
Phillip Alford is an American former actor best known for his roles as Jem Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, and Boy Anderson in Shenandoah (1965). Since retiring from acting, he has become a businessman.
Jane Withers was an American actress and children's radio show host. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for box-office gross in 1937 and 1938.
Billy Eugene Hughes, Jr. was an American actor best known for various television and film roles he played during the 1960s. His Hollywood lineage included both his father and uncle, who were both stuntmen and film producers. While in Alma, Arkansas, in 2005, he apparently died in his sleep.
Lee William Aaker was an American child actor, producer, carpenter, and ski instructor known for his appearance as Rusty of "B-Company" in the 1950s television program The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. He was the final surviving cast member of the series. In 1952, Lee Aaker appeared in Desperate Search with Howard Keel and Keenan Wynn.
Marcia Mae Jones was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years.
Richard Ross Eyer is an American former child actor who worked during the 1950s and 1960s. He then became a teacher and taught at elementary schools in Bishop, California until he retired in 2006. He is the older brother of Robert Eyer (1948-2005), another child actor of the period.
Roger Lance Mobley is a former child actor in the 1950s and 1960s who made more than 118 television appearances and co-starred in nine feature films in a nine-year career. He served in the Green Berets during the Vietnam War, and was subsequently a police officer in Beaumont, Texas.
Robert Ball Watson, credited as Bobs Watson, was an American actor and Methodist minister.
Mickey Sholdar is an American actor.
Ted Donaldson was an American actor.
Robert Brubaker was an American character actor best known for his roles in television and movie westerns, including Gunsmoke and 40 Guns to Apache Pass.
Mary Eilene Janssen is an American retired film and television actress.
Michael Chapin is an American former child actor in film and television.
Robert “Georgie” Nokes was a child actor. He was in the American Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life. He starred in the 1948 film Shaggy and was in a series of Monogram comedy films about the Latham family. He was blond.
Actor Billy Gray ("Father Knows Best") is 85
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