Mills Watson | |
---|---|
Born | William Oscar Watson July 10, 1940 Oakland, California |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1968–1992 |
Spouse(s) | Caroline Mary Mason, 1968–1970 (divorced) Sue (?-present) |
Mills Watson (born William Oscar Watson on July 10, 1940) [1] is an American actor who is probably best known for his comedic portrayal of the law enforcement character Deputy Perkins, first on B. J. and the Bear and later as a series star on The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo . He played Uncle Buster in the sitcom Harper Valley P.T.A. . [1]
Watson was born in Oakland, California and grew up on a ranch near Stockton. His father was a sheep rancher and his mother a school teacher. His grandparents were from Texas. [1] He attended Franklin Elementary School and graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1958. [1] His family did not have a television during his childhood and like most families of that era listened to the radio for news and entertainment. After high school he went to San Francisco State University for two semesters where he studied acting for a short time under Victor French. [1]
After appearing in a small independent film, he wanted to pursue more formal acting training and he applied to and was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he acquired much stage experience. [1] Says Watson, "I figured if I got in, I wouldn't have any excuse to fail on a training level. I could never say I didn't get the right kind of training, because this was the best in the world." Returning from England, he moved to Los Angeles and began appearing in television shows and movies, eventually retiring from acting in the early 1990s. [1]
During the 1970s, he raised a son, Mason, as a single parent, with the help of neighbors and professionals when he was at work acting. [1]
He now resides in Marcola, Oregon, [2] where he lives on a 15-acre farm with his second wife Sue. [1] When asked in an interview if he missed acting, he replied: "No. I was very fortunate to have been able to do as much as I wanted. I did enough of that. Today I have a fifteen-acre farm, growing hay. I just relax here with Sue. There's no pressure up here in Oregon. It's safe and it's not stressful at all, which I feel is keeping me alive." [1]
Watson appeared in guest roles in numerous TV series such as Gunsmoke, Mission:Impossible, Hawaii Five-O , Emergency! , McCloud , M*A*S*H , The Rockford Files , The A-Team , CHiPs , The Fall Guy , and Murder She Wrote , The Six Million Dollar Man , as well as movies including ...tick...tick...tick... (1970), The Wild Country (1970), Dirty Little Billy (1972), Charley and the Angel (1973), Papillon (1973), The Midnight Man (1974), Treasure of Matecumbe (1976), Up In Smoke (1978), Cujo , (1979) CHiPs, episode “Rustling” as Ambrose (1978) and "Repo Man" as Doyle Ware (1983), and Bulletproof (1988). [1] He also had a part in the TV miniseries War and Remembrance (1988), which he filmed in Hawaii. [1] His last role was in the 1992 television film Gunsmoke: To the Last Man .
The acting role he considers his personal favorite and most fun was as Deputy Perkins on The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. [1] He appeared on the March 22–28, 1980 cover of TV Guide as the character along with co-stars Claude Akins and Brian Kerwin. [3]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | Mod Squad | Ken Lacey | Episode "Find Tara Chapman!" | |
1970 | ...tick...tick...tick... | Joe Warren | ||
1971 | Bonanza | Fontaine | Episode "The iron butterfly" | |
1970 | The Wild Country | Feathers | ||
1972 | Dirty Little Billy | Ed | ||
1973 | M*A*S*H | Sgt. Condon | Episode "Dear Dad...Three" | |
1973 | Charley and the Angel | Frankie Zuto | ||
1973 | Papillon | Guard | ||
1974 | The Midnight Man | Cash | ||
1975 | Police Story | D. D. Rodriquez | Episode “Breaking Point” | |
1976 | Treasure of Matecumbe | Catrell | ||
1977 | The Streets of San Francisco | Arthur Devoe | Episode "A Good Cop ... But" | |
1977 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Edgar Webster | ||
1977 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Lazarus | ||
1978 | The Incredible Hulk | Sheriff Dobson | Episode "Death in the Family" | |
1978 | Up in Smoke | Harry | ||
1978 | CHiPs | Ambrose | ||
1979 | CHiPs | Doyle Ware | ||
1979 | B. J. and the Bear | Deputy Perkins | ||
1979 | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | Deputy Perkins | ||
1983 | Cujo | Gary Pervier | ||
1985 | Benson | Tiny | season 6 episode 14 "on the road" | |
1985 | Heated Vengeance | Tucker | ||
1985 | Yellow Pages | Billy O'Shea | ||
1985 | Hunter | |||
1985 | The Fall Guy | Myles Poplin | Episode "Spring Break" (S04Ep20) | |
1988 | Bulletproof | Colby |
Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens took up acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. For much of his career, Pickens played cowboy roles. He played comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, 1941, and his villainous turn in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando.
George Clifton James was an American actor known for roles as a prison floorwalker in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), the sheriff in Silver Streak (1976), a Texas tycoon in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977), and the owner of the scandalous 1919 Chicago White Sox baseball team in Eight Men Out (1988).
George Smith Lindsey was an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his role as Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D. and his subsequent tenure on Hee-Haw.
Henry George Carey Jr. was an American actor. He appeared in more than 90 films, including several John Ford Westerns, as well as numerous television series.
Edward Matthew Lauter Jr. was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in more than 200 films and TV series episodes in a career that spanned over 40 years.
William Edgar Buchanan II was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s.
Harry Alfred Bartell was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the end of network radio drama in the 1960s.
David William Huddleston was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films, including Rio Lobo, Blazing Saddles, Crime Busters, Santa Claus: The Movie, and The Big Lebowski.
Claude Aubrey Akins was an American character actor. He played Sonny Pruit in Movin' On, a 1974–1976 American drama series about a trucking team, Sheriff Lobo on the 1979–1981 television series, and a variety of other film and television roles.
Frances Mary Ryan was an American character actress featured in television and films. She was born in Los Angeles, California.
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo is an American action comedy television series that ran on NBC from September 18, 1979, to May 5, 1981. For its second season the show was renamed Lobo. The program aired Tuesday nights, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The lead character, Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo, played by Claude Akins, was a spin-off character from B. J. and the Bear, which also aired on NBC from 1979–1981.
Simon Oakland was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.
Tara Buckman is an American retired television and film actress. Her active career was mainly confined to the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Though never reaching feature status, Buckman was nonetheless a regular guest star on many television series. She also appeared in minor roles in feature films.
Charles Bert Hayward was an American motion picture stuntman and actor. He was associated particularly with the films of John Wayne. He doubled for most of the great Western and action stars of the 1950s-1980s.
Cliff Osmond was an American character actor and television screenwriter. A parallel career as an acting teacher coincided with his other activities.
William C. Watson was an American actor.
Betty Lee "Randi" Oakes is an American actress and fashion model. Active in the 1970s and early 1980s, she is probably best known for her role as Officer Bonnie Clark on the television series CHiPs, a role she played from 1979 to 1982. After marrying actor Gregory Harrison in 1980, she retired from acting after the birth of her first child in 1985.
Robert Francis Lyons is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for guest starring in numerous popular television shows since the 1960s and for appearing in such films as Getting Straight (1970), Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981), Death Wish II (1982), Murphy's Law (1986) and Platoon Leader (1988).
Ronald Norman Soble, also known and credited as Ron Soble, was an American actor in films and television for forty-five years.
Charles R. Rondeau was an American television director.