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Linda Watkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linda Watkins Hess
Watkins in 1931
Born
Linda Mathews Watkins

(1908-05-23)May 23, 1908
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedOctober 31, 1976(1976-10-31) (aged 68)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1925–1974
Spouse
Gabriel Hess
(m. 1932)
Children1

Linda Mathews Watkins (May 23, 1908 – October 31, 1976) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actress.

Early life

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Born in Boston, Massachusetts, as Linda Mathews Watkins, the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R. (née Mathews) Watkins.[1] Her father was active in real estate in Boston. She was related to physicist Albert A. Michelson and painter Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore.[2]

Watkins attended a teachers' college because her parents wanted her to teach. She later went to study at the Theatre Guild.[3]

Career

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Stage

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After six months Watkins began to appear with the Theater Guild's summer repertory program in Scarborough, New York. Three weeks after she finished a course at the Theater Guild's Dramatic School, she had the lead in The Devil in the Cheese.[4] The producer was Charles Hopkins.[5]

Watkins gained additional acting experience during a season with the Hartman stock theater company in Columbus, Ohio, after which the Shubert Organization gave her the lead in its Chicago production of Trapped.[3]

Aged 17, she performed in the Tom Cushing comedy The Devil In The Cheese with Fredric March at the Charles Hopkins Theater in New York City.[6] In 1928, she appeared in the Forest Theater production of Trapped by Samuel Shipman. She appeared in a revival of The Wild Duck in November 1928, starred in the George S. Kaufman/Ring Lardner comedy June Moon in 1929, and co-starred with Ralph Morgan in Sweet Stranger in 1930.[7]

Film

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She debuted in movies in Sob Sister (1931), a film in which she plays a female reporter. Reviewer Muriel Babcock remarked that Watkins "is cool, blond, poised, good to look upon. She plays the title role with admirable restraint and gives every evidence of being a comer in films."[citation needed]

Linda Watkins, 1932.

Her second movie was Good Sport (1931), a screen adaptation of a story by William J. Hurlbut. Produced by the Fox Film Company, Watkins played Marilyn Parker, a naive wife caught up in a love triangle. Her co-stars were Alan Dinehart and John Boles. She appeared in Charlie Chan's Chance, a lost 1932 film starring Warner Oland as the famous detective.[citation needed] Edmund Lowe and Watkins co-starred in Cheaters at Play (1932).

Her other film credits included From Hell It Came (1957), Ten North Frederick (1958), As Young as We Are (1958), Cash McCall (1960), Because They're Young (1960), The Parent Trap (1961), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), Huckleberry Finn (1974) and Bad Ronald (1974).[citation needed]

Television

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Watkins appeared in numerous television broadcasts beginning in 1950 with an episode of The Billy Rose Show. Other television shows appearances include The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Asphalt Jungle, Bonanza, The David Niven Show, Death Valley Days, The Doris Day Show, Gunsmoke (S7E3 - as Mattie in the episode “Miss Kitty” & S8E10 - as Mrs. Dorf in the episode “The Hunger”), Hazel, How to Marry a Millionaire, Ichabod and Me, The Investigators, M Squad, McMillan & Wife, The Munsters, Perry Mason, Peter Gunn, and Wagon Train.[citation needed]

One of her last television roles as a guest star was as Maggie MacKenzie in The Waltons in the episode "The Journey" (1973).[8]

Personal life

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Watkins married lawyer Gabriel Lorie Hess, a widower, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on January 28, 1932.[9]

Death

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Watkins died in Los Angeles in 1976, aged 68, from undisclosed causes.[10]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1931 Sob Sister Jane Ray
1931 Good Sport Marilyn Parker
1932 Charlie Chan's Chance Gloria Garland
1932 Cheaters at Play Tess Boyce
1932 The Gay Caballero Ann Grey
1933 Playthings of Desire Gloria Dawn
1957 From Hell It Came Mrs. Mae Kilgore
1958 Going Steady Aunt Lola
1958 Ten North Frederick Peg Slattery
1958 As Young as We Are Mrs. Hutchins
1960 Cash McCall Marie Austen
1960 Because They're Young Frances McCalla
1961 The Parent Trap Edna Robinson
1964 Good Neighbor Sam Edna Bailey
1974 Huckleberry Finn Mrs. Grangerford
1974 Bad Ronald Mrs. Schumacher TV movie, (final film role)

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1950 The Billy Rose Show Season 1 Episode 4: "Tattle Tale Red"
1957 Wagon Train Lottie Tarback Season 1 Episode 5: "The Les Rand Story"
1957 M Squad Mrs. Gardner Season 1 Episode 11: "The Alibi Witness"
1957 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Customer in Bar Season 3 Episode 2: "Mail Order Prophet"
1958 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Lila Shank Season 3 Episode 20: "On the Nose"
1958 The Adventures of Jim Bowie Ellie Franklin Season 2 Episode 35: "Bowie's Baby"
1958 How to Marry a Millionaire Nellie Season 1 Episode 20: "The Maid"
1959 Perry Mason Grace Runyan Season 2 Episode 28: "The Case of the Spanish Cross"
1959 The David Niven Show Floss Season 1 Episode 6: "A Day of Small Miracles"
1959-60 Death Valley Days Hannah
Phoebe Stoner
Kate
Season 2 Episode 7: "One in a Hundred" as Hannah
Season 8 Episode 5: "Fair Exchange" as Phoebe Stoner
Season 8 Episode 26: "The Man Everyone Hated" as Kate
1959-61 Peter Gunn Louise Sinclair
Laura Mitchell
Season 1 Episode 23: "Dirty Word" as Louise Sinclair
Season 3 Episode 33: "A Bullet for the Boy" as Laura Mitchell
1959–1973 Gunsmoke Kate
Elsie
Mattie
Mrs. Dorf
Ma
Abby Shadler
Season 4 Episode 23: "Sky" (1959) as Kate
Season 6 Episode 15: "Old Fool" (1960) as Elsie
Season 7 Episode 3 (1961): "Miss Kitty" as Mattie
Season 8 Episode 10: "The Hunger" (1962) as Mrs. Dorf
Season 10 Episode 6: "Take Her, She's Cheap" (1964) as Ma
Season 18 Episode 17: "Shadler" (1973) as Abby Shadler
1961 The Asphalt Jungle Mrs. Ainslee Season 1 Episode 1: "The Burglary Ring"
1961 Ichabod and Me Miss Prouty Season 1 Episode 10: "Ichabod's Romance"
1961 The Investigators Madelaine Fowler Season 1 Episode 12: "Something for Charity"
1963–1964 Hazel Grace
Gracie
Season 3 Episode 2: "An Example for Hazel" as Grace
Season 3 Episode 18: "Scheherazade and Her Frying Pan: Part 1" as Gracie
Season 3 Episode 19: "Scheherazade and Her Frying Pan: Part 2" as Gracie
1964 The Munsters Lydia Gardner Season 1 Episode 10: "Autumn Croakus"
1968 The Doris Day Show Maggie Wells Season 1 Episode 11: "The Job"
1971–1972 McMillan & Wife Emily Hull reoccurring role as mother of Sally McMillan (Susan St. James) in 3 episodes
Season 1 Episode 0: "Once Upon a Dead Man"
Season 1 Episode 2: "The Easy Sunday Murder Case"
Season 1 Episode 6: "Till Death Do Us Part"
1973 The Waltons Maggie MacKenzie Season 2 Episode 1: "The Journey"

References

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  1. ^ Watkins' parents' names from Massachusetts Vital Records, 1908 births, vol. 577, pg. 101.
  2. ^ Peak, Mayme Ober (August 20, 1931). "Selection of 'Baby Stars' Causes Row in Filmdom". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. p. 26. Retrieved July 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ a b "Linda Watkins Says She Owes Ohio Debt". The Akron Beacon Journal. Ohio, Akron. October 2, 1931. p. 18. Retrieved July 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "Sidelights of the Stage and Screen". The Billings Gazette. Montana, Billings. February 27, 1927. p. 21. Retrieved July 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Charles Hopkins at the Internet Broadway Database
  6. ^ ​Devil in the Cheese​ at the Internet Broadway Database
  7. ^ "Linda Watkins". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  8. ^ TV Guide: Volume 37. Triangle Publications. 1989. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  9. ^ "HOLLYWOOD HEYDAY: January 29, 1932". hollywoodheyday.blogspot.com. October 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
  10. ^ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPHT-DLH : 26 November 2014), Linda M Hess, 31 Oct 1976; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.

Sources

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  • Fresno Bee, "Linda Watkins Hinted To Be A Bride", January 27, 1932, pg. 5.
  • Los Angeles Times, "Baby Stars Vote Splits Up WAMPAS", August 15, 1931, pg. A1.
  • Los Angeles Times, "New Move Marks War On Wampas", August 24, 1931, pg. A1.
  • Los Angeles Times, "Studios Place Stars Together", August 29, 1931, pg. 11.
  • Los Angeles Times, "Sob Sister Proffered At Loews", October 23, 1931, pg. A11.
  • New York Times, "A New Ingenue", January 9, 1927, pg. X4.
  • New York Times, "Trapped To Open Aug. 7", July 25, 1928, pg. 13.
  • New York Times, "In Sweet Stranger Cast", August 28, 1930, pg. 27.
  • New York Times, "The Screen", December 12, 1931, pg. 23.
  • New York Times, "Linda Watkins Weds G.L. Hess In Chicago", January 29, 1932, pg. 12.
  • Zanesville Register, "Along Broadway", Monday, May 4, 1959, pg. 5.
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