Linda Watkins
Encyclopedia
Linda Watkins was an actress in theater, motion pictures, and television. She was born Linda Mathews Watkins in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R. (Mathews) Watkins.
. After six months she began to appear with the guild's summer repertory
program in Scarborough, New York. Instead of finishing her studies at the guild, she pursued a job at the office of Charles Hopkins. When he asked Watkins if she preferred playing comedy or drama, she replied, "Tragedy." He was casting for a comedy production and Watkins was offered the lead role.
Only seventeen, Watkins performed in the Tom Cushing comedy The Devil In The Cheese with Fredric March
at the Charles Hopkins Theater in New York City
. 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.
Her second movie was Good Sport (1931), a screen adaptation of a story by William J. Hurlbut. Produced by the Fox Film Company, Watkins depicts 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. Edmund Lowe
and Watkins co-starred in Cheaters at Play (1932). Directed for Fox by Kenneth MacKenna
, the motion picture was adapted from a story by Gene Towne
. Her most famous and more recent film credits included The Parent Trap (the original) and Huckleberry Finn
.
in Chicago, Illinois, on January 28, 1932. Hess was attorney for Will Hays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He got his start in the movie business with Samuel Goldwyn
and Samuel Goldwyn Films
. Watkins was a close friend of Hess' first wife, Katherine Hawley. She was one of the first to send sympathy when Hawley was thrown from a horse and killed. Watkins and Hess had a son, Adam Hess, who was an attorney and secretary for the Aetna until his death in 1969; he left three daughters, Elizabeth, Faye, and Emily, the only grandchildren of Watkins. Watkins obtained her release from Fox prior to her marriage. A later romance with actor Tom Drake
ended in 1959.
Show in 1950. Other shows in which she performed are Wagon Train
(1957), From Hell It Came
(1957), Death Valley Days
(1953), How to Marry a Millionaire
(1958), M Squad
(1957), Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1957-1958), Peter Gunn
(1959), Perry Mason
(1959), The David Niven
Show (1959), The Adventures of Jim Bowie
(1958), The Munsters
and The Doris Day Show
(1968). She also appeared as Emily Hull, the mother of Sally McMillan (Susan St. James), in several episodes of McMillan & Wife. One of her last television appearances was as a guest star on The Waltons
in 1973, in an episode titled "The Journey".
Linda Watkins died in Los Angeles, California
in 1976.
Theatrical actress
At the age of sixteen Watkins' parents sent her to study at the Theatre GuildTheatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the Washington Square Players.Its original purpose was to...
. After six months she began to appear with the guild's summer repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
program in Scarborough, New York. Instead of finishing her studies at the guild, she pursued a job at the office of Charles Hopkins. When he asked Watkins if she preferred playing comedy or drama, she replied, "Tragedy." He was casting for a comedy production and Watkins was offered the lead role.
Only seventeen, Watkins performed in the Tom Cushing comedy The Devil In The Cheese with Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
at the Charles Hopkins Theater in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 1928, she appeared in the Forest Theater production of Trapped by Samuel Shipman. She appeared in a revival of The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
in November 1928, starred in the George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...
/Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
comedy June Moon
June Moon
June Moon is a play by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Based on the Lardner short story "Some Like Them Cold," about a love affair that loses steam before it ever gets started, it includes songs with words and music by Lardner but is not considered a musical per se.At its center is Fred...
in 1929, and co-starred with Ralph Morgan
Ralph Morgan
Ralph Morgan was a Hollywood film, stage and character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan .-Early life:...
in Sweet Stranger in 1930.
Motion pictures
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."Her second movie was Good Sport (1931), a screen adaptation of a story by William J. Hurlbut. Produced by the Fox Film Company, Watkins depicts Marilyn Parker, a naive wife caught up in a love triangle. Her co-stars were Alan Dinehart
Alan Dinehart
Alan Mason Dinehart was an American Broadway actor, director, writer, stage manager and later, a Character actor and supporting player featured in at least 88 films between 1931 and 1944...
and John Boles
John Boles (actor)
-Early life:Boles was born in Greenville, Texas, into a middle-class family. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas in 1917 and married Marielite Dobbs in that same year. His parents wanted him to be a doctor and Boles studied and finally got his B.A. degree, but the stage called...
. She appeared in Charlie Chan's Chance
Charlie Chan's Chance
Charlie Chan's Chance is a 1932 murder mystery film, the third to star Warner Oland as detective Charlie Chan. It is based on the novel Behind That Curtain by Earl Derr Biggers, who also contributed to the film. The film is considered to be lost....
, a lost 1932 film starring Warner Oland
Warner Oland
Warner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...
as the famous detective. Edmund Lowe
Edmund Lowe
Edmund Dantes Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. He was born in San Jose, California.-Film career:...
and Watkins co-starred in Cheaters at Play (1932). Directed for Fox by Kenneth MacKenna
Kenneth MacKenna
Kenneth MacKenna was an American actor and film director, born Leo Mielziner, Jr. in Canterbury, New Hampshire.-Family:Parents were portrait artist Leo Mielziner, Sr.,...
, the motion picture was adapted from a story by Gene Towne
Gene Towne
Gene Towne was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 47 films between 1921 and 1958.He was born in New York, New York and died in Woodland Hills, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
. Her most famous and more recent film credits included The Parent Trap (the original) and Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn (1974 film)
Huckleberry Finn is the 1974 musical film version of Mark Twain's American classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.The movie was produced by Reader's Digest and Arthur P. Jacobs and starred Jeff East as Huckleberry Finn and Paul Winfield as Jim...
.
Marriage
Watkins married film boards' lawyer, Gabriel L. Hess, at the Blackstone HotelBlackstone Hotel
The Renaissance Blackstone Hotel is located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Street in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. This 21-story hotel was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox. On May 29, 1998, the...
in Chicago, Illinois, on January 28, 1932. Hess was attorney for Will Hays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He got his start in the movie business with Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
and Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films is an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn...
. Watkins was a close friend of Hess' first wife, Katherine Hawley. She was one of the first to send sympathy when Hawley was thrown from a horse and killed. Watkins and Hess had a son, Adam Hess, who was an attorney and secretary for the Aetna until his death in 1969; he left three daughters, Elizabeth, Faye, and Emily, the only grandchildren of Watkins. Watkins obtained her release from Fox prior to her marriage. A later romance with actor Tom Drake
Tom Drake
Tom Drake , born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances....
ended in 1959.
Television
Watkins appeared in numerous television broadcasts beginning with an episode of the The Billy RoseBilly Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
Show in 1950. Other shows in which she performed are Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
(1957), From Hell It Came
From Hell It Came
From Hell It Came is a 1957 horror film and science fiction film directed by and written by Jack Milner.-Plot:A South Seas island prince is wrongly convicted of murder and executed by having a knife driven into his heart. The prince is buried in a hollow tree trunk and forgotten about until...
(1957), Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
(1953), How to Marry a Millionaire
How to Marry a Millionaire
How to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins and Loco by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score...
(1958), M Squad
M Squad
M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...
(1957), Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
(1957-1958), Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
(1959), Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
(1959), The David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
Show (1959), The Adventures of Jim Bowie
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
In September of 1956 a TV series named "The Adventures of Jim Bowie" was aired on ABC. The show was only on the air for two years from 1956 to 1958. The series' music was unique in that is was primarily vocal, provided by Ken Darby and The King's Men .-Synopsis:The series stars Scott Forbes as the...
(1958), The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
and The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 1968 until September 1973. In addition to showcasing Doris Day, the show is remembered for its many abrupt format changes over the course of its five-year run...
(1968). She also appeared as Emily Hull, the mother of Sally McMillan (Susan St. James), in several episodes of McMillan & Wife. One of her last television appearances was as a guest star on The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
in 1973, in an episode titled "The Journey".
Linda Watkins died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1976.