Guinn Williams (actor)

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Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (born April 26, 1899 in Decatur , Texas as Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. , † June 6, 1962 in Hollywood , California ) was an American actor .

life and career

Guinn Williams was born in Texas to Guinn Williams , a farmer and politician. Guinn Williams worked early on on his father's farms and played baseball professionally . These activities made Williams a muscular figure in addition to his six-foot-eight, which earned him the nickname "Big Boy" in the movie business, with which he was often mentioned in movie credits in later years . His good friend, comedian Will Rogers , with whom he made about 15 films together, gave Williams this nickname in his early film years.

During the First World War , Williams served in the army. His father tried to send Williams to the United States Military Academy in West Point , but this wanted to be an actor. Williams made his film debut in 1919, while the movie was still silent . With its rough shape and experience as a rider and farmer, the western quickly became Williams' cinematic home. In the 1920s and 1930s he received a number of leading roles in smaller and cheap westerns, while he played supporting roles in the larger films alongside western stars like Tom Mix or John Wayne . Occasionally he wrote the script for his films himself.

He made the transition from silent films to talkies at the end of the 1920s without any problems and he also took on roles outside the western genre, for example in the drama A Star Rises and the love story You will never get rich . As a sidekick of Errol Flynn , Williams was cast in several westerns: Lord of the Wild West from 1939 and Land of the Wicked and gold smuggling to Virginia a year later. Mostly he was used in the role of the somewhat rough and clumsy, but good-hearted, average guy. In the 1940s and 1950s he mostly only got supporting roles in B- Westerns, and he also appeared regularly on television. In the television series Corky and the Circus , Williams played the role of Pete over 35 episodes. His last of over 200 films was The Comancheros from 1961.

Williams was married three times, first with the actress Barbara Weeks (1913-2003) and later with Kathleen Collins. In 1943 he married the actress Dorothy Peterson (1897–1979), with whom he remained married until his death. He died of acute kidney failure at the age of 63 .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Big Boy Williams Dies Of Poisoning , Report June 6, 1962, sS b-westerns.com (English)
  2. ↑ Guinn "Big Boy" Williams sS b-westerns.com (English)
personal data
SURNAME Williams, Guinn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Williams, Guinn Terrell Jr. (maiden name); Williams, Big Boy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Decatur , Texas
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1962
Place of death Hollywood , California