| Billy Gray | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Thomas Gray January 13, 1938 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Residence | Topanga, California |
| Occupation | Actor Motorcycle enthusiast |
| Years active | 1943–80 (actor) 1970–95 (motorcyclist) |
| Spouse | Helena Kallioniotes |
| Website | |
| http://www.bigrockeng.com/billy.htm | |
William Thomas "Billy" Gray (born January 13, 1938), is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, and Lauren Chapin. He is also a motorcycle aficionado, and maintains a large collection of them.
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Gray was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Beatrice Alice Kimbrough Gray (March 3, 1919 – November 25, 2009),[1] was a native of Hollywood, who was a mostly uncredited actress in the 1930s and 1940s, having appeared in Otto Preminger's Laura, with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. In 1943, Billy Gray, at five years of age, appeared with his mother in separate scenes in the film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, with Bela Lugosi. In 1951, at age 13, he appeared in the film Jim Thorpe -- All-American, with Burt Lancaster in the lead role. Gray portrayed the Indian athlete Jim Thorpe as a child. Later that year, he was chosen to play the pre-teen son of Patricia Neal in the science fiction picture, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Michael Rennie played the part of the alien who befriended the boy.[2] Sam Jaffe, later of ABC's Ben Casey, also appeared in the long-remembered film.[3]
In 1953, Gray was slated to play the part of Tagg Oakley in the syndicated western series Annie Oakley, starring Gail Davis and Brad Johnson and did appear in the episode "Bull's Eye". Instead, he joined the Father Knows Best cast, and the part of Tagg went to Jimmy Hawkins.[3] That same year, Gray obtained the part of Wesley Winfield in the film By the Light of the Silvery Moon, a musical starring Doris Day. This was a sequel to On Moonlight Bay (1951) in which Gray had previously played the role of Wesley Winfield.[4] He also appeared as Alan in a 1953 episode "Shot in the Dark" of 'The Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves. The character Alan took a photograph of Superman that could reveal information on the hero's secret identity.[2]
In 1955, Gray appeared in "The Seven Little Foys," which stars Bob Hope as famed vaudeville entertainer Eddie Foy, in the teen role of Bryan Lincoln Foy.[4]
In 1957, while still on Father Knows Best, Gray appeared as Mike Edwards in the episode "Come Back Darling Asta" of Peter Lawford's NBC crime series The Thin Man, based on the work of Dashiell Hammett.[4]
After Father Knows Best, Gray appeared in several dozen single-appearance television roles. In 1960, he guest starred as Frankie Niles in the episode "Dark Return" of the ABC western series, Stagecoach West, a program similar to the longer-running Wagon Train. That same year, he portrayed David Ross in the episode "Ginger's Big Romance" on the John Forsythe comedy, Bachelor Father. In 1961, he played Johnny Blatner in the episode "Two-Way Deal" of the Henry Fonda/Allen Case NBC western The Deputy. He appeared twice in 1961 in the anthology series General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald W. Reagan. That same year he was Perry Hatch in "The Hatbox" of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1962, he appeared on CBS's The Red Skelton Show.[4]
His other roles included appearances on two ABC series, The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Jack Palance in a circus setting, and Combat!, a military drama set during World War II and starring Vic Morrow and Rick Jason. He also guest starred in CBS's Rawhide. In 1964, he was Colin Martin in "Tigers Are for Jungles" in ABC's crime drama Arrest and Trial, with Chuck Connors. He appeared in 1967 as Billy Nixon in the episode "Desperate Mission" of ABC's short-lived Custer, starring Wayne Maunder in the title role of General George Armstrong Custer.[4]
In 1962, at the age of twenty-four, Gray was arrested for possession of marijuana. The arrest in time cost him later roles in film and television. In 1971, he appeared as a heroin dealer known as "City Life" in the film Dusty and Sweets McGee. The critic Leonard Maltin claimed incorrectly that Gray had been recruited for the role of "City Life" from actual addicts and narcotics dealers. Maltin did not remove the false information from his guide for another two decades and only after Gray filed suit for libel.[3]
Gray's "Bud Anderson" character is a teenager prone to mischief but always brought in line by his understanding and all-wise father, James Anderson, Sr., with a lot of prodding too from his mother, Margaret Anderson. On December 18, 1977, Gray appeared in the television movie Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas, a reunion of the entire cast from the former series which had left the air seventeen years earlier, including Lauren Chapin, and veteran stars Robert Young and Jane Wyatt. Had the ratings been higher, CBS would have considered a revised Father Knows Best series. In a 1983 interview, Gray spoke disparagingly of Father Knows Best:
"I wish there was some way I could tell the kids not to believe it. The dialogue, the situations, the characters they were all totally false. The show did everyone a disservice. The girls were always trained to use their feminine wiles, to pretend to be helpless to attract men. The show contributed to a lot of the problems between men and women that we see today. . . . I think we were all well motivated, but what we did was run a hoax. 'Father Knows Best' purported to be a reasonable facsimile of life. And the bad thing is, the model is so deceitful. It usually revolved around not wanting to tell the truth, either out of embarrassment, or not wanting to hurt someone. If I could say anything to make up for all the years I lent myself to (that), it would be, 'You Know Best.'"[3]
Over the years, Gray maintained contact with former Father Knows Best cast members. Young died in 1998, Wyatt in 2006.
As the co-owner of a company called BigRock Engineering, Gray markets several products that he has invented, including a self-massager, high-technology guitar picks, and a candleholder for jack-o-lanterns.
He also hopes to revive Class A bike racing with a redesigned diamond-shaped course to permit sharper turns and to make the competition more thrilling. Gray raced competitively at dirt tracks in southern California from 1970–1995. He has since been a spectator and finds the sport is shrinking in availability.[3]
Gray still resides at the house in Topanga, located between Malibu and Santa Monica, California, which he purchased in 1957 at the height of his Father Knows Best popularity. The house has over the years become something of a "motorcycle museum".[3]