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Linda Mathews Watkins (May 23, 1908 – October 31, 1976) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actress.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2018) |
Linda Watkins Hess | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Watkins in 1931 | |
| Born | Linda Mathews Watkins May 23, 1908 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 31, 1976 (aged 68) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1925–1974 |
| Spouse |
Gabriel Hess (m. 1932) |
| Children | 1 |
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]
Stage
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2016) |
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]
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
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]
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Watkins married lawyer Gabriel Lorie Hess, a widower, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on January 28, 1932.[9]
Watkins died in Los Angeles in 1976, aged 68, from undisclosed causes.[10]
Film
| 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
| 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" |
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