William Thomas Gray (born January 13, 1938) is an American actor, competitive motorcycle racer and inventor.
Personal life
Gray was born in
Los Angeles, to William H. and
Beatrice Gray. His mother was an actress, and both had appeared in ''
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff'' (in separated scenes), a 1949
horror comedy. He acted in more than 200 movies. He acted with stars such as
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
,
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
,
Bob Hope,
William Holden,
Michael Rennie,
Judith Anderson,
Pat O'Brien and
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
. He did not attend school and was educated by teachers hired by the film studios, often having class in tents set up on studio lots. He portrayed a young
Jim Thorpe in ''
Jim Thorpe – All-American'' and starred in the
science fiction film ''
The Day the Earth Stood Still''. He portrayed Tagg "Bull's Eye" Oakley, younger brother of
Annie Oakley in the pilot episode of ''
Annie Oakley''.
[Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 49.] He starred in the television series ''
Father Knows Best'' and was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. His father died when he was 16, while he was working on the show. He was cast as Plato in ''
Rebel Without a Cause'' but because a delay in shooting interfered with his commitment to ''Father Knows Best'' he had to give up the role. He was arrested for marijuana possession in 1962 and served 45 days in jail, which effectively ended his acting career. From 1970 to 1995 he was a Class A
motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...
racer and race promoter. He then turned to inventing and entrepreneurship. He is a motorcycle collector and businessman.
Gray was married to and divorced from
Helena Kallianiotes (1967–1969) and
Donna Wilkes (1981–1981). , Gray lives in
Topanga, California in the same house he bought in 1957 while working on ''Father Knows Best''.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
Bibliography
*
* Holmstrom, John (1996). ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich: Michael Russell, pp. 206–207.
External links
*
*
Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Billy
Living people
American male child actors
1938 births
American male film actors
American male television actors
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Male actors from Los Angeles
People from Topanga, California
20th-century American male actors