Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams(1899-1962)
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
The son of a rancher-turned-politician, Guinn Williams was given the
nickname "Big Boy" (and he was, too -
6' 2" of mostly solid muscle from
years of working on ranches and playing semi-pro and pro baseball) by
Will Rogers,
with whom he made one of his first films, in 1919. Although his father
wanted him to attend West Point (he had been an officer in the Army
during World War I), Williams had always wanted to act and made his way
to Hollywood in 1919. His experience as a cowboy and rodeo rider got
him work as a stuntman, and he gradually worked his way up to acting.
He became friends with Rogers and together they made around 15 films.
Additionally,in a film that has recently received critical acclaim, he
appeared alongside Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor in the silent film
Lucky Star (1929), playing a brute vying for the affections of Janet Gaynor in competition with a returning war veteran, played by Charles Farrell. He then easily made the transition from silents to talkies.
Although he also starred in a series of low-budget westerns in the
early and mid-1930s, he really came into his own as a supporting player
in the late 1930s and early 1940s, especially at Warner Bros., where he
appeared in such resoundingly successful westerns as
Dodge City (1939) and
Santa Fe Trail (1940) with his
friends Errol Flynn and
Alan Hale. Williams specialized in the
somewhat dim and quick-tempered but basically decent sidekick, a role
he would play for the next 20 years or so. He also made sound films
other than westerns, and was in, for example,
A Star Is Born (1937). Late in his
career, he won the hearts of TV viewers in a regular role as Pete, the
comedic roadie in Circus Boy (1956). In the early 1960s Williams'
health began to deteriorate, which was noticeable in his last film,
The Comancheros (1961), in which
he had a small part and, sadly, did not look well at all. He died of
uremic poisoning shortly afterwards.