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Billy Butts(1918-1987)

  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Billy Butts
A tow-headed, delicate-looking child actor of the 1920s, Billy Butts (born William Charles Allen Butts) enjoyed some popularity as a young sidekick of western stars Fred Thomson and Rex Bell. He later took over from Jack Morgan in the popular "Gumps" two-reel comedies, but his waif-like qualities didn't survive puberty and he retired at the ripe old age of 17.
BornSeptember 18, 1918
DiedMay 30, 1987(68)
BornSeptember 18, 1918
DiedMay 30, 1987(68)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

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Known for

Are These Our Children (1931)
Are These Our Children
5.9
  • Bobby Brand
  • 1931
All Wet
Short
  • Chester Gump(as Billie Butts)
  • 1927
Lon Chaney Jr., Tom Keene, and Dorothy Wilson in Scarlet River (1933)
Scarlet River
6.1
  • Buck Blake
  • 1933
A Battle Scared Hero
Short
  • Chester Gump(as Billie Butts)
  • 1927

Credits

IMDbPro

Actor

  • Jane Withers in Little Miss Nobody (1936)
    Little Miss Nobody
    6.9
    • Boy on Bicycle (uncredited)
    • 1936
  • Frances Farmer, Sherwood Bailey, George Ernest, Billy Lee, Lester Matthews, and Buster Phelps in Too Many Parents (1936)
    Too Many Parents
    6.4
    • Cadet Major (uncredited)
    • 1936
  • Lon Chaney Jr., Tom Keene, and Dorothy Wilson in Scarlet River (1933)
    Scarlet River
    6.1
    • Buck Blake
    • 1933
  • If I Had a Million (1932)
    If I Had a Million
    6.9
    • Newsboy in Bank (uncredited)
    • 1932
  • Clive Brook and Lila Lee in The Night of June 13 (1932)
    The Night of June 13
    6.7
    • Junior Strawn
    • 1932
  • George Bancroft, Wynne Gibson, James Gleason, and Charles Starrett in Lady and Gent (1932)
    Lady and Gent
    5.9
    • Ted (aged 9)
    • 1932
  • Young America (1932)
    Young America
    6.5
    • Freddie (uncredited)
    • 1932
  • Are These Our Children (1931)
    Are These Our Children
    5.9
    • Bobby Brand
    • 1931
  • Hardie Albright, Dorothy Jordan, and Thomas Meighan in Young Sinners (1931)
    Young Sinners
    6.0
    • Tim
    • 1931
  • Tom Sawyer (1930)
    Tom Sawyer
    6.1
    • Charlie Simpson (uncredited)
    • 1930
  • Walter Huston in Abraham Lincoln (1930)
    Abraham Lincoln
    5.7
    • Boy at Abe's Birth (uncredited)
    • 1930
  • The Medicine Man (1930)
    The Medicine Man
    4.8
    • Buddy Goltz
    • 1930
  • The Lone Star Ranger (1930)
    The Lone Star Ranger
    5.7
    • Bill Jones
    • 1930
  • Gary Cooper and Mary Brian in The Virginian (1929)
    The Virginian
    6.7
    • School Student (uncredited)
    • 1929
  • Rex Bell and Billy Watson in Taking a Chance (1928)
    Taking a Chance
    • Little Billy
    • 1928

Personal details

  • Alternative name
    • Billie Butts
  • Born
    • September 18, 1918
    • Dallas, Texas, USA
  • Died
    • May 30, 1987
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(cancer)
  • Other works
    Stage play: Sweeney Todd, at the Troupers Club in Los Angeles, as part of the Montecito Players.

Did you know

  • Trivia
    According to his surviving brother, Timothy O'Byran, Billy was most proud of his work on the Mary Pickford classic "Sparrows" (1926) and "Our These Our Children?" (1931).

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