William Henry

Biography

American leading actor who began his career as a juvenile in the 1930s. The son of a stock broker, he attended Los Angeles and Hollywood High Schools. Upon graduation, he trained for stagecraft at the Pasadena Playhouse School having by then already debuted on screen, aged eight, in an uncredited bit part. In 1927, William spent a year at Punaho College in Honolulu where he befriended the Olympic swimming champion and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku who would later help secure him his first job in talking pictures. By 1928, he worked as stage manager for David Belasco and Guy Bates Post, and, five years later, was signed by 20th Century Fox to a five-year contract. It was at first intended that he be given the stage name of 'William Lawrence', but, in the end, 'Bill Henry' was the name that stuck. The early part of his career in the movies consisted mainly of playing callow youths, an image he managed to shake off in later years when he became a star of B-westerns. He was a frequent presence in the films of John Ford as one of this director's unofficial stock company of players. William's favorite hobby was collecting books. According to at least one account, he reinvented himself as a landscape gardener after his retirement from films in the mid-70s.