Linda Watkins

Linda Mathews Watkins (May 23, 1908 – October 31, 1976) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actress.

Early life Born in Boston, Massachusetts, as Linda Mathews Watkins, the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R. (née Mathews) Watkins. Her father was active in real estate in Boston. She was related to physicist Albert A. Michelson and painter Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore.

Watkins attended a teachers' college because her parents wanted her to teach. She later went to study at the Theatre Guild.

Career Stage

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. The producer was Charles Hopkins.

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. 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.

Film

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."

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. 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).

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.

One of her last television roles as a guest star was as Maggie MacKenzie in The Waltons in the episode "The Journey" (1973).

Personal life Watkins married lawyer Gabriel Lorie Hess, a widower, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago on January 28, 1932.

Death Watkins died in Los Angeles in 1976, aged 68, from undisclosed causes.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1931 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 Notes1950 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 HannahPhoebe StonerKate Season 2 Episode 7: "One in a Hundred" as HannahSeason 8 Episode 5: "Fair Exchange" as Phoebe StonerSeason 8 Episode 26: "The Man Everyone Hated" as Kate1959-61 Peter Gunn Louise SinclairLaura Mitchell Season 1 Episode 23: "Dirty Word" as Louise SinclairSeason 3 Episode 33: "A Bullet for the Boy" as Laura Mitchell 1959–1973 Gunsmoke KateElsieMattieMrs. DorfMaAbby Shadler Season 4 Episode 23: "Sky" (1959) as KateSeason 6 Episode 15: "Old Fool" (1960) as ElsieSeason 7 Episode 3 (1961): "Miss Kitty" as MattieSeason 8 Episode 10: "The Hunger" (1962) as Mrs. DorfSeason 10 Episode 6: "Take Her, She's Cheap" (1964) as MaSeason 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 GraceGracie Season 3 Episode 2: "An Example for Hazel" as GraceSeason 3 Episode 18: "Scheherazade and Her Frying Pan: Part 1" as GracieSeason 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 episodesSeason 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"