Linda Watkins

From WikipediaLinda Watkins (born May 23, 1908 – October 31, 1976) was anactress in theater, motion pictures, and television. She was born Linda MathewsWatkins in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Gardiner and Elizabeth R.(Mathews) Watkins.At the age of sixteen Watkins parents sent her to study atthe Theatre Guild. After six months she began to appear with the guilds summerrepertory program in Scarborough, New York. Instead of finishing her studies atthe guild, she pursued a job at the office of Charles Hopkins. When he askedWatkins if she preferred playing comedy or drama, she replied,Tragedy. He was casting for a comedy production and Watkins wasoffered the lead roleShe debuted in movies in Sob Sister (1931), a film in whichshe plays a female reporter. Reviewer Muriel Babcock remarked that Watkinsis cool, blond, poised, good to look upon. She plays the title role withadmirable restraint and gives every evidence of being a comer in films.Her second movie was Good Sport (1931), a screen adaptationof a story by William J. Hurlbut. Produced by the Fox Film Company, Watkinsdepicts Marilyn Parker, a naive wife caught up in a love triangle. Her co-starswere Alan Dinehart and John Boles. She appeared in Charlie Chans Chance, alost 1932 film starring Warner Oland as the famous detective. Edmund Lowe andWatkins co-starred in Cheaters at Play (1932). Directed for Fox by KennethMacKenna, the motion picture was adapted from a story by Gene Towne. In 1938,Watkins also screen tested for the part of Scarlet OHara in the forthcomingGone With The Wind (1939), however she was not selected.Watkins married film boards lawyer, Gabriel L. Hess, at theBlackstone Hotel in Chicago, on January 28, 1932. Hess was attorney for WillHays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He got hisstart in the movie business with Samuel Goldwyn and Samuel Goldwyn Films.Watkins was a close friend of Hess first wife, Katherine Hawley. She was one ofthe first to send sympathy when Hawley was thrown from a horse and killed.Watkins and Hess had a son, Adam Hess, who was an attorney and secretary forthe Aetna until his death in 1969; he left three daughters, Elizabeth, Faye,and Emily, the only grandchildren of Watkins. Watkins obtained her release fromFox prior to her marriage. A later romance with actor Tom Drake ended in 1959.Linda Watkins died in Los Angeles in 1976.

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