See also Biography Index (L) :: Filmography Index (L) :: Discography Index (L)

Linda Watkins (born May 23, 1908 - October 31, 1976) was an actress in theater, motion pictures, and television. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

At the age of sixteen Watkins` parents sent her to study at the Theatre Guild. After six months she began to appear with the guild`s summer repertory program in Scarborough, New York. Instead of finishing her studies at the guild, she pursued a job at the office of Charles Hopkins. When he asked Watkins if she preferred playing comedy or drama, she replied, "Tragedy." He was casting for a comedy production and Watkins was offered the lead role.

Only seventeen, Watkins performed in the Tom Cushing comedy The Devil In The Cheese with Bob Hope at the Charles Hopkins Theater in New York City. 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.

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 is Good Sport (1931), a screen adaptation of a story by William Hurlbut. Produced by the Fox Film Company, Watkins depicts Marilyn Parker, a naive wife caught up in a love triangle. Her co-stars are Alan Dinehart and John Boles. Edmund Lowe and Watkins made their debut as co-stars in Cheaters at Play (1932). Directed for Fox by Kenneth McKenna, the motion picture was adapted from a story by Gene Towne. Her most famous and more recent film credits included "Parent Trap" (the original), and Huckleberry Finn.

In 1931 no Fox Film actress was named to WAMPAS` (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) annual list of baby stars. WAMPAS omitted Fox debutante stars Helen Mack and Watkins in its group of thirteen successful candidates. Watkins missed by a single vote . As a result eleven WAMPAS members from the Fox publicity department resigned from the association. Fox named Watkins, Mack, and Conchita Montenegro as their alternate budding stars.

Watkins married film boards` lawyer, Gabriel L. Hess, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, on January 28, 1932. Hess was attorney for Will Hays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He got his start 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 of the 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 for the Aetna until his death in 1969; he left three daughters, Elizabeth, Faye, and Emily, the only grandchildren of Watkins. Watkins obtained her release from Fox prior to her marriage. A later romance with actor Tom Drake ended in 1959.

Watkins appeared in numerous television broadcasts beginning with an episode of the The Billy Rose Show in 1950. Other shows in which she performed are Wagon Train (1957), From Hell It Came (1957), Death Valley Days (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1958), M Squad (1957), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957-1958), Peter Gunn (1959), McMillan and Wife, The Munsters, Perry Mason (1959), The David Ni