Billy and Bobby Mauch

Billy and Bobby were born in Peoria, Illinois, to Felix, an employee of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad and Marguerite Mauch, née Burley.[2] Billy was older than Bobby by ten minutes. They began singing and acting in radio at the age of seven[2] and later appeared in print advertisements before signing a contract with Warner Bros.

After moving with their mother to Hollywood in 1935, Billy was cast as the young title character in the film Anthony Adverse because he resembled Fredric March,[1][2] who was to play Adverse as an adult. His brother Bobby was his stand-in for the role, but the brothers, whose voice and appearance were almost indistinguishable, later claimed that they had freely alternated who would play the part in the takes.[3] They were cast as lookalikes in The Prince and the Pauper (1937), in which they co-starred with Errol Flynn and Claude Rains, and were each paid $350 per week.[2] The picture earned them the cover story in the May 3, 1937 issue of Time magazine.[4]

The twins went on to appear together in three films based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington, but Bobby ended his acting career shortly afterwards.

Billy and Bobby both attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles before graduating from the Mar-Ken School for professional children, in Hollywood. During their senior year, they ran jointly for the office of class president under the campaign slogan "Two Heads Are Better than One."[1]

In 1943 the brothers appeared in the Broadway play Winged Victory, then saw actual military service together after the US entered World War II, stationed in the Pacific.[1][2]

After the war, Billy continued to play minor roles in films, the last of which was the comedy Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), which famously starred Ronald Reagan and a chimpanzee.

Interested in the technical aspects of movie-making, both brothers eventually found employment in that field. Bobby became a film editor whose work included the 1950s television series Dragnet.[1] In 1950 Billy became a sound editor for Warner Brothers and went on to work on more than 300 films and television shows. He created the sound effects for the car chase in Bullitt and the giant ants in Them!.[5]

Billy and his wife Marjorie, who were married 53 years, had one son, William J. Mauch II, named after himself. Billy died, aged 85, in his home in Palatine, Illinois.

Bobby Mauch married professional figure skater Georgia "Gigi" Shattuck, whom he first met at the Mar-Ken School in the 1940s,[2] but married in 1971. They had no children. He died, aged 86, at a nursing home in Santa Rosa, California.[1]

• Billy Mauch at IMDb
• Billy Mauch at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bobby Mauch at IMDb
• Bobby Mauch at the Internet Broadway Database
• Billy and Bobby Mauch at Classic Movie Kids
• Billy Mauch at Find a Grave
• Bobby Mauch at Find a Grave