Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

His father, Guinn Williams (1871–1948), a Democratic congressman, represented the 13th Texas Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1922 to 1932.[1] When Williams Jr. returned from World War I as an Army officer, he found out his father had secured for him an appointment to West Point that Williams Jr. saw no need to attend after his war service; he decided to become a baseball player instead. He was introduced by Will Rogers into motion pictures and polo, where he became a champion player and was given the name "Big Boy" by Rogers.[2]

Williams made his screen debut in the 1919 comedy, Almost A Husband, with Will Rogers and Cullen Landis, and was featured in a large supporting role ten years later in Frank Borzage's Lucky Star with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Throughout the 1920s, Williams would have a string of successful films, mostly westerns.

He then appeared in The Great Meadow alongside Johnny Mack Brown, which was Brown's breakout film. Throughout the 1930s, Williams acted in supporting roles, mostly in westerns, sports, or outdoor dramas. He was always employed, and was successful as both a B picture leading man and a supporting actor in A pictures. He often played alongside Hoot Gibson and Harry Carey during that period. In 1941, he became one of many actors cast by Universal Pictures in their large film series, Riders of Death Valley. From the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, Williams appeared in supporting roles in a number of A-pictures, sometimes with high billing, such as You Only Live Once, and in Columbia's first Technicolor film, The Desperadoes (1943).[3]

Williams was frequently teamed with Alan Hale, Sr. as sidekicks to Errol Flynn in several of his pictures. In 1960, he was cast in the epic film The Alamo and in Home from the Hill with Robert Mitchum. His last role was opposite his close friend John Wayne and Stuart Whitman in The Comancheros.

In the 1920s, he had an affair with Mary Philbin while she was engaged to Paul Kohner.[4]

He was married to three actresses, the first being silent film actress Kathleen Collins. For a time, he was married to B-movie actress Barbara Weeks. His last wife was Dorothy Peterson, whom he first met in the 1940s. Prior to meeting her he had been engaged to Lupe Vélez but she broke off the engagement at their friend Errol Flynn's home by breaking a framed portrait of Williams over his head[5] and then urinating on the picture.[6]

Like his father, Williams was active in an array of notable and state related causes. He worked with the regional Agricultural Credit Association, The Production Credit Corporation, The Goat Raisers Association, The Texas Wool and Mohair Company, and the Bankers Association (all of which coincided both in his native Texas and adopted California). Throughout his life Williams was active both in community affairs and the Methodist churches of Decatur, Texas, San Angelo, Texas, and Los Angeles, California.[7]

Williams died unexpectedly of uremic poisoning[8] on June 6, 1962, aged 63.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guinn "Big Boy" Williams.

• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams at IMDb
• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams at AllMovie
• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams full biography
• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams at Find a Grave