Pierre Watkin
Biography
Pierre Watkin was an American character actor who specialized in distinguished authority figures, often bankers and judges, during Hollywood's Golden Age. Born in Sioux City in 1889, he spent much of his childhood there, where his family kept a boardinghouse for actors, and the surroundings steered him toward the stage; he acted in theater in Kansas City and then toured the Midwest with theatrical companies. In 1918 he founded the Pierre Watkin Players, his own troupe, and he made his Broadway debut in Possession in 1928. He headed to California in 1935 and debuted on screen in Dangerous (1935), then worked as a freelance actor, a favorite of Bette Davis and Frank Capra. His bigger parts included bank president Mr. Skinner in The Bank Dick and Mr. Twitchell in The Pride of the Yankees (1942). He was the first Perry White in the serials Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), and later worked in television.
70years old at death
- Born Sioux City
- Died Hollywood
- Star sign: CapricornThe sign runs December 22 to January 19
- Also credited as Pierre Frank Watkin
Movie Career
- Films
- 29
- Career span
- 31 years1924 to 1955
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First role
Watkin's first film role came in Dangerous, a Bette Davis picture. Alfred E. Green, the movie's director and someone Watkin had known on Broadway, gave him the part.
A change of course
Watkin put together a theatrical troupe of his own in 1918, called the Pierre Watkin Players. Sioux City was its first headquarters, and in 1927 it moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.
A change of course
Frank Capra was so fond of casting Watkin in small parts that the director called him his one-man stock company.
Pierre Watkin movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Frank Capra directed two of these films, Spencer Gordon Bennet two and Alfred Santell two. Irving Bacon appears in four of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Irving Bacon's page
Barbara Stanwyck's page
Walter Brennan's page
Charles Lane's page
Charles Arnt's page
Edward Arnold's page
All films by Frank Capra
Spencer Gordon BennetDirector, 2 films, 1948 to 1950
All films by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Alfred SantellDirector, 2 films, 1937
All films by Alfred Santell
Also three films together3 more actors
- Jonathan HaleDakota (1945), The Phantom Speaks (1945) and Dead Man's Eyes (1944)
- Jack IngramAtom Man vs. Superman (1950), Superman (1948) and The Phantom Speaks (1945)
- Tommy BondAtom Man vs. Superman (1950), Superman (1948) and Five Little Peppers in Trouble (1940)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Box office
What Pierre Watkin's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$16.8 million
5 of the 29 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 29 films: 5 worldwide figure; 1 us gross only; 1 never in cinemas; 22 figure not found.
- 5Worldwide figure
- 1US gross only
- 1Never in cinemas
- 22Figure not found
Highest grossing
The five biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$9.6M57.0% of the total
- 2Swing Time1936$2.6M15.4% of the total
- 3$2.0M11.9% of the total
- 4$1.8M10.5% of the total
- 5$881K5.2% of the total
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.