Willard Robertson

Acting

Willard Robertson

Born 1885-12-31 · Runnels, Texas, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Willard Robertson (January 1, 1886 – April 5, 1948) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in 147 films between 1924 and 1948. He was born in Runnels, Texas and died in Hollywood, California. Willard Robertson first worked as a lawyer in Texas, but he left his profession for a sudden interest in acting. He appeared on Broadway in 16 plays between 1907 and 1930. Robertson played supporting roles in many Hollywood films from 1930 until the year he died, typically portraying men of authority such as doctors, elected officials, military officers, and also lawyers. He played Jackie Cooper's stern but loving father in the oscar-winning drama Skippy (1931) and its sequel Sooky (1931). Robertson also portrayed a flamboyant lawyer in Remember the Night (1940) and the straight sheriff in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). Willard Robertson was also a notable writer of numerous plays, two of them were adapted into films. He also wrote the novel Moon Tide (1940) which was turned into Archie Mayo's drama thriller Moontide (1942) starring Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino.

Acting credits

Biography of a Bachelor Girl poster
6.8

Everyweek Newsmagazine editor Richard Kurt pursues famous free-spirited portrait artist Marion Forsythe on her return to the states from Europe, seeking to convince her to write her biography as a feature for his magazine. One of Marion's old beaus, now running for U.S. Senator from their home state, also comes calling.

Biography of a Bachelor Girl

1935

Winterset poster
6.0

A man is determined to find the real culprit behind the crime for which his father was wrongly executed.

Winterset

1936

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang poster
7.8

A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

1932

Texas poster
6.7

Two Virginians are heading for a new life in Texas when they witness a stagecoach being held up. They decide to rob the robbers and make off with the loot. To escape a posse, they split up and don't see each other again for a long time. When they do meet up again, they find themselves on different sides of the law. This leads to the increasing estrangement of the two men, who once thought of themselves as brothers.

Texas

1941

Nine Girls poster
5.8

One of the members of a sorority is found murdered. Although the police are called in to investigate, some of the girls decide to do some sleuthing on their own to unmask the killer.

Nine Girls

1944

Union Pacific poster
6.7

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?

Union Pacific

1939

If I Had a Million poster
6.5

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

If I Had a Million

1932

Housewife poster
7.3

Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful commercial for the client and neats up their old romance. Wife and girlfriend struggle over Bill.

Housewife

1934

The Ox-Bow Incident poster
7.7

A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.

The Ox-Bow Incident

1943

Lady Killer poster
6.9

An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Hollywood movie star.

Lady Killer

1933

North West Mounted Police poster
6.4

Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)

North West Mounted Police

1940

You and Me poster
6.6

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

You and Me

1938

Skippy poster
6.1

Skippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.

Skippy

1931

Doctor X poster
6.0

A wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.

Doctor X

1932

Air Force poster
6.5

The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.

Air Force

1943

My Favorite Brunette poster
6.7

Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.

My Favorite Brunette

1947

Remember the Night poster
7.3

Unexpected love blossoms when an assistant district attorney agrees to take a recidivist shoplifter home so she doesn't have to spend Christmas alone in jail.

Remember the Night

1940

Jesse James poster
6.5

After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.

Jesse James

1939

Brigham Young poster
4.6

Based on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to transport his people across the Rocky mountains to settle in Salt Lake City. The plot focuses on two fictitious characters, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb and the hardships they have to face along the way.

Brigham Young

1940

The Virginian poster
6.2

Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life.

The Virginian

1946

Wild Girl poster
6.2

Salomy Jane, a California mountain girl, is sought after by a number of men in the nearby small town of Redwood City. She is affected when two criminals are pursued by authorities: one for killing a hypocritical mayoral candidate, the other for robbing the stagecoach.

Wild Girl

1932

Transient Lady poster
6.3

A senator's brother turns up murdered, and the senator tries to pin the blame on a man he knows is innocent.

Transient Lady

1935

No Time for Love poster
7.0

An upper-class female reporter is (despite herself) attracted to a hulking laborer digging a tunnel under the Hudson River.

No Time for Love

1943

The Monster and the Girl poster
5.7

After a young woman is coerced into prostitution and her brother framed for murder by an organized crime syndicate, retribution in the form of an ape visits the mobsters.

The Monster and the Girl

1941

Behind the camera