A TOUCH OF GRAY


A Down To Earth Interview With Billy Gray About "The Day The Earth Stood Still" 
& Other Grey Movie Classics 


By: Terry, Tiffany & Becky DuFoe


The trend towards man's inhumanity to man has not changed much since we have 
supposedly grown from the clutches of the cold war. The hysteria that is 
displayed prominently in the earliest 50's B-grade science fiction films like 
"War Of The Worlds" to the more current effects driven 90's films like 
"Independence Day" have been a true portrayal of the ignorance and paranoia that 
we possess as human beings. It is Hollywood's opinion that if life does exist on 
other planets then they MUST be hostile and we certainly have nothing to learn 
from them. It is no surprise to me that we would treat any movie alien visitor 
with violence instead of compassion because as a race we have also failed to 
treat each other with the dignity that we deserve. A low budget film directed by 
Robert Wise in 1951 was one of the first to point out our inhumanity with the 
line, "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten 
to extend your violence this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned out 
cinder. Your choice is simple. Join us, and live in peace, or pursue your 
present course and face obileration"......Michael Rennie as Klaatu with a 
classic line from "The Day The Earth Stood Still". 

While some consider it a typical Twentieth Century Fox propaganda vehicle many 
consider "The Day The Earth Stood Still" a milestone for the sci-fi genre as the 
first Hollywood vehicle that dared to portray an alien visitor as a benevolent 
creature of peace who used his robotic protector only in the face of violence. 
His mission was that of an intergalatic emissary with a message of survival and 
according to one young co-star Billy Grey, Rennie was much like the charecter he 
portrayed on film, dignified, patient and kind. The film's screenplay by Edmund 
H. North sadly suffered by on screen glitches like the fact that any robotic 
creature made of unbendable metal alloy could not bend his knees when he walks 
as Gort does not to mention the unplanned scene where the zipper in Gort's robot 
costume is clearly visible as pointed out by Billy Gray who portrayed Bobby 
Benson in the film, but that is where the actor's critism ends for he is proud 
of the message the film drives home and believes that the sureal plot could 
someday become a reality if we do not heed it's warning! 

Billy Grey was born in Los Angeles on January 13th, 1938, and is the son of 
western B-movie film actress Beatrice Gray. He learned about TV family values as 
the son of Robert Young where he played Bud Anderson on the 1954 series "Father 
Knows Best." He appeared on film with the likes of Boris Karloff, Henry Fonda, 
and Abbott and Costello. Billy Gray was involved in 'Speedway' Motorcycle Racing 
as a competitor during the 60's, 70's, & 80's. His racing bike was known as 'The 
Orange Crate Special' then later as 'The Orange Blossom Special'. The name was 
awarded by an Irwindale Raceway announcer because of the solid orange rims Billy 
used on his 'Speedway Bike'. In July of 1998 Billy Gray reached a settlement for 
a libel suit he brought against film critic Leonard Maltin. In all of the video 
guides Maltin published from 1974 to 1998 Maltin listed Mr. Gray as a real life 
drug dealer and pusher in his critique of the 1971 film, "Dusty and Sweets 
McGee." Billy appeared in the film only as an actor and may have suffered 
greatly career wise because of this slander. Part of the suit brought against 
Leonard Maltin demanded that Leonard Maltin publicly apologize for 24 years of 
defamation of character. Maltin issued that apology during a press conference on 
the morning of July 18th, 1998. Maltin's confusion may have been due to a fine 
film portrayal by an actor who is believable on the screen and genuinely non 
phoney in person. 

I met Mr. Gray in Santa Monica, California at The Rhino Retro Fest which was a 
three day celebration of music, nostalgia, retro celebrities and pop culture. 
Ironicly enough "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" own Richard O'Brien payed on 
stage homage at the event to "The Day The Earth Stood Still" with two songs from 
his "Rocky Horror Picture Show" who's signature theme declared that, "Michael 
Rennie was ill the day "The Earth Stood Still." Appearing with other science 
fiction actors at Retro Fest like June Lockhart, Angela Cartwright, Gill Gerard, 
and Erin Grey, Billy Grey (no relationship to Erin) gave these answers: 

Terry: I imagine life as a child star is a rough upbringing but I know your 
mother was also into B-movies. What films did she do? 

Billy: She did a series of movies with Western heros, such as Johnny McRand, 
Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, and she was like the preverbial rancher's daughter or 
banker's daughter; the love interest for the guy who rode off into the sunset. 
She did movies like "Trigger Law" and "Arizona Kid". Any number of them; she did 
probably dozens of them, before I got into the business at all and then I 
started doing bit parts in about 1944 or 1945. I did bit parts and one liners, I 
did probably at least a hundred of them before I started getting larger parts. 

Terry: What was your mother's name? 

Billy: Beatrice Gray 

Terry: And is she gone now? 

Billy: No, in fact she is very active. Now she does commercials all the time. 
She's got two or three commercials running as we speak. 

Terry: Do you know what those are? 

Billy: Yeah, she's got a cotton commercial, she's got a Coke Light commercial, 
and there's also a couple of Adidas commercials. I don't know if they are still 
playing or not and she just did one for Kellogg's Eggo's. They are coming out 
with a chocolate chip Eggo and she's done the commercial that is going to 
feature the introduction of that product. 

Terry: Did you want to be in show business because of your mother? Did she 
incourage you? 

Billy: No, actually I didn't have a view on it one way or the other. I was 6 
years old and her agent suggested that she might be able to get some interviews 
for me and my mom asked me about it and I said "Sure I'll give it a shot." You 
know, at 6 years old why not? Sounds like fun! I did the test and almost every 
interview I ever went on after that I seemed to get. It was kind of eerie! 

Terry: Do you have any brothers or sisters that are in the business? 

Billy: Not in the business, but I do have an older brother and sister and a 
younger brother, but none of them have gone into the business. 

Terry: Was there any reason why they didn't want to be in the business? 

Billy: No, I guess the agent didn't want to send them out on stuff or whatever 
and they didn't have any particular interest in it. Nobody was upset or 
anything. It wasn't like there was sibling rivalry about who was going to be in 
the movies or anything. 

Terry: When you were in films, did you go to regular school? 

Billy: I did for the most part and then when I got a contract to do some movies 
at 20th, I went to the studio school at 20th Century Fox for a year and then 
when I got the assignment to do "Father Knows Best" I went to a studio school 
for that period of time as well. 

Terry: What did the kids say to you when you were in regular school? Were they 
nice to you? 

Billy: Well, now that was a little bit problamatic because I would come to 
school with different colored hair a lot of the times because I had my hair 
black, and blonde, and red, and any number of different times it would be 
different colors and I got a little razzing on that, but nothing that you 
wouldn't expect. 

Terry: What was Robert Young like to work with? 

Billy: Absolutely the most professional actor I ever worked with. He knew his 
lines, he hit his marks, and there wasn't any prima madonna stuff, even though 
he did own half the show with his partner it was never "It's my way or the 
highway" or anything like that. He was just a real gentleman about the whole 
thing. 

Terry: Did the whole cast get along well? 

Billy: Yeah, real well! It was a happy set, definitely a happy set! 

Terry: Why do you think those type of shows were much more popular then sitcoms 
are today? Maybe because they were more wholesome? 

Billy: One of the reasons definitely was the fact that Robert Young and Jane 
Wyatt were both established movie actors and actresses, and especially with 
Robert Young owning the show. When we went to do it, we did it in a fashion that 
was the same as if it were a movie. So, we had the same kinds of time to get 
used to rehearsing and the times that you could do a re-take if it wasn't quite 
right that we would have if we were doing a movie. We had no problem doing 
retake, after retake, after retake until we got it right whereas in a lot of 
other TV stuff they settle for less just to keep it under budget. We never 
stayed under budget. All our stuff ran over budget, and the producer figured 
that was an investment in the future because it did very well when they sold the 
re-runs into syndication. 

Terry: I noticed today that even when you're not by a wall with a sign with your 
name on it, people still recognize you. Does that surprise you because you 
actually look different from when you were a kid. 

Billy: I know, it was 45, 50 years ago in some cases and it is amazing that I'm 
recognized. I hear an awful lot of the time that people recognize my voice as 
opposed to my look, but I haven't changed all that much. Actually, it's been 
kind of eerie, I looked 18 until I was about 35 so it's just something genetic. 
High cheekbones or something, who knows. 

Terry: Are you married? 

Billy: No. 

Terry: Were you ever married? 

Billy: Yes, I've been married three times. 

Terry: Time to quit huh? (chuckles) 

Billy: (laughs) Mmmm hmmm. Yeah, I've struck out in the marriage department. 

Terry: Well, that's sometimes harder than acting in the movies, you know? 

Billy: (laughs) 

Terry: Do you have any children that wound up in the business? 

Billy: No, I haven't had any children. 

Terry: How did you get the part for "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? 

Billy: It was just an interview like any other interview I went on. I don't 
recall anything extroadinary or particular about it. Although I did enjoy the 
work, it was fun working with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal which is pretty 
hot company to be in. I appreciated that, but I don't remember anything, you 
know, peculiar about getting the job. 

Terry: How old were you at the time? 

Billy: I must have been 11, 11 or 12. 

Terry: Were you a science fiction fan as a boy? 

Billy: No, I really wasn't. I didn't have any particular affinity to it at all. 
I wasn't really knowledgable about the genre itself. I didn't really know that 
there was something that was called science fiction. A movie was a movie to me. 

Terry: Michael Rennie looked to be a very serious man, of course on camera, but 
was he so serious off camera? 

Billy: Well, he did have a kind of dignified accountanance to him. He held 
himself in a kind of a, not proud exactly, but an erect posture, but he was very 
very out-going and generous with his time. I know he was very solicitous to my 
mother who was on the set. He would get her coffee and donuts and just couldn't 
do enough for her. So, he was just a real gentleman. 

Terry: Was he pretty patient with children? 

Billy: Yes, he was. I mean, I don't think I gave him any particular occasion to 
exercise patience, but I never saw him getting up-tight at anything. 

Terry: Where was the film shot at? 

Billy: It was on the backlot of 20th Century Fox. It is now Century City & this 
is the spot where the saucer was constructed and all the surroundings. It was 
supposed to look like some place in Washington, some park in Washington, and 
that's where the movie takes place, although it was on the backlot of 20th. 

Terry: Do you have any unusual stories that might have happened on the set? I 
know it was a long time ago. 

Billy: Well, there was something kind of unusual. Usually the prop man is very 
on top of what happens to his props and one of the props that we had in that 
show was the diamonds that were supposed to be money from where ever Michael 
Rennie was from, the galactic brotherhood used diamonds apparantly as their 
currancy and I managed to hang on to a few of those. I guess when I gave them 
back to the prop man I probably didn't give them all back. So, I ended up with 
some diamonds out of the deal, but they were mainly glass I think. 

Terry: Did you take them to school and say "Hey look guys..."? 

Billy: I did have some fun with them, yeah. 

Terry: What did they say? 

Billy: Well, nobody thought they were diamonds. (laughs) 

Terry: The robot, Gort, do you have any unusual stories about him? I guess that 
was a man in a costume? 

Billy: There was a man in a costume, and he is kind of an interesting story. His 
name was Lock Martin and he was the guard for, well not a guard exactly, but he 
was the feature attraction at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. and 
he would dress up in a Mandarin outfit. He was about 7'2" himself, and he would 
dress up in this kind of regal, official looking, guard of the palace or guard 
of the gate kind of costume and would watch people go into the theatre and just 
kind of be there as a presence. On the movie set he was very frail and he could 
only stay in the robot outfit for not more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time 
because it was pretty stuffy in there and it was heavy and for as big as he was, 
he wasn't really a very strong person. So they had to kind of shoot around his 
not really being as robust as you might expect from a creature that size. 

Terry: Do you know what the costume was made out of? It looked very metallic. 

Billy: It was rubber. I think it was latex rubber and if you look real close 
there is one spot in the movie where you can see the zipper that came up the 
back. Just for a second you can spot it. They had two outfits; they had one 
outfit with a zipper in the back, and another one with the zipper in the front 
for when he was being filmed from the rear, you know, going away from the camera 
they put him in that suit, and for reverse they'd use the other suit. 

Terry: When I saw that film, I have to admit, it gave me nightmares because I 
was very young when I saw it. Did anybody ever tell you that it affected them 
that way? 

Billy: No, I haven't heard that, but I'm not surprised because it was directed 
by Robert Wise of "Citizen Kane" fame and other very very imposing productions. 
He made sure that it wasn't gimicked up or joked up or handled in any other way 
but that it could be real and it could be happening and I thought he pulled it 
off. In fact, I've seen it over the years, on several different occasions. 
Lately when he's been honored for one reason or another they'll pick out that 
particular show. I've shared a podium with him after a screening on several 
occasions. So, I have seen the movie recently and I can testify that it holds up 
very well today. 

Terry: Was he a pretty friendly man to work with? 

Billy: Very friendly man, and extremely gracious in his appraisal of my ability. 
He's been very kind to me over the years. He's worked with a lot of kids, and 
he's up front about saying that he felt that I was the best of the bunch as far 
as being an actor was concerned, and that's high praise indeed coming from him! 

Terry: Speaking of directors, you did an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" 
and of course it's Hitch's 100th anniversary. 

Billy: I did, you know, but I can't remember whether Hitchcock actually directed 
it or not. I'm not so sure he did. 

Terry: Really? So, he was wasn't on the set when you did the episode? 

Billy: I don't recall anything, I don't have an image of him so I suspect that 
he probably wasn't. 

Terry: Where was that filmed? 

Billy: That was 20th Century Fox, oh no no no, that was Universal. Yeah, the 
Hitchcock thing was at Universal. 

Terry: It was called "The Hatbox" right? 

Billy: "The Hatbox"! Right, yeah and Paul Ford, I think, was the lead character. 
He was a teacher, I think, who ended up cutting off his wife's head or 
something, at least that was my fantasy. Whether it actually happened or not, I 
think is somewhat up for grabs in the story itself. I don't recall exactly. 

Terry: Were those episodes shot pretty quickly? 

Billy: Yeah, that was a typical half hour show. They do it in a week generally. 

Terry: Compared to "The Day the Earth Stood Still", that took how long? 

Billy: Oh that was, it must have been probably close to two months, I would 
think. 

Terry: Well that's pretty quickly. 

Billy: Well they didn't fool around with that one either, but it was just 
because he was so well organized, Robert Wise, he knew exactly what he wanted 
and he didn't go out like, let's see who is the director who goes out, Stevens 
or somebody, and shoots 10 thousand hours of film and then borrows it down to a 
minute or an hour and 20 minutes. 

Terry: Or, he could've been like Ed Wood and do things in one day. 

Billy: Yeah, right. (laughs) 

Terry: Let me ask you a question I like to ask people who have been in science 
fiction films. Do you believe in life in outer space? 

Billy: I do, I think there is, definitely. It would be just too....too huberous 
of us to think that we're the only people in the universe. That is just too 
grand for me to contemplate. I'm sure that there are other civilizations or 
other life forms abounding. I mean, I think the statistics are something like 
hundreds of thousands of potential planets like our own, even within our own 
limited awareness of what's out there, so given that kind of number of 
potential, I feel certain that life is not just restricted to Earth. 

Terry: If they exist do you think that their contact with Earth would pretty 
much happen like it did in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? 

Billy: I think it could happen that way. 

Terry: I think that's what was great about the movie. If it happened, it might 
be like that. 

Billy: I think it may have happened already, as a matter of fact. I mean, there 
is a lot of evidence that points towards visitation earlier in our civilization 
like in the people of Central America who have some artifacts that kind of point 
in that direction and there's other things. There is stuff down in Peru, there's 
some stuff down there that kind of indicates that they might have been visited 
at one time or another, so I wouldn't put it past the fact that it may already 
have happened and it may happen again in the future if we don't get our act 
together. I think that message of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" still applies. 


Terry: The message is clear that we blew it! How do you think "The Day the Earth 
Stood Still" compares to "War of the Worlds" as far as delivering a meassage? 
Have you ever seen "War of the Worlds"? 

Billy: I did see "War of the Worlds" but I had a feeling that they were going 
for a little more sensationalism in that movie. That was primarily aimed at 
getting people in the theatres and giving them a thrilling experience and I 
think that "The Day the Earth Stood Still" had as it's goal some information to 
to impact. I think it wanted to have it's message heard, and I'm not so sure 
there was a message in the other movie. 

Terry: I have on my list here that you were in "Abbott and Costello Meet the 
Killer". Is that right? 

Billy: Yes I was! 

Terry: And you worked with Abbott and Costello? 

Billy: I did work with Abbott and Costello. In fact, I've seen the scene 
relatively recently. Someone gave me a print of it and I watched it and I had a 
real cute little scene with Abbott primarily, oh no wait, Abbott was there but 
it was Costello that I actually had the scene with. In the scene I shot an 
arrow, and I was dressed up as a kid playing an indian, and I shot this arrow 
and it went right in front of his face and stuck in the post that he was next 
to. Then I went up and talked to him about getting my arrow back and we had this 
little repartee and it was just a small but funny bit. One of the bits, one of 
the hundreds of bits that I did, in fact before I got the print I'd forgotten 
that I'd done the show. 

Terry: How old were you when you did that? 

Billy: Oh probably 9 or 10, something like that, 8 or 9. 

Terry: Now that the viewing of your print jogged your memory can you remember 
anything about that scene as far as were they easy to work with? 

Billy: No, I can't remember anything specific about it. I know when I saw it, it 
was pretty cute. (chuckles) I gotta say, I had an attitude about it, you know, 
because Lou tried to pull the arrow out and he was pulling and grunting, and you 
know how he can be, and then I just got disgusted with him and reached up and 
gave him a dirty look and pulled it out with no effort at all and walked away. 

Terry: Do you think they were funny? 

Billy: Do I think they were funny? Oh yeah, hysterically, hysterically funny. 
The routine "Who's on First", I mean my god, nothing is funnier than that! 

Terry: Did you have any scenes with Boris Karloff? I understand he was in the 
movie as well. 

Billy: No, no I didn't have any. As a matter of fact my mother had a scene, we 
both worked in that movie, she had a little bit part as well where she was 
holding a dog and yelling about a fire that was happening in the building that 
everybody was getting away from and so, although we weren't in the same 
sequence, we were in the same movie together. 

Terry: You said that you really didn't cause trouble on the set, so maybe this 
question is irrelevent, but what was it like being on the set with your mother? 
Of course, I imagine as a young actor your mother was always on the set wasn't 
she? 

Billy: Yeah, she was there..... 

Terry: I was just wondering if you were more behaved when she was there. 

Billy: Well, I wasn't behaved at all. In fact, I had a nick name called "The 
Gremlin" and that was what I was known as and one of the favorite things that 
they would say to do was "nail him down" because I was pretty jittery or running 
around all the time, so I was a handful. 

Terry: When it was time to go and you were supposed to do your thing.... 

Billy: (interrupts) Oh, oh yeah. I had no problem with that. I just didn't want 
to be sitting around in the school room you know. You're supposed to do three 
hours of school a day and I kind of managed to skate on that as often as I 
could. 

Terry: So, basically what was hard for you too was a lot of the waiting around 
between scenes? 

Billy: Yeah, I didn't find it hard to do. I just found it hard to sit in a 
school room and wait around, you know? (chuckles) The set is a great place. 
There's cat walks and there's interesting stuff everywhere around a movie set. 

Terry: I see on my list here that you did "Superman and the Jungle Devil", was 
that a seriel? 

Billy: I don't remember "The Jungle Devil" but I do remember doing something 
with "Superman". In fact, I'd previously forgotten about that one too until Jack 
Larson, who I've stayed in touch with who played Jimmy Olson, told me that I'd 
done one of his shows and I argued with him. I said no I didn't think I did and 
somebody actually sent me a tape of that as well so I did see that episode and 
it came back to me. I remembered when I saw it that I'd done it. 

Terry: I appreciate that you're remembering as much as you are because I imagine 
it's pretty hard when people ask you this and that about shows and movies from 
so many years ago. 

Billy: Well yeah, and I was working all the time. There was nothing special. 
Like I said, I did probably a hundred bit parts, so it was just one job after 
another, so there wasn't anything really all that special about it. It was just 
what I did. 

Terry: And in 1971 you did "Werewolves on Wheels"? 

Billy: (laughs) Yeah. 

Terry: One of the classics. (laughs) 

Billy: (laughs) Yeah, one of the classics. That's on a par with "The Navy VS. 
The Night Monsters". It's right up there with "The Navy VS. The Night Monsters". 


Terry: Yes, what did you play in those two movies? 

Billy: The character I played in "Werewolves on Wheels" was called Pill and I 
was the drug dispencer of the group and I think I had really long hair, I think 
my hair was down to the middle of my back, about almost as long as yours (points 
to daughter Tiffany). That was a fun movie, because I got to ride a bike and I 
had been racing motorcycles for a few years when I did that part as well. 

Terry: What about your character in "The Navy VS. The Night Monsters"? 

Billy: Well that was a total mistake and very unfortunate, I mean it was fun in 
a way, but it was something that I got talked into doing that I probably 
shouldn't have done it, but I hadn't worked in a while and somebody said "well, 
you've got to stay active and keep up appearances" so I said "ok, I'll do it." 
The fun part of that one was, the severed arm scene got cut out of the version 
that ran on television! I was supposed to get my arm ripped off by one of these 
monsters that comes in tree form, a tree form that has legs kind of, the roots 
move or they scurry along the ground, and anyway it grabs you and it would clip 
my arm off. We rigged a thing where tubes ran up to where the arm was supposed 
to be, the shoulder, and I had a little ear syringe under my other arm and I 
would push in on it in a pulsing fashion and squirt red stuff out the tubes to 
indicate that I was bleeding profusely from the ripped off limb. But that was so 
gory, that they cut it out of the film. I think it's in the film version, but 
it's not in the TV version. 

Terry: Well, if you're pumping your own blood, then I guess that says that it's 
definitely a low budget film. That's really low budget when you're doing your 
own special effects! 

Billy: (laughs) Yeah! It doesn't get any lower than "The Navy VS. The Night 
Monsters"! 

Terry: Well what about "Werewolves on Wheels"? Any funny or unusual stories 
there? 

Billy: Well I think the only funny thing is the story itself. We start off as 
Hell's Angels basically and then somehow we come upon a monastery and they're 
going through some rite of some sort and they invite us to partake of their wine 
and what not and there is something in the wine appearantly that turns us all 
into werewolves so as we're riding down the hill we're starting to grow hair and 
I mean it doesn't get too much more ridiculous than that. 

Terry: You worked with Gene Autry too. Do you have a memories of him? 

Billy: Yeah, I do. I don't have any specific memory of him, but I remember one 
aspect of working with him. One of the producers on that shoot was called 
Parsons, I forget what his first name was but they called him "Petty Cash 
Parsons" because as the crew would run out of money on these locations they'd 
always put the bite on Parsons so he came up with his name "Petty Cash Parsons", 
but we shot that out at a remote location out somewhere in the high desert I 
think called...what was it called? It was Fly Away Productions and they had a 
kind of a ranch that they shot at. 

Terry: Maybe around the Palmdale area? 

Billy: Yeah, yeah, right around Palmdale. Yes, somewhere out in that neck of the 
woods. I remember going out on that location. 

Terry: Was that for "Gene Autry and the Mounties"? 

Billy: I don't know if he was a mounty in that or not. 

Terry: So you've done more than one with Gene Autry? 

Billy: I might have done more than one with Gene Autry, yeah. I think possibly I 
did. I did something kind of similar with Henry Fonda too. It was the same kind 
of character, the same kind of script. I was a bad kid or a kid who was doing 
some bad things in both of those and somehow I turned around at the end and came 
out ok, but I had a father who was a bad influence on me in both of those. The 
one with Henry Fonda was called "The Deputy" I think and we did that sometime 
later. Actually, that was after "Father Knows Best". 

Terry: You said you weren't so much a sci-fi or horror fan, but what about being 
a cowboy fan as a boy? 

Billy: Oh yes, I was a big cowboy fan. I went to a place on Hollywood Blvd. 
which was one of my favorite theatres called The Hitching Post and you had to 
check in your guns when you came in, and then you could get them when you came 
back out, but that was almost everyday for me. 

Terry: What are you doing now? Anything other than conventions and stuff? 

Billy: I'm actually inventing. I've got a guitar pick that I've invented called 
the F1. It's a revolutionary design and hopefully it will take over the guitar 
pick industry. 

Terry: So I take it you play then? 

Billy: I play a little bit. Playing is not my strong suit. My stronger suit is 
in the design and the manufacturing of the product so I built the machines and 
refined the design of the pic itself, but the playing I leave to my partner. My 
partner is Alan Chance, he's the guitar player and we both started working on 
this idea and then I came up with the design and he kind of said yes or no 
whether it worked or not, you know, and I kept working on it until it worked and 
that's how we got to it. 

Terry: So is this something that is available to the public? 

Billy: It's starting now to be available. It's available through a catalog 
called Musician's Friend. There's a website telling where they can be obtained 
or you can get information about them at http://www.f1pick.com and that's our 
website. We're getting user comments, and there's an order form, and that kind 
of thing. It tells where they're available, we've got about 20 stores now that 
are carrying it. 

Terry: Do you do a lot of shows or conventions like this? 

Billy: I don't do a lot of shows like this. Actually this is the first one I've 
done probably in a couple of years, but a friend of mine told me about it and 
the fact that there was going to be bands here, that was an added inducement 
because I've been able to hand out a bunch of the pics to various players like 
Dick Dale and thus get the word out on that. So that's basically the reason I'm 
here. 

Terry: What kind of music do you get into? 

Billy: I'm a Bach fan myself. Yeah, Beetoven, Bach, Mozart. 

Terry: Classical? 

Billy: Yeah. 

Terry: Wow. What about the movie "The Gangster"? What do you know about that? 

Billy: I don't think I was in that one. 

Terry: Really? Well that might have been a information typo because it says 
1947. 

Billy: Nope, I don't recall "The Gangster". The nearest thing I did to "The 
Gangster" would have been a movie called "Mister 880" and that was about a 
counterfeitter and that was with Burt Lancaster. I played a kid in that who 
found a printing press, or found some money that was counterfeit money and I got 
involved in that. I got interviewed by Burt Lancaster on where I found this 
money and that's as close to a "Gangster" movie as I can think of. 

Terry: What actor can you think of off of the top of your head that you would 
have liked to have worked with, dead or alive, that you never got a chance to? 
Maybe one of your idols? 

Billy: That's a question I don't think I've ever been asked. 

Terry: Well good! (laughs) 

Billy: Yeah! (laughs) Let me think....... Oh I think I've probably..... Of all 
the actors I can think of...... Wow, that's a rough one! Well, I mean, there is 
several that I admire a great deal and I can't imagine myself working with them, 
but Laurence Olivier comes to mind, you know. (chuckles) I remember a 
performance that he did in a movie called "The Performer" that I thought was the 
best performance I had ever seen anyone do, as far as acting goes and if I 
could've been on the same stage with him, I would've really been..... I would've 
felt good about it. 

Terry: What do you think about children in show business? Do you think that is 
an ok thing? 

Billy: Yeah, I do. I think it's ok. The problem is the parents more often than 
not because generally the work itself is great. People on the set treat you as 
an adult, you know, which raises your self-esteem and so I got very good vibes 
out of it. You know, I developed a definite "Can do" attitude from the whole 
thing that has carried on into my adult life. But, the people that run into 
problems are generally those that have questionable parents. You know, they're 
pushing the kids into it, the kids don't want to do it, they're kind of forced 
to do it, and when you're forced to do something no good comes of it and I think 
that's probably been the real problem. Not the work itself, I don't think the 
work is..... there's nothing intrinsically damaging about acting. In fact I 
think there is something very immobiling and educational about it. Part of the 
job is to see things from different view points, you know, maybe not a view 
point that you have but the character might require seeing from a different 
prospective and to get that kind of exposure and experience early on in life was 
invaluable. 

Terry: I imagine you feel it definitely helped your mother to understand maybe 
you and how you were feeling, because she was in the business too. 

Billy: Yeah, I think that made it easier for me too because she did understand 
the business and so it wasn't such a big deal to her, you know, it was just kind 
of normal stuff, so I never had the feeling that it was anything but a good time 
basically. 

Terry: And she incouraged you to be as normal as you could be? 

Billy: Yeah, well she didn't have to incourage me very much. (chuckles) I was 
pretty normal. I was overly normal I think. 

Terry: Do you prefer TV to movies or visa versa? 

Billy: No, actually I prefered the movies. The TV that I did with "Father Knows 
Best" was shot like a movie so I didn't have any problem there but the TV that I 
did later was a cut below, I thought. The TV that I experienced after "Father 
Knows Best" was, by a large, not as caring. I mean, you didn't have the same 
people involved and you did not have the same personal relationship to the work 
that we had on "Father Knows Best" because Robert Young's partner Rodney oversaw 
the whole thing. He oversaw all the scripts, he oversaw all the casting, 
everything and he made sure that everything was done right. The director was a 
very very very talented fellow and it was just a very unusual circumstance for 
the whole show to come together like that compared to other shows. That's why 
the show holds up so well. That's why you'll see a "Father Knows Best" episode 
now and it's not dated, except for the age of the car or maybe the costumes. The 
attitudes, they're real attitudes and they're real relationships. They weren't 
gimicked or exaggerated or burlesqued in any way. 

Terry: Why do you think shows aren't as wholesome as they used to be? Is it 
because of the times? 

Billy: Well, it's hard to do for one thing. I think it's easier to do gags and 
gimicks and hold an audience than it is to have a real human relationship. 
That's a little more difficult to pull off. So, I think maybe that's why they go 
for the joke, maybe too quickly, or they'll go for the exaggerated gimick or the 
farsical behavior. You know, something that's a little cruder. 

Terry: Now, "Father Knows Best", was that your only series? 

Billy: That was the only series I was on, yes. 

Terry: Now you said you've done other TV, we mentioned Hitchcock, what else have 
you done? 

Billy: I did a "Peter Gunn", and "The Deputy" show was another TV thing. Let's 
see I did a "Stagecoach West", and oh I did probably a dozen, a dozen or so 
other shows, but I can't recall them actually. 

Terry: I appreciate you talking to me, it's been great. 

Billy: My pleasure. 


Billy Gray Filmography:


"Man of Courage" (1943) ......... Mike Wilson
"The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" (1945) ........... (uncredited) ... child
"Specter of the Rose" (1946) .......... Jack Jones
"To Each His Own" (1946) .......... (uncredited) ... Billy Ingham
"Cluny Brown" (1946) ........... Boy in shop
"Fighting Father Dunne" (1948) ........ Chip
"Parlor, Bedroom, and Wrath" (1948)
"Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer" (1949) ......... (uncredited)
"Abandoned" (1949) ............ Boy leader
"Singing Guns" (1950) ............ Albert
"Sierra Passage" (1950) ........... Young Johnny Yourke
"Mister 880" (1950) ............ Mickey
"Between Midnight and Dawn" (1950) ........... Petey
"Father is a Bachelor" (1950) ........... Feb Chalotte
"In a Lonely Place" (1950) .............. (uncredited) ... Young boy
"Three Little Words" (1950) .......... Boy
"On Moonlight Bay" (1951) ............ Wesley Winfield
"Gene Autry and The Mounties" (1951)
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) ............ Bobby Benson
"The Guy Who Came Back" (1951) ............ Willy Joplin
"Talk About a Stranger" (1952) ............. Robert Fontaine Jr.
"The Girl Next Door" (1953) .......... Joe Carter
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1953) ............ Wesley Winfield
"All I Desire" (1953) ........... Ted Murdoch
"Superman and the Jungle Devil" (1954) ............ Alan Gray
"Doggie in the Bedroom" (1954)
"Father Knows Best" (1954) TV Series .............. Bud Anderson
"The Seven Little Foys" (1955) ............. Brynie Foy
"The Explosive Generation" (1961) ............. Bobby Herman
"The Navy VS, the Night Monsters" (1966) .............. C.P.O. Fred Twining
"Werewolves on Wheels" (1971) ........... Pill
"Dusty and Sweets McGee" (1971) .............. City Life



Notable TV Guest Appearances:


"Adventures of Superman" (1953) Episode "Shot in the Dark"....Alan Hopper
"Cheyenne" (1955) Episode "The Mutton Punchers"
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955) Episode "The Hatbox"........Perry Hatch
"Stagecoach West" (1960) Episode "Dark Return"...........Frankie Niles
"I Spy" (1965) Episode "Lori"

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