Billie Lou Watt (June 20, 1924 – September 7, 2001) was an American actress. She was best known as the original English dub voice of the title characters of the 1960s

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 ''tankōbon'' vo ...

'' and ''

Kimba the White Lion ''Kimba the White Lion'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese '' shōnen'' manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka which was serialized in the ''Manga Shōnen'' magazine from November 1950 to April 1954. An anime based on ...

'', the character

Elsie the Cow Elsie the Cow is a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936 to symbolize the "perfect dairy product". Since the demise of Borden in the mid-1990s, the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the c ...

for Borden Cheese's television commercials, and a live-action turn playing Ellie Harper Bergman on the soap opera ''

Search for Tomorrow ''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986. Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...

''.

Early life

Watt was born on June 20, 1924, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Watt. She attended Midland and Howe Heights schools and

Ritenour High School Ritenour High School is a public high school in Breckenridge Hills, St. Louis County, Missouri that is part of the Ritenour School District. Activities For the 2013–2014 school year, the school offered 25 activities approved by the Missou ...

and received dramatic training at St. Louis School of the Theater. She was also active with a local amateur theatrical group. Her career on the stage began at the age of 12 in the role of Becky in a local play based on the book ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the nov ...

''. Her education continued at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Career

Her first role on a professional stage came two years later at the

St. Louis Municipal Opera The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first come, first se ...

production of '' The American Way''. Her first acting role using mainly her voice was heard by listeners of the

KMOX KMOX (1120 AM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it is a 50,000 watt Class A clear-channel station with a non-directional signal. The KMOX studios and offices are on Olive Street at Tucker Bouleva ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

program ''The Land We Live In''. She graduated from Ritenour High School and

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

before continuing her acting career in the touring company of the play ''Kiss and Tell''. This would lead up to performing on the stages of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, with special thanks to

George Abbott George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. Early years Abbott was born in Forestville, New Yo ...

for hiring her for the play ''Barefoot Boy with Cheek''. She also appeared in ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

'' and ''King of Hearts'' during her time on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. Watt's first regular role on television had her portraying the girlfriend of the title character in ''The Billy Bean Show'' (1949, 1951). A review of ''The Billy Bean Show'' in the trade publication ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' said: "Billie Lou Watt did a smooth job as his girl friend. This ingenue should be a natural for many television shows." She also appeared on the 1958 series ''

From These Roots ''From These Roots'' is an American soap opera that aired from June 30, 1958, to December 29, 1961. It was created and written by Frank Provo and John Pickard. The show was seen on NBC. Storyline Actress Ann Flood starred as Elizabeth "Liz" F ...

'' as Maggie Barber Weaver. Her career in animation began after she and her husband Hal Studer were suggested by

Fred Ladd Fred Laderman (February 19, 1927 – August 3, 2021),''Tol ...

as actors in his journey into animation, with their first successful project being Astro Boy in 1963. Along the way, Billie Lou and Hal learned how to write character dialog and situations as Ladd brought in more shows to work on, resulting in such series as ''Kimba the White Lion'' (as Kimba) and ''

Gigantor is a 1963 anime adaptation of ''Tetsujin 28-go'', a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama released in 1956. It debuted on US television in January 1966. As with ''Speed Racer'', the characters' original names were altered and the original series' viol ...

'' (as Jimmy Sparks). Ladd's cast remained close during Watt's career, including her friend Ray Owens, his wife Sonia, and Gilbert Mack. Watt returned to acting as herself on the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that networ ...

'' in the role of Florence Hatcher in 1967, but her longest television role would be Ellie Harper Bergman on ''Search for Tomorrow'' from 1968 to 1981. Watt continued to provide voice-acting and script-writing duties for English redubs of Japanese anime, such as the 1970s feature-length ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole ...

'' (as Jack), ''

Taro the Dragon Boy is a 1979 film adaptation of a famous Japanese folk tale, and the novel ''Taro, the Dragon Boy'' by Miyoko Matsutani. In 1966, Taro, the Son of Dragon with the original Japanese title of "Tatsu, no ko Taro", started as a puppet series on a Japan ...

'' (as the title character), and the Biblical-based television series ''

Superbook , also known as , is a Christian anime television series from the early 1980s, initially produced at Tatsunoko Productions and TV Tokyo in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States, and rebooted in 2 ...

'' (as Christopher Peeper and various other characters) and '' The Flying House'' (as Justin Casey and various other characters). Later in life, Watt and her voice became of great help for radio listeners of In-Touch Networks who are

visually impaired Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

or completely blind. Watt's final acting role was the voice of Ma Bagge (Eustace's mother) on the series ''

Courage the Cowardly Dog ''Courage the Cowardly Dog'' is an American animated comedy horror television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. It was produced by Dilworth's animation studio, Stretch Fil ...

'' from 1999 to 2001. The fourth season of ''

'' was dedicated to her memory.

Death

Watt succumbed to lung cancer in

later in 2001, leaving her husband Hal and their three children. For her contributions to the entertainment industry, and her charitable works, she was inducted into the Ritenour Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

External links

*
Interview with Billie Lou Watt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Billie Lou 1924 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from St. Louis American soap opera actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)