Billy Lenhart (1930) one half of a reoccurring child comedy team at Universal called Butch and Buddy passed away in Lakeside, California on February 19, 2013. They were usually little brats, shooting slingshots at people and such, and pretending in front of others that they were little angels. Born as William Joseph Lenhart on December 14, 1930, Billy, as Butch, was called on to play the bass while Buddy, usually Kenneth Brown, played accordion. They appeared as the sons of an exasperated Billy Gilbert in THE UNDER-PUP (1939) and it’s pseudo-sequel A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN. In the second film, most of the stars from PUP other than Virginia reenacted their roles under different names because Universal didn’t want to pay royalties to the author of THE UNDER-PUP for the second film. It’s sort of like the difference between THE SAINT and THE FALCON…there isn’t any. Billy continued to make films until 1945 and most of them, including his final Columbia film, were with Brown as the team of Butch and Buddy. LENHART, Billy (William Joseph Lenhart)
Born: 12/14/1930, Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Died: 2/19/1930, Leakeside, California, U.S.A.
Billy Lenhart’s westerns – actor:
Melody of the Plains – 1937 (Billy Langley)
Two-Gun Troubador – 1939 (Fred Dean as a boy)
Ridin’ the Trail – 1940 (Butch)
Man from Montana – 1941 (Butch)
A Lady Takes a Chance – 1943 (Butch)
Rough Rindin’ Justice – 1945 (Butch)