Billy Lee

Background

Brammer was born April 21, 1929, in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from Sunset High School.

Education

He attended the University of North Texas (then called North Texas State College), and while there met and later married (on April 22, 1950) Nadine Ellen Cannon. Brammer graduated in 1952 with a degree in journalism.

Career

Lee's first role was in the Our Gang comedy Mike Fright as a tap dancer in a sailor suit. His first significant role was in Wagon Wheels when he was just four years old, though he is probably best remembered for his performance in The Biscuit Eater. He also did the voice of "The Boy" character in the animated portion of the Disney film, The Reluctant Dragon.

In addition to being an actor, he was also a singer and dancer, appearing and singing with Bobby Breen in Make A Wish. Lee continued acting throughout the 1930s, appearing in a number of movies and working alongside some of Hollywood's finest, including, Lon Chaney Jr., Roy Rogers, Charles Boyer, Randolph Scott, Olivia de Havilland, John Boles, and Broderick Crawford. In the 1941 film, Reg'lar Fellers, he starred with co-star Carl Switzer.

Lee retired from film in 1943. Lee died on November 17, 1989, of a sudden heart attack.

Achievements

• After working briefly as a reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Brammer joined the Austin American-Statesman (then called the Austin Statesman), where he won a press award for excellence in writing in 1952. In 1954, he won the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Contest for a feature sports story written for the same paper.

Connections

associate:

Texas Observer