| Bill Potter | |
| Birth Name: | Lewis William Potter |
| Alias: | Cactus Bill Cowboy Bill |
| Birth Date: | 23 April 1923 |
| Birth Place: | Stratton, Maine, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Orange, Texas, U.S. |
| Genre: | Country |
| Occupation: | Singer, actor, deputy sheriff |
| Instrument: | Guitar[1] |
| Years Active: | c. 1948–1957 |
| Label: | Starday Records Monogram Pictures |
Lewis William Potter (April 15, 1923 – September 5, 1975), known professionally as Bill Potter, was an American country music singer, Western movie actor, and television personality of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Potter grew up in Bingham, Maine, and served with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After being discharged in December 1943, he worked for a shipbuilding company in Orange, Texas.[2] By 1948, he was married to a woman from Dallas and had a son. They later operated a ranch near Orange.
In Texas, Potter was discovered by a talent scout, and appeared in several Western movies by Monogram Pictures in the late 1940s as a singing cowboy.[3] [4] Also known as "Cactus Bill" or "Cowboy Bill", Potter went on to appear on early television shows on KFI-TV in Los Angeles and on KPRC-TV in Houston.[5] While living in Houston, he worked as a deputy sheriff in Harris County for approximately three years. In mid-1954, he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he had a children's program on KVDO-TV.[6] He resumed working as a deputy sheriff in December 1955,[7] a role he held through at least December 1956.[8]
In August 1957, Potter was the winning contestant on an episode of Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, singing a western ballad.[9] Billed as "Hollywood Singing Cowboy Bill Potter", he was featured at several events in Maine the following month.[10] [11] From February to May 1958, KPLC-TV in Lake Charles, Louisiana, broadcast the Bill Potter Show on an intermittent basis.[12] [13] At the time of his mother's death in June 1958, Potter was again living in Orange, Texas.[14]
Potter died in September 1975 in Orange, aged 52, "following a lingering illness." He was survived by a son and a daughter.[15] He is interred in Houston National Cemetery.[16]
Potter is known to have appeared in at least 10 movies, each released in 1948 or 1949:[17]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Gunning for Justice | Potter |
| Courtin' Trouble | Steve Graves | |
| Hidden Danger | Henchman Perry | |
| 1949 | Susanna Pass | Henchman (uncredited) |
| Across the Rio Grande | Pete - Henchman (uncredited) | |
| West of El Dorado | Guitar Player Phil | |
| Brand of Fear | Mac - Gold Shipper | |
| Range Justice | Bill (as Bill Porter) | |
| Haunted Trails | Deputy (uncredited) | |
| Western Renegades | Bob (uncredited) |
Potter is known to have released at least two records, both with Starday Records in 1953.[18] [19] Additionally, a promotional record from the Shamrock Record Company in Houston is credited to Cowboy Bill Potter and Dickie Jones and His Texas Longhorns, year unspecified.
| Label | No. | A-side | B-Side | Format | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starday | 110 | "I Lost My Gal" | "Nobody Knows" | Shellac / 10" / 78 rpm | [20] | |
| Starday | 111 | "Honk Your Horn" | "Cry Not For Me" | Vinyl / 7" / 45 rpm | [21] | |
| Shamrock | – | "High Sierra Moon" | "I Got A Yearnin | Shellac / 10" / 78 rpm | [22] |