Billy and Bobby Mauch

Infobox actor
bgcolour = Silver
name = Bobby Mauch

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imagesize = 200px
caption = Bobby Mauch was an American film actor.
birthname = Robert Joseph Mauch
birthdate = birth date|1921|07|21
location = Peoria, Illinois, U.S.A.
deathdate = death date and age|2007|10|15|1921|07|21
deathplace = Santa Rosa, California
height =
othername =
yearsactive = 1937 — 1943
spouse = Georgia "Gigi" Shattuck Culhane
website =
notable role =
academyawards =
emmyawards =
tonyawards = Infobox actor
bgcolour = Silver
name = Billy Mauch

---

imagesize = 200px
caption = Billy Mauch was an American film actor.
birthname = William John Mauch
birthdate = birth date|1921|07|21
location = Peoria, Illinois, U.S.A.
deathdate = death date and age|2006|09|29|1921|07|21
deathplace = Palatine, Illinois
height =
othername =
yearsactive = 1936 — 1951
spouse = Marjorie Barnewolt
website =
notable role =
academyawards =
emmyawards =
tonyawards =

William John Mauch (6 July 1921 – 29 September 2006), known as Billy, and his identical twin brother, Robert Joseph Mauch, (6 July 1921 – 15 October 2007), known as Bobby, were popular child actors in the 1930s. They are best remembered for their starring roles in the 1937 film "The Prince and the Pauper", based on the novel of the same name by Mark Twain.

Billy and Bobby were born in Peoria, Illinois, to an employee of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad and his wife. They began singing and acting in radio at the age of seven and later appeared in print advertisements before signing a contract with Warner Brothers in 1935 which netted each of them $350 dollars per week.

After moving with their mother to Hollywood, Billy was cast as the young title character (played as an adult by Fredric March) in the film "Anthony Adverse". His brother Bobby was his stand-in for the role, but the brothers, whose voice and appearance were almost indistinguishable, later claimed that they freely alternated who would play the part in a given take. Their turn in the "The Prince and the Pauper", in which they co-starred with Errol Flynn and Claude Rains, earned them the cover story in the May 3, 1937 issue of "Time" magazine.

The twins later starred in three films based on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington. Bobby quit acting shortly afterwards, but Billy continued to play minor roles in a number of other films, the last one being the comedy "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951), which famously starred Ronald Reagan and a chimpanzee.

Billy and Bobby Mauch attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles before graduating from the Mar-Ken School for professional children, in Hollywood. During their senior year they ran jointly for the office of class president under the campaign slogan "Two Heads Are Better than One." The brothers served together in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and were stationed in the Philippines. They appeared in the 1943 Broadway play "Winged Victory", later made into a movie directed by George Cukor.

Interested in the technical aspects of moviemaking, both brothers eventually found employment in that field. Bobby became a film editor whose work included the 1950s TV series "Dragnet". Billy became a sound editor for Warner Brothers in 1950 and would go on to participate in more than 300 films and TV shows.

Billy and his wife Marjorie, who were married to 53 years, had one son, William J. Mauch II, named after Bobby. Billy died, aged 85, in his home in Palatine, Illinois.

Bobby Mauch married Georgia Shattuck, a former figure skater, in 1971. They had no children. He died at the age of 86 at a nursing home in Santa Rosa, California.

External links

*imdb name|id=0560757|name=Bobby Mauch
*imdb name|id=0560756|name=Billy Mauch
*imdb name|id=2509196| name=Robert J. Mauch/ Film Editor
* [http://www.classicmoviekids.com/mauchtwins.htm Billy and Bobby Mauch at Classic Movie Kids]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,931591-1,00.html "Mauch Twins & Mark Twain"] , from "Time", May 3, 1937
* [http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0107/dept_passages.htm Obituary for Billy Mauch] , from "Editors Guild Magazine", Jan.-Feb. 2007
* [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/24/local/me-mauch24 Obituary for Bobby Mauch] , from the "Los Angeles Times", Oct. 24, 2007
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/movies/25mauch.html Obituary for Bobby Mauch] , from the "New York Times", Oct. 25, 2007