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Brad King (actor)

American actor (1917-1991)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ4954052 ↗
Source-derived summary

Brad King (born Jack Oliver Watt; November 23, 1917 – November 1, 1991) was an American actor. He is best known for briefly playing Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick, Johnny Nelson, in five of the Hoppy films.

King was born on a ranch in Lander County, Nevada. After his father's death and his mother's remarriage, the family moved to a ranch in Bountiful, Utah. He had two younger brothers. At age 20, he worked as wagon boss for a ranch in Nye County, Nevada. He also won prizes in rodeo competition. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941 before he could complete his sixth Cassidy film.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Brad King (actor)” as american actor (1917-1991). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1917, 1991, 1941—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1917-11-23. The account is most persuasive where Brad, King and actor can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor (1917-1991). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4954052. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1991 and 1941.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Brad King (actor)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Brad King (actor) primary sources, Brad King (actor) archive and Brad research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Brad King (actor)”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Brad King (actor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.