Billy Dee Williams

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Billy Dee Williams

Born William December Williams, Jr.
April 6, 1937 (1937-04-06) (age 71)
New York City, New York, United States
Years active 1959 - present

Billy Dee Williams (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor and writer, best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Williams was born William December Williams, Jr. in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta, a West Indian-born elevator operator, and William December Williams, Sr. a Texas-born janitor.[1][2] He has a sister, Loretta, and grew up in Harlem, where he was raised by his maternal grandmother while his parents worked at several jobs. Williams graduated from Manhattan's School of Performing Arts where he was a classmate of Diahann Carroll who coincidentally played his wife on the '80s prime-time soap Dynasty.

[edit] Career

[edit] Film career

He made his film debut in 1959 in The Last Angry Man starring Paul Muni in which he portrayed a teen delinquent. His first big break was in the acclaimed television movie, Brian's Song in which he played Gale Sayers. His next hit came in 1972 when he played Billie Holliday's husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions' Holliday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. Diana Ross starred in Lady Sings the Blues opposite Williams; Motown paired the two of them again three years later in Mahogany.

His most famous role is Lando Calrissian, which he played in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi; Williams had originally auditioned for the role of Han Solo during the casting of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He later reprised this role, when he lent his voice for the character in the 2002 video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, as well as the audio dramatization of Dark Empire.

Williams appeared in numerous other films, most recently lending his voice to Oedipus (2004). One of his most notable roles was in 1989's Batman as district attorney Harvey Dent. Williams originally took the role believing that it would land him in a sequel playing the supervillain Two-Face and arranged a pay or play contract in preparation for the role. However, the studio decided to pay the penalty fee instead when the time came for the third installment, Batman Forever, in order to cast Tommy Lee Jones for the role.

[edit] Television appearances

William's television work included a recurring guest-starring role on the short-lived show Gideon's Crossing. He has had a brief cameo in the hit TV show Scrubs Season 5, where he plays the godfather of Julie (Mandy Moore). He is also well-known for his appearance in advertisements for Colt 45, a low-cost brand of malt liquor, for which he received much criticism. Williams responded indifferently to the criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials. When questioned about his appearances he was quoted as saying, "I drink, you drink. Hell, if marijuana was legal, I'd appear in a commercial for it."

Williams was paired with actress Marla Gibbs on three different TV shows: The Jeffersons (Gibbs' character, Florence, had a crush on Williams and challenged him on everything because she thought he was an impostor); 227 (her character, Mary, pretending to be royalty, met Williams at a banquet); and The Hughleys (both Gibbs and Williams portrayed Darryl's parents). (In one memorable scene on The Jeffersons, Williams, waiting for Florence to hand over his driver's license to him, repeats the line "Do you want my arm to fall off?" Florence, now convinced that he is Williams, yells "that's the line you said to Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues! He then replies "I got another one right!")

Williams made a special guest appearance on the hit sketch comedy show, In Living Color in 1990

Williams portrayed Pastor Dan in an episode of That '70s Show. In this episode entitled "Baby Don't You Do It" (2004) his character is obsessed with Star Wars, and uses this to help counsel Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti about their premarital relationship.

Williams made a cameo appearance as himself on the TV series Lost in the episode "Exposé".

Williams also appears regularly on short clips on the Jimmy Kimmel Live as a semi-parody of himself.

He played Toussaint Dubois (GH Nightshift) for General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007.

One of his more recent appearances was in the fourth season of Mind of Mencia, where Williams played the seducing person that women see in Barack Obama.

[edit] Video game appearances

He also plays a live action character, GDI Director Redmond Boyle, in the video game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, making him the second former Star Wars actor to appear in a Command and Conquer game, with the first being James Earl Jones as GDI General James Solomon in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

[edit] Personal

He was briefly married to actress Marlene Clark in the late 1960s. He later met and married Maura James, a noted author of mysteries and children's book. The couple met while he was on location filming "Shorter Rain" in Tuscany, Italy in 1982. Though they are separated now, the two remain "the warmest of friends".

He is represented by famed agent Preeth Kumar Sangavaram, who has managed the careers of several African-American actors such as Bill Duke, Sinbad, John Amos, Arsenio Hall, and Jaleel White.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Books

Preceded by
None		 Actors to portray Harvey Dent/Two-Face
1989-1995		 Succeeded by
Tommy Lee Jones

[edit] Video games

[edit] Trivia

  • In the Family Guy episode "Road to Rupert", an animated version of Williams is portrayed on the "cool" side of the pillow.

[edit] Further reading

  • Nishikawa, Kinohi. "Billy Dee Williams." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 1742-43.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Billy Dee Williams Biography (1937-)
  2. ^ S W A D - Williams, Billy Dee

[edit] External links