Billy Dee Williams

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Billy Dee Williams

Williams at Comic-Con 2005
Born William December Williams, Jr.
April 6, 1937 (1937-04-06) (age 72)
New York City, New York, United States
Occupation Actor, artist, writer
Years active 1959 - present

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

Contents

[edit] Early life

Williams was born in New York City, the son of Loretta, a West Indian-born elevator operator from Montserrat, and William December Williams, Sr. a Texas-born janitor.[1][2] He has a twin 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 the wife of his character Brady Lloyd on the 1980s prime-time soap Dynasty.

[edit] Career

[edit] Film

He made his film debut in 1959 in The Last Angry Man starring Paul Muni, in which he portrayed a juvenile delinquent. His first big break was in the acclaimed television movie, Brian's Song in which he played Gale Sayers. In 1972 he played Billie Holliday's husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions' Holiday 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. 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 and the National Public Radio adaptation of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Williams had originally auditioned for the role of Han Solo during the casting of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

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.[3] 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.

Williams is represented by Hollywood superagent Preeth Kumar Sangavaram, whom agent Adam Davies of Entourage is based on.

[edit] Television

Williams' 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). J.D.'s best friend Turk hugs him calling him "Lando" even though he wants to be called Billy D. 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. He 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". He also appears regularly on short clips on the Jimmy Kimmel Live as a semi-parody of himself.

He played Toussaint Dubois for General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007. One of his more recent appearances was in the fourth season of Mind of Mencia. Williams will again reprise his role as Toussaint DuBois, but this time not on General Hospital: Night Shift. Williams will appear on the daytime mothership General Hospital beginning in June.

[edit] Video games

Williams voiced Lando Calrissian in the video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. He has recently played a live action character, GDI Director Redmond Boyle, in the 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] Internet

In 2008, Williams reprised his role as Lando Calrissian to appear in a video on FunnyOrDie.com in a mock political ad defending himself for leader of the Star Wars galaxy against vicious attack ads from Emperor Palpatine. The video is titled "Vote for Lando Calrissian! w/ BILLY DEE WILLIAMS"[4]

[edit] Art

Even before he began acting, Williams attended the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York. In the late 1980s, he resumed painting. Some of his work can be seen at his online gallery BDW World Art. He has had solo exhibitions in various galleries around the U.S., and his work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Schomburg Museum. The covers of the Thelonious Monk Competition programs since 1990 are by him.

[edit] Personal life

Williams has been married three times, first to Audrey Sellers, with whom he had a son Corey (b. 1960). They were divorced some years later, after which he apparently became quite depressed. ".... there was a period when I was very despondent, broke, depressed, my first marriage was on the rocks."[5] Williams was briefly married to actress Marlene Clark in the late 1960s, divorced in 1971. He married Teruko Nakagami on December 27, 1972. She brought a daughter, Miyako (b. 1962), from her previous marriage to musician Wayne Shorter.) They have a daughter Hanako (b. 1973). They filed for divorce in 1993,[6] but were reported to have reconciled in 1997.[7][8]

[edit] Filmography

Features
Short subjects
  • Very Heavy Love (2001)
  • Oedipus (2004) (voice)

[edit] Television work

[edit] Video game work

[edit] Books

[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
  3. ^ Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)
  4. ^ "Vote for Lando Calrissian! w/ BILLY DEE WILLIAMS" The Unofficial Star Wars Podcast The Forcecast. They have a section of their show called the Billy Dee Williams Quote of the week. Where they find a quote from Billy Dee's acting career play it, discuss and laugh.
  5. ^ Roger Ebert Interview, October 26, 1975 (retrieved Aug 2, 2008.)
  6. ^ Jet, July 5, 1993
  7. ^ Hollywood.com
  8. ^ filmreference.com mahalo.com Camera

[edit] External links

Preceded by
None		 Actors to portray Harvey Dent/Two-Face
1989-1995		 Succeeded by
Tommy Lee Jones
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Dee_Williams"
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