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|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|7|3}}
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|7|3}}
|birth_place = [[Baltimore, Maryland]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|birth_place = [[Baltimore, Maryland]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|death_date = 2006
|death_date =
|death_place =
|death_place =
|occupation = [[Talk show host]]
|occupation = [[Talk show host]]

Revision as of 01:37, 30 November 2009

Montel Williams
Williams at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born
Montel Brian Anthony Williams

(1956-07-03) July 3, 1956 (age 68)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
OccupationTalk show host
SpouseTara Fowler
Websitewww.montelmedia.com

Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor.

Early life

Williams was born in San Antonio, Texas. As a resident of Glen Burnie, Maryland, he was bused to predominantly white Andover High School in neighboring Linthicum, Maryland where he was elected president of both his junior and senior classes. He was a good student, athlete and musician and active in county-wide student government issues in Annapolis, Maryland. [1] His father, Herman Williams, Jr., was a firefighter who in 1992 became Baltimore's first African-American Fire Chief.

Career

Military career

Williams enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1974 and completed his recruit training at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina. While training at Twentynine Palms, California, he was selected for training at the Naval Academy Preparatory School. A year later, he was accepted into the United States Naval Academy.[2] In 1980, he graduated with a degree in international security affairs. Upon graduation, Williams was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, the first African–American enlisted Marine to complete and graduate both the Academy Prep School and Annapolis.[3]

Williams became a cryptology officer and served aboard USS Sampson during the U.S. invasion of Grenada. His awards include the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, two Navy Expeditionary Medals, two Humanitarian Service Medals, a Navy Achievement Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals and two Meritorious Service Medals. After 12 years of military service he departed as a Lieutenant Commander.[4]

Hosting

Montel began The Montel Williams Show (syndicated by CBS Paramount Television) in 1991. In 1996, Williams received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. He was again nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002, and the Montel Williams Show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001 and 2002.

On January 30, 2008, Variety reported that CBS TV Distribution terminated The Montel Williams Show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008-09 season.[5] It has been alleged that this resulted in part from an appearance on the show Fox & Friends in which Williams criticized the media's lack of coverage on the Iraq War, and took the hosts to task for their excessive coverage (along with the media in general) of the death of actor Heath Ledger, contrasted with the sparse coverage of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq[citation needed]. Some have noted that one of the segment's hosts told viewers that Williams would return for further conversation after a commercial break, but that Williams was no longer on the set when the commercials ended. On May 16, 2008 the last episode of The Montel Williams Show aired.[6]

On April 6, 2009, he began hosting a daily radio show, Montel Across America, on Air America Media.[7]

As of May 2009 he is hosting an infomercial for the Living Well Healthmaster, a high powered blender; presented under the title Living Well with Montel, the infomercial is structured similarly to his old talk show, featuring guests talking about their health problems, with the Healthmaster mixer being the solution.

Acting

Williams has also guest-starred in episodic television and off-Broadway plays. Among other roles, he portrayed a Navy SEAL lieutenant in three episodes of the television series JAG. Williams also produced and starred in a short-lived television series called Matt Waters, which appeared on CBS in 1996. He played an ex-Navy SEAL turned inner-city high school teacher.

Williams played the judge presiding over Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) murder trial on the ABC soap opera All My Children in 2002. In 2003 Williams made a guest appearance on the soap as himself, to promote an episode of his own show on which several AMC stars were scheduled to appear. In 2004 he hosted American Candidate, a political reality show on Showtime.

Williams has also guest starred on Touched By an Angel and Guiding Light.

Spokesperson

Montel Williams is a national spokesman of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a patient-assistance program clearinghouse that helps low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs. On November 30, 2007, while in Savannah, Georgia to promote PPA, Montel Williams threatened reporters following an earlier interview at which Courtney Scott, a 17-year-old high school intern reporter for the Savannah Morning News, had asked him a question about whether restriction of pharmaceutical profits would discourage research and development of new drugs. Angered by the question, Williams subsequently terminated that videotaped interview; Williams later ran into Scott in his hotel and threatened to "blow [her] up".[8] Williams' public relations representatives later apologized for his hostile outburst in an issued statement, "I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologize for my overreaction." [9]

In December 2008, Williams began to appear on television and web commercials advertising "The Obama Presidential Coin Collection"[10] However, these coins are "not approved, endorsed, sponsored, or authorized" by the U.S. Mint.[11] The coins have since been revealed to be nothing more than regular coins with poor quality stickers on them. This has angered many unsuspecting consumers, leading one to report the scam to the Oregon Attorney General's office.[12] As of March 2009, Williams' endorsement video remains on the company's website.

Personal life

Williams has two daughters, Ashley (b. 1984) and Maressa (b. 1988), with his first wife, Rochele See. Williams married Grace Morley, a burlesque dancer on June 6, 1992.[13] They have a son, Montel Brian Hank (b. 1993), and a daughter, Wyntergrace (b. 1994). The couple divorced in 2000. In July 2006, Williams proposed to girlfriend Tara Fowler, an American Airlines flight attendant. They married before friends and family on a beach in Bermuda on October 6, 2007.[14]

Williams participated in the 2007 World Series of Poker main event[15], and planned to donate any potential winnings to families affected by the Iraq war. He was eliminated in Day 2. During the event Williams also spoke out about the port security bill signed in 2006 that banned on-line gaming sites from accepting money transactions from the U.S. In August 2007, Williams was initiated as an honorary member to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.[citation needed]

Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and now heads the Montel Williams MS Foundation.

In September 2009, Williams provoked controversy with a statement on his radio show encouraging Minnesota Republican Representative Michelle Bachman to violently stab herself. [16]

Montel lives in South Chicago.

Bibliography

  • Williams, Montel (1997). Mountain, Get Out Of My Way. Warner Books. ISBN 0446604178. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Williams, Montel (2000). Life Lessons and Reflections. Carlsbad, CA: Mountain Movers Press. ISBN 1588250016. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Williams, Montel (2001-10-01). A Dozen Ways to Sunday. Mountain Movers Press. ISBN 1588250059. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Williams, Montel (2003-10-01). BodyChange: The 21 Day Fitness Program for Changing Your Body and Changing Your Life. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House. ISBN 978-1401903145. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Williams, Montel (2005-01-04). Climbing Higher. NAL Trade. ISBN 045121398X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

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References

  1. ^ The Official Montel Williams Site
  2. ^ "Montel Williams - Talk show host, motivational speaker". military.com. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
  3. ^ "Montel Williams Distinctive Achievements" (pdf). Montel Williams Official Website. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  4. ^ "TALK TV'S WILLIAMS VISITS U.S. TROOPS IN PERSIAN GULF". Los Angeles Daily News. March 2, 1998. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  5. ^ Variety - Montel Williams calls it quits
  6. ^ Montel Williams - Bonus Videos
  7. ^ Montel Williams to Host Radio Show Yahoo News, March 13, 2009
  8. ^ Montel Threatens to 'Blow Up' Teen Reporter MSNBC.com, December 2, 2007
  9. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22070901/
  10. ^ http://www.USCoinNetwork.com
  11. ^ http://usmint.gov/consumer/index.cfm?action=HotItems#obama
  12. ^ http://www.katu.com/home/video/39598022.html?video=YHI&t=a
  13. ^ IMDB Biography for Montel Williams
  14. ^ Montel Williams Marries - Weddings, Montel Williams : People.com
  15. ^ "Las Vegas Now". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  16. ^ Libtalker Montel Williams Urges Congresswoman to Kill Herself

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