Adam Williams (actor)
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Adam Williams | |
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![]() Adam Williams in Without Warning, 1952 | |
Born | Adam William Berg November 26, 1922 New York City, U.S.[1] |
Died | December 4, 2006 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 84)
Occupation(s) | Film and television actor, flight school owner |
Years active | 1951–1978 |
Spouse(s) | Marilee Phelps (?–1970; 3 children) Carole Berg (1974–2006; 3 children, 4 stepchildren) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Four_Star_Playhouse_%28Night_Ride%29_1.jpg/220px-Four_Star_Playhouse_%28Night_Ride%29_1.jpg)
Adam Williams (born Adam William Berg, November 26, 1922 – December 4, 2006)[2] was an American film and television actor.
Life and career
Born Adam William Berg in Wall Lake, Iowa, and raised in New York City. A veteran "bad guy" actor of 1950s film and TV, he began his career after distinguished World War II military service as a United States Navy pilot, for which he received the Navy Cross.[3] In 1952, Williams played the lead, a Los Angeles woman killer, in the film Without Warning! In 1953, he was cast as Larry, a car bomber, in The Big Heat. He had a leading role in the 1958 science fiction movie The Space Children. Other notable film roles include the psychiatrist in Fear Strikes Out (1957) and Valerian in North by Northwest (1959).
An accomplished pilot, Williams also worked as an examiner for the FAA.
During the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared on dozens of television series, including the syndicated Sheriff of Cochise, set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield, and Have Gun – Will Travel in the episode "The Reasonable Man". He portrayed private detective and murder suspect Jason Beckmeyer in the 1957 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Runaway Corpse." In 1961, he was cast as Jim Gates in the episode "Frontier Week" on Joanne Dru's sitcom Guestward, Ho!, set on a dude ranch in New Mexico. In 1960, he played the role of a sailor hitching a ride in The Twilight Zone season 1 episode "The Hitch-Hiker", where he is picked up by a terrified driver played by Inger Stevens, who is compelled to pick him up so that he may offer protection and safety to her from a mysterious hitchhiker who shows up at various times and places along the road while she travels across country. Many reviewers have cited this episode as one of The Twilight Zone's "10 Greatest" of the series.[4] He had also appeared in the Twilight Zone episode "A Most Unusual Camera". Between 1959 and 1967 he appeared in six episodes of The Rifleman and in four episodes of Bonanza, and in 1961 as Adam in "A Rope for Charlie Munday", in the ABC adventure series The Islanders. He was cast as Burley Keller in the 1961 episode "The Persecuted" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series Lawman. He guest-starred in an episode of the 1961 NBC series The Americans, based on family conflicts stemming from the American Civil War, and in an episode of the 1961 series The Asphalt Jungle. One of his later roles was in the 1976 television movie Helter Skelter.
Death
On December 4, 2006, Williams died in Los Angeles of lymphoma at the age of 84. He was cremated.[2]
Filmography
- Queen for a Day (1951) - Chuck, High Diver segment
- Flying Leathernecks (1951) - Lt. Bert Malotke
- Without Warning! (1952) - Carl Martin
- Vice Squad (1953) - Marty Kusalich
- The Big Heat (1953) - Larry Gordon
- Dragonfly Squadron (1954) - Capt. Wyler
- The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) - Cpl. Maddock
- Crashout (1955) - Fred Summerfield
- The Sea Chase (1955) - Kruger - Wireless Operator (uncredited)
- The Proud and Profane (1956) - Eustace Press
- The Rack (1956) - Sgt. Otto Pahnke
- Fear Strikes Out (1957) - Dr. Brown
- The Garment Jungle (1957) - Ox
- The Oklahoman (1957) - Bob Randell
- The Lonely Man (1957) - Lon
- The Space Children (1958) - Dave Brewster
- The Badlanders (1958) - Leslie
- Darby's Rangers (1958) T/5 Heavy Hall
- North by Northwest (1959) - Valerian
- The Last Sunset (1961) - Calverton
- Convicts 4 (1962) - Guard #1
- Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963) - Jed Hayden
- The New Interns (1964) - Wolanski
- The Glory Guys (1965) - Pvt. Lucas Crain
- Follow Me, Boys! (1966) - Sergeant (uncredited)
- The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968) - Sergeant Roberts
- This Is a Hijack (1973) - Smitty
Further reading
- Schallert, Edwin (March 25, 1953). "Big-Game Hunter Brings African Film; Top Heavy Goes to Adam Williams". Los Angeles Times. p. 25.
- Childress, Fred (October 30, 1953). "Direction Adds Tense Excitement To 'Big Heat' on Palace Screen". Youngstown Vindicator. p. 14.
- "Actor 'Rocketing' Up". The Miami News. July 26, 1958. p. 7A.
Adam Williams, one of the industry's fastest-rising actors, portrays a rocket expert in Paramount's "The Space Children."
- "Victor Jory 'Shot' by Western Actor". Los Angeles Times. November 11, 1961. p. 19.
Observers said a gun in the hands of actor Adam Williams discharged accidentally at a range of 6 in., inflicting powder burns.
References
- ^ Lentz, Harris M. III (2007). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2933-2. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
- ^ a b Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 810. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- ^ "Adam William Berg: Awards". The Hall of Valor Project. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
- ^ Cruz, Gilbert (October 2, 2009). "The Hitch Hiker (1960)". Time. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
External links
- Adam Williams at IMDb
- Adam Williams at the TCM Movie Database
- 1922 births
- 2006 deaths
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)
- Male actors from Los Angeles
- Deaths from cancer in California
- Deaths from lymphoma
- 20th-century American male actors
- Western (genre) television actors
- Jewish American male actors
- United States Navy pilots of World War II