Van Williams
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| Van Williams | |
| Born | February 27, 1934 Fort Worth, Texas |
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| Years active | 1954-1993 |
Van Zandt Williams (born February 27, 1934, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a former actor best known for his brief yet world-famous television role as "Britt Reid" (aka "The Green Hornet"). He teamed for one season with the late Bruce Lee as his sidekick Kato, in the television series The Green Hornet, broadcast on ABC during the 1966-67 season.
Williams was also known for his earlier leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and its sequel Surfside Six (1960).
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[edit] Life and career
A diving instructor in Hawaii in 1956, Williams was discovered there in 1957 by producer Mike Todd, who urged him to come to Hollywood to try his hand at acting. Todd, one of the husbands of Elizabeth Taylor, died in a plane crash, but Williams took vocal and acting lessons and was signed to a contract by Warner Brothers in 1959. His big break came as costar of the ABC television series Bourbon Street Beat, set in New Orleans. The program aired during the 1959-1960 season; his costars were Andrew Duggan and Richard Long. Williams later worked in a General Electric production with Ronald W. Reagan, and his Bourbon Street Beat character, Kenny Madison, was recycled into the Surfside 6 television series in exactly the same time slot, with Troy Donahue. Williams starred in a television pilot called The Leathernecks that was shown as an episode of The Gallant Men.
Williams also appeared in the films Tall Story (1960) and The Caretakers (1963) and as Pat Burns on the ABC series The Tycoon with Walter Brennan. After his Warner Brothers contract lapsed in 1964, Williams worked in TV commercials and guest appearances on various TV series.
[edit] The Green Hornet
In 1966 ABC-TV revived George W. Trendle's famous radio character in a new series, The Green Hornet. Van Williams signed with 20th Century-Fox to portray the mysterious masked hero and his true identity, newspaper editor Britt Reid (grandson of the brother of John Reid, The Lone Ranger).
Williams had a great deal of input on The Green Hornet. He rejected two scripts because they were too talky ("Lots of action," he said at the time, "that's what makes a show."). He also noted that "The Green Hornet is a pretty deadpan guy," and played the role straight, unlike the tongue-in-cheek portrayals seen on the same producer's Batman show. Williams asked for more screen time for Bruce Lee. Williams was astute enough to know that Lee and his martial-arts athletics were attracting the most interest in the series, and emphasizing him could have kept the series alive, at a time when non-white actors were discouraged by Hollywood.
The Green Hornet was an expensive series to produce. Thirty half-hours were scheduled, but the budget over-runs proved so costly that the series wrapped after only 26 episodes. Williams and Lee also made guest appearances, in character, on the Batman series.
Bruce Lee died of a cerebral edema in 1973. Williams' acting career faded around that time, though he made a few television guest appearances.
Even while Williams was starring in The Green Hornet, he didn't need the money. A shrewd businessman, Williams invested in various commercial ventures (a TV Guide profile of 1966, titled "Banker with a Sting," characterized him as "your friendly neighborhood tycoon"). At one time, Williams owned a small business that marketed telecommunications products, and spent several months a year in Southern California as a reserve deputy with the Malibu station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He is also a partner in the 4000 acre (16 km²) Waialua Ranch on Oahu, Hawaii. Williams keeps in touch with the American public at autograph conventions from time to time, where he remains popular among Green Hornet and Bruce Lee fans. Syndication on cable television has brought back many old television series, introducing Williams to a new generation of viewers.
In 1993 Williams made a cameo in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story as a director of The Green Hornet. It is unknown which director he was depicting.
He and his wife Vicki have three grown children. He has twin daughters from a prior marriage who remain in his home state of Texas. Williams resides today in the resort community of Ketchum, Idaho. A local longtime neighbor in Ketchum, is fellow 1960's TV-hero Batman star Adam West, with whom he is still a great friend.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Cinema
- Tall Story (1960)
- The Caretakers (1963)
[edit] Television
- Bourbon Street Beat (1959-1960) as Ken Madison
- Surfside 6 as Ken Madison
- The Green Hornet (1966-1967) title role aka Britt Reid
- includes cross-over episodes on Batman
- The Big Valley
- The Tycoon
- Dick Van Dyke Show as Corporal Clark Rice
- Westwind as Steve Andrews
- The Streets of San Francisco - "The Thrill Killers, Part 1" (1976) Officer Morton
[edit] Sources
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