“You only get paid if you do the movie. I had a two-picture deal with Star Wars. They paid me for that, but I only had a one picture deal for Batman.”
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Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. is an American actor, novelist and painter. He has appeared in over 100 films and television roles over six decades. He is best known for portraying Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise and has also appeared in critically acclaimed and popular titles such as Mahogany (1975), Scott Joplin (1977), and Nighthawks (1981), as Harvey Dent in Batman (1989) and The Leg…
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culture · American actor, novelist and painter (born 1937) · television actor · film actor · actor · novelist · writer · voice actor · singer · painter · recording artist · screenwriter · also Billy Dee Williams, William December "Billy Dee" Williams Jr., William December Williams Jr., Williams
Born 6 April 1937 · Q358345
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2026· 3 entries
“I wanted to be known as one of the best actors of my generation, period, but the opportunities weren’t the same for me as they were for Gable, and I was frustrated.”
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“It was a love story, really. Between two guys. Without sex. ... It ended up being a kind of breakthrough in terms of racial division.”
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2024· 8 entries
AllHipHop: Billy Dee Williams Suggests Actors Should Still Be Able To Wear Blackface
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Yahoo: Billy Dee Williams thinks it's fine for actors to wear blackface: 'Why not?'
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Los Angeles Times: Billy Dee Williams approves actors using blackface for work: ‘Why not? You should do it’
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New York Post: Billy Dee Williams backs actors wearing blackface: ‘Do anything you want to do’
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People: Billy Dee Williams Is Okay with Actors Wearing Blackface: 'You Should Do Anything You Want'
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Variety: Billy Dee Williams Defends Actors Wearing Blackface: ‘If You’re an Actor, You Should Do Anything You Want to Do’
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Yahoo: Billy Dee Williams Doesn’t Have a Problem With Blackface, Thought Olivier’s ‘Othello’ Was ‘Hysterical’
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Deadline.com: Billy Dee Williams On Actors Wearing Blackface: “If You’re An Actor, You Should Do Anything You Want To Do”
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2021· 1 entry
Snopes.com rated the claim “Actor Billy Dee Williams pranked Mark Hamill by telling him before a meeting with Princess Margaret that making direct eye contact with a royal was punishable by imprisonment in the Tower of London. This resulted in a photograph in which Hamill can be seen looking down as he meets the princess.” Unproven.
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2014· 1 entry
Williams competed on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars, a reality show/dancing competition partnered with professional dancer Emma Slater
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2013· 1 entry
Williams made a cameo appearance as himself on Modern Family, season 4, episode 11 "New Year's Eve"
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2011· 1 entry
At Disney's D23 Expo, also in Anaheim, California
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2009· 1 entry
Williams took on the role of the voice of Admiral Bitchface, the head of the military on the planet Titan, in the Adult Swim animated series Titan Maximum
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2008· 1 entry
Williams reprised his role as Lando Calrissian to appear in a video on Funny or Die in a mock political ad defending himself for leader of the Star Wars galaxy against vicious attack ads from Emperor Palpatine
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1999· 1 entry
Were displayed at the African-American Museum of Art, Culture and History in New Orleans, and in early 2000, the NASM in Washington, D
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1997· 1 entry
Did paintings for Walt Disney Company's Mighty Ducks arena for the Anaheim Ducks
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1996· 1 entry
After allegedly assaulting his live-in girlfriend, whom the police did not identify
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1993· 2 entries
Williams made a guest appearance on the spin-off to The Cosby Show, A Different World, as Langston Paige, a grumpy landlord, in a backdoor pilot for his own series
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But they reconciled, and were again living together by 1997
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1992· 1 entry
Portrayed Berry Gordy in The Jacksons: An American Dream
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1991· 1 entry
Followed by many throughout North America, and, later, the world
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1984· 3 entries
Awarded Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame (1984).
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And earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985
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Bought a "Zen-like contemporary" home in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills, California; he sold it in 2012
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1983· 1 entry
“Recording it was sort of a lark. I did some singing in clubs, for a moment, and then I stopped. I have too much respect for singers to really think that I”
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1977· 1 entry
Played the eponymous lead role in Scott Joplin, biopic of musician's life, featuring many of his ragtime pieces in the soundtrack, including an epic piano duel in the early opening scenes
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1972· 1 entry
Starred as Billie Holiday's husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions' Academy Award-nominated Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues acting opposite Diana Ross as the titular character
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1968· 1 entry
Williams married model and actress Marlene Clark in Hawaii
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1966· 1 entry
Including recurring roles over the decades in Gideon's Crossing, Dynasty, General Hospital: Night Shift, and General Hospital
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1961· 2 entries
Released album “Let's Misbehave”.
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Williams recorded a jazz LP produced by Prestige Records entitled Let's Misbehave, on which he covered swing standards
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1959· 1 entry
In The Last Angry Man, opposite Paul Muni, in which he portrayed a delinquent young man
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1955· 1 entry
From the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan, where he majored in arts with a focus on visual arts
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1937· 1 entry
Born 1937-04-06.
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